ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author addresses three preliminary problems when studying religion in video games. First, what is a video game exactly? The author argues that games are digital, interactive, playable, narrative texts. Second, how can video games be studied? The author proposes a four-layered methodology consisting of internal reading (playing the game), internal research (collecting in-game material), external reading (mapping the intertextual relationships) and external research (gathering all out-game information). Third, how does religion appear in video games? The author suggests five different, though not mutually exclusive, shapes in which religion can be found: material, referential, reflexive and ritual religion and gaming as religion.
