Carolin Puckhaber

The Umfeld of the religious Fiel at the intersection of game development and reception

Perspectives on non-religion

Digital games are no longer a new phenomenon in academic discourse, nor in the fields of religious studies and theology. What is relevant here is not only the content of the games, but also their development and how they are received by individual players, groups or the games press. All of these offer points of reference for general discourse as well as for discourse specific to religious studies and theology. The field of digital games can shed light on the religiosity and religious needs of players, but it can also reveal the extent to which the portrayal of religion in popular culture influences society’s perception of it. Furthermore, the interactivity of digital games allows players to take on the roles of religious characters themselves and to perform religious practices, whether of their own devising or those provided by the game.

Whilst research into digital games is becoming increasingly established within the discourses of religious studies and theology, other, no less relevant phenomena receive significantly less attention. This is because the study of religion and theology not only investigate explicit and implicit religious phenomena in both the past and the present, but also their non-religious counterparts. This raises the question of what exactly constitutes these counterparts, how they relate to religion, and what relevance they hold for research. Alongside the long-standing debate on the secularisation thesis, the exploration of new peripheral religious phenomena and the examination of broader concepts such as atheism, a field of research has gradually emerged over the last 50 years that differs from these approaches and seeks to explore the counterpart of ‘non-religion’ in a holistic manner. This does not merely involve viewing non-religion as an isolated phenomenon. Instead, it is contextualised in relation to religion, so that reciprocal relationships between actors and groups can also be captured, which in turn influence society and politics.

Non-religion is also addressed in popular culture; however, research into it appears to be under-explored, particularly in the context of digital games. There is hardly any explicit research in German or English on non-religion and digital games. Occasionally, the topic is considered in studies on religion and digital games or mentioned in passing. This research project focuses on this intersection.

The research gap lies, in particular, in the question of how non-religion becomes the subject of negotiation processes within the context of the development and reception of digital games. Non-religious developers may incorporate religion and non-religion into their work from different perspectives, whilst players and other audiences engage with, evaluate and further negotiate these representations. In this way, interactions arise between the actors involved in development and reception, through which conceptions of religion and non-religion can be reproduced, altered or even called into question. Examining these processes makes it possible to view non-religion not merely as the counterpart or absence of religion, but as an integral part of social and cultural negotiations within the context of digital games. This research project addresses the gap described by employing a qualitative research design to investigate the reciprocity between non-religion, game development and reception, and to analyse the mutual influence between these respective areas.