Level Up Religion

Digital games have moved from being a peculiar marginal phenomenon to become an established element of popular culture. However, the interfaces between digital games and religion are still largely unknown. The present volume closes this gap, on the one hand examining the publication, reception and production of religious content in digital games and on the other inquiring into the ways in which the representatives of religion are responding to the medium of digital games. The foundations for religious studies research into digital games that are developed here represent an initial systematic contribution to a field of research that is currently arising through a synthesis of religious studies and game studies. The volume also provides information about the significance, potential and risks of digital games, particularly for the field of religion, but without reproducing distortingly enthusiastic or overanxious patterns of interpretation.

Dr. Oliver Steffen is a freelance religious studies scholar and associate researcher at the Institute of Religious Studies at the University of Bern.