Religion enligt spelets regler : en studie av interaktiva möten med religiösa aktörer och banal religion i tv-spelet The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Sammanfattning: This study aims to show how the videogame The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) allows or limits the player to interact with religious representations through rule-based system by performing a combination of “close-playing” and petri net-analysis. The study also aim to elaborate on the religious representations of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) as forms of banal religion defined by Hjarvard’s (2011) mediatization-theory. The following research questions are formulated to conduct said research: “How does the rule-based system of the videogame The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED, 2015) shape, allow or restrict religious representations? How does the representations relate to Hjarvard’s (2011) theories on banal religion? The study shows that the games rule-based system serves to demystify, mock, portray corruption and falsehoods in organized religion. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the games religious representations as varying forms of banal religion in conjunction with above mentioned rule-based system may form implicit critique towards organized religion.