Integration of Religion into Virtual Game Space: The Aspect of Stimulation and Stereotypisation

Abstract

The present study is dedicated to examining the integration of religious systems and their constituent elements into the video game space. Such an implementation into the architecture of the game is a rather complex and specific process that requires intensive adaptation of what is being implemented. The instrumental nature of religious systems, which is formed as part of their reduction, is the most important factor in the development of a video game. When analysing the specifics of religious integration, additional features of the video game were identified and analysed: intrusiveness, grotesqueness, cyclicity, stereotyping, novelty and safety. Religious systems and their components are a stimulating factor in the realisation of the above phenomena. Despite the fact that religion in the video game paradigm can only have a deformed form (up to radical marginalisation), it contributes to the actualisation of the gameplay. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the features of the implementation of a video game and an integrated component, i.e. religion. The main objective is to identify the motivating aspect of the integration of religious systems, as well as to analyse the features and consequences of the latter. To achieve this aim and objective, a set of methods was applied: the method of analysis and synthesis, the dialectical method, the method of deconstruction, as well as religious, cultural and psychological approaches. Based on the findings of the study, the author draws the following conclusions: 1. the purely instrumental and functional nature of religion in a video game has been revealed; 2. the aspects of intrusiveness and cyclicity of a video game have been established, which are stimulated by the integration of religious systems into it; 3. grotesque, in particular, associated with religious components, has been demonstrated to be a tool of falsification and demarcation; 4. stereotyping has been established to be an essential condition for integration of religion into the gameplay; 5. the aspect of safety of novelty accompanying integrationof religion, which involves the actualisation and stabilisation of the gameplay, has been identified and analysed. The player does not actually face religion as such within the framework of the game space, but only a heteronomous contentless scheme. Its purpose is to actualise and develop a video game.

For citation: Petev N.I. Integration of Religion into Virtual Game Space: The Aspect of Stimulation and Stereotypisation. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2026, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 127–139. https://doi.org/10.37482/2687-1505-V530