ABSTRACT
The chapter conceptualizes game modding—that is, the modification and extension of commercial computer games—as a discursive practice, and investigates how modders of the popular strategy game franchise Civilization formulate and (de)legitimize arguments about the cultural significance of religion by modifying religion-specific rules in the games. The first part analyzes game modding as an inherently analytical and educational practice, which arguably constitutes a particularly productive form of public sphere, and how discursive legitimacy is negotiated within this context. The second part investigates how religion (introduced in Civilization IV) has been framed and reframed across the rule systems of the previous Civilization games. For that purpose, it conducts a proceduralist reading (Treanor/Mateas/Bogost) to identify rhetorical bias; yet, as the sequels as well as the mods continually change the game-as-text, the article proposes to add a diachronic component to this method. To implement this, the final part studies how Civilization mods constitute a “discourse” about religion in society using the “language” of game design.
