Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Disbelief
Chapter 2: The Culture Game
Chapter 3: Deities
Chapter 4: Souls
Chapter 5: Priests
Chapter 6: Shrines
Chapter 7: Magic
Chapter 8: Morality
Chapter 9: Cults
Chapter 10: Death
Chapter 11: Quests
Appendix: The Gameworlds

About the Author

William Sims Bainbridge is a prolific and influential sociologist of religion, science, and popular culture. He serves as co-director of Human-Centered Computing at the National Science Foundation. His books include Leadership in Science and Technology, The Warcraft Civilization, Online Multiplayer Games, Across the Secular Abyss, and The Virtual Future.

Reviews

"This admirable project legitimizes video games not only as a storytelling medium for entertainment, but also as reflections of history and modern culture to be critically analyzed." - Publishers Weekly
"EDITORS' PICK. A long-awaited and truly fascinating book on the relationship between religion and multiplayer online role-playing games by highly respected sociologist of religion, science, and popular culture Bainbridge... The book's subject has been ignored by the academic world, perhaps because of its complexity, or possibly due to some in academia frowning on or ignoring games, even though understanding the gaming world is truly essential for understanding
popular culture... This is fine reading. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries." - Choice
"This rich, provocative account addresses video games' pervasive religious-themed imagery and constructs, which, prior to Bainbridge's work, have been studiously overlooked in academic study. The nuanced exposition reveals games to be rife with cults, proselytizers, evangelists, inquisitors, afterlives, temples, tombs, shrines, and of course e-gods and goddesses. Essential reading for keeping our ideas about games fresh and finally inquiring about that elephant
in the room." - Bonnie Nardi, author of My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft, 2010
"eGods succeeds in showing the many ways in which religious myths, values, and practices have increasingly colored the cosmological and ethical landscapes of the most popular MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games)."--The Journal of Religion

In the last decade, video games have received increasing visibility and entered mainstream culture. Bainbridge, a sociologist of religion, participated in the enormous changes occurring in the video game world during this period by presenting an ethnography of religions in virtual online worlds. Using his in-depth research on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, Bainbridge examines the use of deities, souls, quests, and other religious entities and concepts in video game narratives, arguing that such stories and playing mechanics (the technical framework of a game) constitute a medium through which players situate themselves in relation to contemporary religion. Bainbridge, who played the games to research them, endowed his blank MMORPG avatars with history and personality to emphasize the connections between the role-playing done in video games and in the real world. Though sometimes it is easy to stumble on the sheer amount of technical detail that Bainbridge provides, this admirable project legitimizes video games not only as a storytelling medium for entertainment, but also as reflections of history and modern culture to be critically analyzed. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.