Godwired: Religion, Ritual, and Virtual Reality

摘要

As more people spend more time with their computers, either online or engaging in local exploration or play, they increasingly touch on matters of religion. The Internet has captured those with religious interests, just as it has captured others. But computing and the Internet also seem to have a religious aspect. Some people seek it directly, searching out various online religious sites or using the Internet to supplement information about their religious traditions. Others—and a growing group—engage in religious-like virtual activities. This group forms the core of Rachel Wagner's interest in Godwired. More particularly, she investigates video games, the players of such games, and the elements of the games. "Godwired addresses this rich relationship between religion and 'virtual reality' (which I define as any form of digital technology that involves user engagement with software via a screen interface)" (p. 1). Such virtual reality involves "world-building" or "the imagining of a world in which we are in control, in which things make sense, in which what we do has profound meaning, and in which we can enact our ideal selves" (p. 2). And these characteristics, she argues, mirror or imitate or form part of the religious imagination.