Socialization of teenagers playing The Sims: the paradoxical use of video games to re-enchant life
In order to scrutinize what video games can bring more into individuals’ life; a doctoral research had been undertaken on the teenage audience of The Sims, a game simulating life. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods drove to design what I called the journey of self-discovery of the gamer...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
WorldCat: | WorldCat |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Heidelberg University Publishing
2014
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In: |
Online - Heidelberg journal of religions on the internet
Year: 2014, Volume: 5, Pages: 279-300 |
Further subjects: | B
Video Gaming
B Religious Institutions B The Sims B Re-enchantment B Socialization |
Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | In order to scrutinize what video games can bring more into individuals’ life; a doctoral research had been undertaken on the teenage audience of The Sims, a game simulating life. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods drove to design what I called the journey of self-discovery of the gamer and development of the video-ludological socialization concept (Lorentz, 2013).Adopting an overall angle, this paper apprehends video games as the manifestation of the re-enchantment of the world. To begin with the recall of the rationalization process presented by Max Weber (2001/1905), whose explained the recoil of religious institutions in our societies at his time by saying that science had replaced religion for explaining life and the world, called the disenchantment. To a certain extend I claim here that video games are the perfect product of this rationalization movement (Caillois, 1967/1958). Paradoxically, video games allow their enthusiasts to live fantastic lives and dreamed situations. Individuals find eventually a way to believe again in the so-called impossible and therefore re-enchant their rationalized world. |
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ISSN: | 1861-5813 |
Contains: | In: Online - Heidelberg journal of religions on the internet
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-rel-121720 URN: 10.11588/rel.2014.0.12172 URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-rel-121720 |