Report on the establishment of a new AAR seminar "Video Gaming and Religion".153155Bremen

Radde-Antweiler, Kerstin

Report on the establishment of a new AAR seminar  Video Gaming and Religion 

State and University Library Bremen


  
 
 
Issue 02 (2015) 
 
articles 
The WoW Factor: A Virtual Ethnographic Study of Sacred Things and Rituals in World 
of Warcraft 
Sonja C. Sapach , 1 
 
Spirits in the Aether: Digital Ghosts in Final Fantasy XIV 
Tim Appignani, Kaylee Kruzan, Indira Neill Hoch, 25 
 
Extending the Dimensions of the Social World through Game­Worlds 
Jonathan Tuckett, 61 
 
Methods for Analyzing Let’s Plays: Context Analysis for Gaming Videos on YouTube 
Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Xenia Zeiler, 100 
 
 
interview 
Interview with Third Faction 
by gamevironments, 140 
 
 
research reports 
Establishment of a new AAR-Seminar “Video Gaming and Religion” 
by Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, 153 
 
IASGAR: The new International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion 
by Xenia Zeiler, 156 
 
 
game review 
The Witcher 3: A Wild and Modern Hunt to Medievalise Eastern and Northern Europe 
by Derek Fewster, 159 
 
 
 
 
 
153 
 
Establishment of a new AAR seminar  
“Video Gaming and Religion” 
Kerstin Radde-Antweiler 
 
Abstract 
Report on the establishment of a new AAR seminar “Video Gaming and Religion”. 
 
Keywords: AAR, Video Gaming and Religion Seminar 
 
 
Whoohoo! 
It’s time for a party! We applied successfully for a Video Gaming and Religion Seminar at 
the American Academy of Religion (http://www-aarweb.org). The AAR’s Program 
Committee has accepted our proposal for a new Program Unit and established the 
Video Gaming and Religion Seminar (https://papers.aarweb.org/content/video-gaming-
and-religion-seminar). Our application was even declared a “sterling application, which 
contained strong letters of support, concrete publishing outputs, and a clear vision of 
Seminar's purposes. This Seminar will hopefully be a model of international 
collaboration and engagement.” 
 
Now, we are authorized for a five-year term (2015-2019) and are allotted one session at 
each Annual Meeting. If you are interested in joining us at one of the next conferences, 
please look out for the seminar’s yearly Call for Papers!   
 
The steering committee consists of the following members: 
• Gregory Grieve, University of North Carolina (USA), gpgrieve@uncg.edu (chair) 
• Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, University of Bremen (Germany), radde@uni-bremen.de 
 
 
 
 
 
154 
(chair) 
• Christopher Helland, Dalhousie University (Canada), chelland@dal.ca  
• Heidi Ann Campbell, Texas A&M University (USA), heidic@tamu.edu  
• Rachel Wagner, Ithaca College (USA), rwagner@ithaca.edu  
• Xenia Zeiler, University of Helsinki (Finland), xenia.zeiler@helsinki.fi  
 
But what is it all about? 
Just like films helped to illuminate and expose the religiosity of the twentieth century, 
video games now depict the religious within the twenty-first century. “Video games” we 
understand to describe electronic forms of play across all platforms, from personal 
computers, consoles to mobile devices. Often, in Religious Studies video gaming is not 
yet taken seriously. We aim to improve this situation by establishing and maintaining a 
multidisciplinary network for the discussion of theoretical and methodological 
approaches in the study of religion and video gaming. We will also collect, systematize 
and further develop the various recent multidisciplinary approaches in research and 
teaching.  
 
There are two specific deliverables planned for the end of the five-year period. First, we 
will craft an edited volume, tentatively titled Video Games and Religion: Methods and 
Approaches, that will bring together the cutting edge work of leading scholars in this 
emerging field. Second, we will publish the results from our seminar in a special issue of 
the new peer-reviewed online journal gamevironments 
(http://www.gamevironments.org). 
 
And now? 
At our first year’s AAR conference (2015 in Atlanta) we will have a pre-arranged 
 
 
 
 
 
155 
roundtable to present and discuss key perspective on religion and video games. In order 
to "craft" key perspectives, the discussants focus on the open sandbox game Minecraft 
(2009), an open world platform in which players find various materials, which they can 
then transform into almost any structure imaginable. Through a moderated 
conversation, each discussant will use Minecraft to respond to one of three questions:  
 
(1) How should Religious Studies concern itself with video games?  
(2) What methods and research questions do you recommend?  
(3) Do scholars have to play the game to analyze it?  
 
On a more general level, the roundtable will address how studying video games and 
video gaming furthers Religious Studies. Analyzing video games is significant for 
example because just as films helped to illuminate and expose the religiosity of the 
twentieth century, video games now depict the religiosity of the twenty-first century. 
Panelists are Jason Anthony, Ian Bogost, Gregory Grieve, Owen Gottlieb, Kerstin Radde-
Antweiler, Michael Waltemathe, Rachel Wagner, Xenia Zeiler, and Michael Houseman 
(Responding)!  
 
We will be delighted to see you in Atlanta! 
 


English

Establishment of a new AAR-Seminar  Video Gaming and Religion

E-LIB Dokumentserver - Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen

    Issue 02 (2015)  articles The WoW Factor: A Virtual Ethnographic Study of Sacred Things and Rituals in World of Warcraft Sonja C. Sapach , 1  Spirits in the Aether: Digital Ghosts in Final Fantasy XIV Tim Appignani, Kaylee Kruzan, Indira Neill Hoch, 25  Extending the Dimensions of the Social World through Game­Worlds Jonathan Tuckett, 61  Methods for Analyzing Let’s Plays: Context Analysis for Gaming Videos on YouTube Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Xenia Zeiler, 100   interview Interview with Third Faction by gamevironments, 140   research reports Establishment of a new AAR-Seminar “Video Gaming and Religion” by Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, 153  IASGAR: The new International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion by Xenia Zeiler, 156   game review The Witcher 3: A Wild and Modern Hunt to Medievalise Eastern and Northern Europe by Derek Fewster, 159      153  Establishment of a new AAR seminar  “Video Gaming and Religion” Kerstin Radde-Antweiler  Abstract Report on the establishment of a new AAR seminar “Video Gaming and Religion”.  Keywords: AAR, Video Gaming and Religion Seminar   Whoohoo! It’s time for a party! We applied successfully for a Video Gaming and Religion Seminar at the American Academy of Religion (http://www-aarweb.org). The AAR’s Program Committee has accepted our proposal for a new Program Unit and established the Video Gaming and Religion Seminar (https://papers.aarweb.org/content/video-gaming-and-religion-seminar). Our application was even declared a “sterling application, which contained strong letters of support, concrete publishing outputs, and a clear vision of Seminar's purposes. This Seminar will hopefully be a model of international collaboration and engagement.”  Now, we are authorized for a five-year term (2015-2019) and are allotted one session at each Annual Meeting. If you are interested in joining us at one of the next conferences, please look out for the seminar’s yearly Call for Papers!    The steering committee consists of the following members: • Gregory Grieve, University of North Carolina (USA), gpgrieve@uncg.edu (chair) • Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, University of Bremen (Germany), radde@uni-bremen.de      154 (chair) • Christopher Helland, Dalhousie University (Canada), chelland@dal.ca  • Heidi Ann Campbell, Texas A&M University (USA), heidic@tamu.edu  • Rachel Wagner, Ithaca College (USA), rwagner@ithaca.edu  • Xenia Zeiler, University of Helsinki (Finland), xenia.zeiler@helsinki.fi   But what is it all about? Just like films helped to illuminate and expose the religiosity of the twentieth century, video games now depict the religious within the twenty-first century. “Video games” we understand to describe electronic forms of play across all platforms, from personal computers, consoles to mobile devices. Often, in Religious Studies video gaming is not yet taken seriously. We aim to improve this situation by establishing and maintaining a multidisciplinary network for the discussion of theoretical and methodological approaches in the study of religion and video gaming. We will also collect, systematize and further develop the various recent multidisciplinary approaches in research and teaching.   There are two specific deliverables planned for the end of the five-year period. First, we will craft an edited volume, tentatively titled Video Games and Religion: Methods and Approaches, that will bring together the cutting edge work of leading scholars in this emerging field. Second, we will publish the results from our seminar in a special issue of the new peer-reviewed online journal gamevironments (http://www.gamevironments.org).  And now? At our first year’s AAR conference (2015 in Atlanta) we will have a pre-arranged      155 roundtable to present and discuss key perspective on religion and video games. In order to "craft" key perspectives, the discussants focus on the open sandbox game Minecraft (2009), an open world platform in which players find various materials, which they can then transform into almost any structure imaginable. Through a moderated conversation, each discussant will use Minecraft to respond to one of three questions:   (1) How should Religious Studies concern itself with video games?  (2) What methods and research questions do you recommend?  (3) Do scholars have to play the game to analyze it?   On a more general level, the roundtable will address how studying video games and video gaming furthers Religious Studies. Analyzing video games is significant for example because just as films helped to illuminate and expose the religiosity of the twentieth century, video games now depict the religiosity of the twenty-first century. Panelists are Jason Anthony, Ian Bogost, Gregory Grieve, Owen Gottlieb, Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Michael Waltemathe, Rachel Wagner, Xenia Zeiler, and Michael Houseman (Responding)!   We will be delighted to see you in Atlanta!  

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Establishment of a new AAR-Seminar "Video Gaming and Religion"

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Establishment of a new AAR-Seminar "Video Gaming and Religion"

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State and University Library Bremen

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