Esotericism Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

As a somewhat novel cultural medium, video games and pervasive games, constitute an exciting body of research; the form of the medium, its popularity and the different levels of interaction and artistic expression from creators and... more

As a somewhat novel cultural medium, video games and pervasive games, constitute an exciting body of research; the form of the medium, its popularity and the different levels of interaction and artistic expression from creators and players, provide rich opportunities for cultural studies. Mainstream games, art games or playful experiences, have been instilled with spiritually significant ideas, themes, symbols and narratives. These ideas are based or inspired from esoteric traditions depicting occult themes; paganism, witchcraft, alchemy and magic just to name a few, all belonging to the domain of Esotericism and the depiction of the spiritual transformation of the self through these themes. To name just a few examples of such games: The Secret World (2012): an MMO of myth, occultism, and conspiracy theory in the modern world, The Fool’s Errand (1987): A tarot-themed puzzle adventure game by Cliff Johnson in which the player pieces together a narrative about the initiatory journey of the Fool from the tarot and Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (2002): a Lovecraftian survival horror game with a unique rune-based magic system and creative sanity effects (Howard, 2012). On the other hand, both in western and eastern esotericism, many different tools of divination such as the tarot, the ouija board and geomantical practices had a cultural journey from entertainment to esotericism, since they were first introduced as games or toys. While the topic of spirituality in games is slowly gaining interest among scholars of religion, the studies done so far has focused “on the occurrence of traditional, “mainstream” religious thematic, regarding representations of, for example, Christian symbols or parallels to Buddhist philosophies” (Wedin, 2014). Esotericism in games, however, is a topic that apart from media sensationalism and religious studies, has been relatively disregarded, despite the interest of game designers, artists, gamers’ communities and occultists’ communities in the interconnections between games and occult practices, between game culture and occulture. In this paper we will present and analyse examples of such interconnections and influences in the different perspectives of cultural game studies: “game narratives”, “game aesthetics”, “game world”, “game play” and “gaming culture” (Heidbrink et al, 2014). Studying games with the gaze not only of the religion scholar, but through the perspective of game and cultural studies, is thus crucial for understanding daily expressions of enchantment and the need for reality manipulation through new media. The study of occult themes in games potentially also offers new insights on the way esotericism, magic and spiritual transformation are perceived in contemporary society and the role they might come to play in the future.