As computer video games become increasingly interactive, they may well encourage the spread of unconventional and “deviant” religions, according to sociologist William Sims Bainbridge. Writing in the Review of Religious Research (September), Bainbridge surveys the video game market and such new simulated online sites as Second Life and finds that the religious content featured on them are “typically heterodox or cultic in nature.”
He writes that a “massive shift is occurring within video game culture, as all of the video game systems are connecting to the Internet and games become social rather than individual experiences. Logically, social games, in which each player must become trustworthy quest companions within an enduring group of players, will have even greater influence upon player’s values, beliefs and personalities.”
Bainbridge continues that “This major shift could have the paradoxical result of greatly reducing the social isolation widely believed to afflict many gamers, while drawing them even further away from conventional society into a subculture rife with religious deviance.” In a content analysis of video game reviews by a Christian website, Bainbridge found that in reviews of 82 games, 19 presented images of alternative or invented religions, “which would be called cults if they existed outside the game. Reviewers seem especially disturbed when the player must perform rituals or otherwise act in accordance with the deviant beliefs of the religion.”
In online virtual worlds, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft (WoW), participants take on “avatars” or characters that represent themselves as they play the games. Both contain virtual churches and WoW contains a high degree of supernatural symbolism; with its “engagement of the user’s emotions, and the many hours each week members may participate, one could argue it has greater spiritual significance than all but a half-dozen mainstream denominations.”
(Review of Religious Research, 618 SW Second Ave., Galva, IL 61434)