Playing the Myth
Video Games as Contemporary Mythology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.34691Keywords:
Video games, myth, mythology, implicit myth, popular culture, Levi-StraussAbstract
As attention to popular culture academically grows, we can begin to see the connection between myth and popular culture. If myths are those narratives an individual or communities uses to understand themselves and the world around them, popular culture narratives have the increasing ability to fill this role. Video games, the largest entertainment industry in the world, make up contemporary mythology. However, saying video games are myth is significantly easier than actually attempting to study video games as myth. This paper seeks to demonstrate not only the connection between myth and video games, but also a theoretical approach to the study of the mythic video game. By using "implicit myth", a term which allows us to see the larger influence and experience of myth, we can detail a theoretical approach possible for the video game as myth.
References
Achievement Hunter. 2017. Let’s Watch Resident Evil 7 (Playlist). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTur7oukosPFBaRT_4mXUMkqhbC7lAedd
Bailey, Edward. 1998. Implicit Religion: An Introduction. London: Middlesex University Press.
Bainbridge, William Sims. 2013. eGods: Faith versus Fantasy in Computer Gaming. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Campbell, Heidi, and Gregory Price Grieve. 2014. “Introduction.” In Playing with Religion in Digital Games, edited by Heidi Campbell and Gregory Price Grieve, 1–21. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Capcom. 2017. Resident Evil 7. PlayStation 4. http://residentevil7.com/
Chance, Jane, ed. 2004. Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
chaotickairos. 2015. “Experience of Playing Zelda Games.” Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/truezelda/comments/2uqrix/experiencing_of_playing_zelda_games/
Corneliussen, Hilde, and Jill Walker Rettberg, eds. 2008. Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
Cox, Jesse. 2017. Scary Game Squad: Resident Evil 7 (Playlist). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFx-KViPXIkH45GiQNM_Nu8-Yphc-gP9c
Crome, Andrew. 2015. “Religion and the Pathologization of Fandom: Religion, Reason, and Controversy in My Little Pony Fandom.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 27(2): 130–47. https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.27.2.3027
Cusack, Carole. 2013. “Play, Narrative, and the Creation of Religion: Extending the Theoretical Base of ínvented Religions.” Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal 14(4): 364–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2013.838797
Davidsen, Markus Altena. 2012. “The Spiritual Milieu Based on J.R.R Tolkien’s Literary Mythology.” In Handbook of Hyper-Real Religions, edited by Adam Possamai, 185–204. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004226944_011
Douglas, Mary. 2003. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology. New York: Routledge Classics.
Duffett, Mark. 2003. “False Faith or False Comparions? A Critique of the Religious Interpretation of Elvis Fan Culture.” Popular Music and Society 26(4): 513–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0300776032000144959
———. 2013. Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture. New York: Routledge.
Eskelinen, Markku. 2001. “The Gaming Situation.” Game Studies 1(1). http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/eskelinen/
Frasca, Gonzalo. 2003. “Ludologists Love Stories, Too: Notes from a Debate That Never Took Place.” 2003. http://www.ludology.org/articles/Frasca_LevelUp2003.pdf
Friedman, Ted. 1999. “Civilization and Its Discontents: Simulation, Subjectivity, and Space.” In On a Silver Platter: CD-ROMs and the Promises of a New Technology, edited by Greg SMassachusetts Institute of Technologyh, 132–50. New York: New York University Press.
FromSoftware. 2016. Dark Souls 3. Xbox One. https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/p/dark-souls-iii/bw2xdrnsccpz?activetab=pivot:overviewtab
Galinier, Jacques. 2004. “A Levi-Straussian Controversy Revisited: The Implicit Mythology of Rituals in a Mesoamerican Context.” Journal of the South-west 46 (4): 661–677.
Geraci, Robert M. 2014. Virtually Sacred: Myth and Meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199344697.001.0001
Gray, Jonathan, Cornel Sandvoss, and C. Lee Harrington. 2007. “Introduction: Why Study Fans?” In Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, edited by Jonathan Gray, Cornel Sandvoss, and Harrington, 1–16. New York: New York University Press.
Houseman, Michael. 1998. Naven or the Other Self: A Relational Approach to Ritual Action. Leiden: Brill.
Hugh-Jones, Christine. 1979. From the Milk River: Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest Amazonia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
jdman5000. 2015. “Experience of Playing Zelda Games.” Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/truezelda/comments/2uqrix/experiencing_of_playing_zelda_games/
Jenkins, Henry. 2004. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” In First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrington, 118–30. Cambridge, Mass: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
Kirkland, Ewan. 2005. “Restless Dreams in Silent Hill: Approaches to Video Game Analysis.” Journal of Media Practice 6(3): 167–178. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmpr.6.3.167/1
Kunin, Seth. 2012. “Structuralism and Implicit Myth.” Suomen Anthropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society 37(4): 11–29.
Kunin, Seth Daniel. 2003. Religion: The Modern Theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Laycock, Joseph. 2010. “Myth Sells: Mattel’s Commission of The Masters of the Universe Bible.” The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 22(2): 4–4. https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.22.2.004
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1981. The Naked Man. Translated by John Weightman and Doreen Weightman. Vol. 4. Introduction to a Science of Mythology. London: Jonathan Cape.
Metacritic. n.d. “Best Video Games of All Time.” Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/all/filtered
Miles-Watson, Jonathan. 2015. “The Cathedral on the Ridge and the Implicit Mythology of the Shimla Hills.” Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society 37(4): 30–46.
Milspaw, Yvonne J., and Wesley K. Evans. 2010. “Variations on Vampires: Live Action Role Playing, Fantasy and the Revival of Traditional Beliefs.” Western Folklore 69(2): 211–50.
Motion Picture Association of America. 2015. “2015 Theatrical Statistics Summary.” Motion Picture Association of America. http://www.mpaa.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/04/MPAA-Theatrical-Market-Statistics-2015_Final.pdf
Murray, Janet. 2005. “The Last Word on Ludology v Narratology in Game Studies.” Keynote. Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). June 17. Vancouver, Canada. https://inventingthemedium.com/2013/06/28/the-last-word-on-ludology-v-narratology-2005/
Nardi, Bonnie. 2010. My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Nintendo. 2017. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Wii U. https://www.nintendo.com/en_CA/games/detail/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-wii-u
Pearce, Celia. 2011. Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
Reyson, Stephen. 2006. “Secular versus Religious Fans: Are They Different? An Empirical Examination.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 12: 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.12.1.001
Sandvoss, Cornel. n.d. Fans: The Mirror of Consumption. Cambridge: Polity.
Taylor, T.L. 2006. Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5418.001.0001
telltale games. 2013. Wolf Among Us. Xbox One. https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/p/the-wolf-among-us/c02sl8lbs5k2?activetab=pivot:overviewtab
Valve. 2007. Portal. PC. https://valvestore.forfansbyfans.com/title/portal.html
Wagner, Rachel. 2014. “The Importance of Playing in Earnest.” In Playing with Religion in Digital Games, edited by Heidi Campbell and Gregory Price Grieve, 192–213. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Warman, Peter. 2015. “The Global Games Market: Trends, Market Data and Opportunities.” NewZoo. https://newzoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Newzoo_T11_Beijing_FINAL_Public.pdf
