Campbell, Heidi A. and Gregory Price Grieve (Eds). Playing with Religion in Digital Games.

Soukup, Paul A.

Campbell, Heidi A. and Gregory Price Grieve (Eds). Playing with Religion in Digital Games. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2014. Pp. xii, 301. ISBN 978-0-253-01244-9 (cloth) $85.00; 9780-253-01253-1 (paper) $30.00; 978-0-253-01263-0 (ebook) $29.00.

Heidi Campbell and Gregory Grieve's edited collection addresses the intersection of religion and video games, providing an outstanding resource, particularly for those with interests in communication and religion. They note that, in their volume, "digital gaming is explored as a field filled with potential for new insights into the place, presentation, and impact of religion within popular culture" (p. 2). As they situate the essays, they argue that scholars and researchers have neglected the connection between video games and religion for four reasons: "games are widely considered simply a form of young people's entertainment; video games are often seen as artificial or unvalued forms of expression; technology is thought to be secular; and virtual gaming worlds are seen as unreal" (pp. 2-3). They then demonstrate the inaccuracy of each of these assumptions.

A few researchers have begun the study of religion and gaming. Their brief review of the published work (really only a handful of books and some panels at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion) indicates that researchers have followed one of several approaches: the use of video games in religious education, the use of religion as a plot device or narrative background in games, and the connection between gaming and the performance of religion. Their volume expands these directions.

Campbell and Grieve divide the volume into three equal sections, each consisting of four chapters: explorations of religiously themed games, religion in mainstream games, and gaming as implicit religion.

In the first section, Jason Anthony presents a helpful typology. Looking at how games have played a role in ancient Greek religious practice, Anthony sees four categories: didactic games meant to teach or instruct; hestiasic games, those connected to a sacred festival or celebration; poimenic games in which "the divine is an active, interested player" (p. 31); and praxic games, which engage with the sacred, as for example in seeking the divine will. For each category, Anthony seeks contemporary digital games, but then adds some others. Allomythic games provide a first-person entry into a religious landscape, where players can practice one or another kind of ritual. Allopolitical games place the player in a virtual community (Second Life, for example) in which worship takes a natural place. Theoptic games "embrace the category of 'god games'" in which "the player assume[s] the role of an all-seeing power, who controls the environmental circumstances of the game world" (p. 42).

Other studies in the first section examine specific games and religious traditions. Isamar Carrillo Masso and Nathan Abrams present an analysis of The Shivah, a game set in a Jewish cultural tradition and featuring a Jewish detective. "The Shivah provides new ways and trajectories of being Jewish that move beyond other stereotypes and is based on the practice of Jewish faith" (p. 62). Xenia Zeiler turns to Hinduism with an analysis of the game, Hanuman: Boy Warrior, "the first entirely India-developed digital game based on Hindu mythology" (p. 66). In addition to providing a summary of the game and the debate that it triggered among Hindu organizations, which judged it disrespectful of religion, Zeiler argues that her "analysis uncovers the debates's underlying processes of negotiating religious identity and authority in global, diaspora Hindu contexts" (p. 67). Her questions, developed in the Hindu context, apply equally well to any religiously themed game. Finally, Brenda S. Gardenour Walter examines games that deal with supernatural horror; many of these typically draw on Christian imagery and ideas of the occult.

Section 2 offers studies of how religion appears in mainstream games. Vit Sisler shows how video games, which represent real world events, typically represent Islam; he contrasts games developed in the Arab and American contexts. As a context he notes that "existing research on Islam and video games can be divided into three clusters: (a) the representation of Muslims in Western games, (b) the construction of identity in Muslim games, and (c) the communication of Islamic moral and ethical values" (p. 110). To deepen these approaches, he looks at games from each context, examining the audiovisual layer (images and presentation of characters and locations), the narrative layer (the storyline), and the procedural layer (the rule systems that guide the players). He concludes that the games draw on generic conventions as well as set topoi. Rabia Gregory focuses on medieval religious imagery and legends in multi-layer online role-playing games (MMORPG), in which players take on the identity of characters in the fantasy worlds. Situating the games within the context of theories of play and representation, she examines one game, Shadowbane. Noting that players in such game environments take on shared narratives, she concludes with an observation that more scholars should study "the coincidental similarities between body and avatar and body and soul, between ascending the spiritual ladder and grinding the gaming treadmill, between achieving salvation and leveling up, between meditating on a hand-painted woodcut while spinning and playing an MMORPG while making dinner" (p. 151). Shanny Luft turns to a specific subset of game players: "hardcore Christian gamers." The title comes from a website on which players share their faith while they also exchange tales of their favorite, often violent, first-person shooter games. Using content analysis of the websites and questionnaire research Luft "identified some ways in which Christian gamers are similar to mainstream hardcore games, and second, ... identified how Christian gamers distinguish themselves through efforts to make their gaming practices adhere to the communal and ethical standards of their religion" (p. 165). The last study in this section analyzes how game producers and companies localize games culturally. Here Peter Likarish offers a case study of Actraiser and Actraiser 2, noting how the developers modified the original Japanese games, particularly in terms of religious references, to gain acceptance in the U.S. context.

Section 3 of the book offers a very different approach, with each essay arguing that game playing itself takes on a religious or ritual tone. Rachel Wagner builds on her earlier analyses of gaming and religion to find a parallel between religion and games, rejecting the idea that "religion is 'serious' whereas games are 'fun'" (p. 193). Instead she argues that both require a sincerity for meaningful participation and that games fit well into many of the existing studies of the sociology of religion. Oliver Steffen asks, "what does a digital game need to be spiritually effective?" and examines The Path. In this, he notes several qualities of spiritual or religious experience, as described by researchers of religion: flow, meditation, a contrast between a cognitive orientation of empowerment and surrender, and morality. He applies these categories to his analysis of what is, on its surface, a non-religious game and finds evidence of each. Michael Waltenmathe analyzes playing games through the lens of Alfred Schutz's theory of the life-world. In the chapter, he argues "that humor and play are the bridge between the worlds of video games and the actual world, because both the religious experience and the comic relieve us of the tense and fundamental anxiety of what Schutz calls the 'paramount reality,' the pragmatic world of working in daily life" (p. 239). Finally, Kevin Schut offers a kind of critique of the games-as-religion approach through his case study of Civilization IV. In this and in other games that offer a more explicit inclusion of religion, he notes that the games face a limit of their medium: all have a mechanistic bias. To code any activity, the developers must assign points for religious acts and reduce religion to a kind of external practice. Noting that this is "a bias of representation" (p. 272, italics in original), he suggests that polysemy and multiple players can overcome it. He concludes, "it is worth being aware that, uncorrected by any contrary force, video games have a tendency to mechanize faith, presenting an impoverished vision of what religions mean to adherents" (p. 273).

This edited collection is uniformly good and well worth reading. As the editors and authors note, the study of religion and gaming stands very near its beginning. They invite others to take up the study and this book offers a good starting point.

Each chapter has its own notes and reference list; the book has a gameography and index, as well as author information.

--Paul A. Soukup, S.J.

Santa Clara University