Page 100 - Pure Life 11

Playing the Gospel of Video Games /99

The most recent addition to the gaming world is live
streaming and videos. People record themselves playing games
and stream the actions of their character along with their real
life actions to a streaming website. The most popular of which
is Twitch. While some may view the popular streamers as
mere entertainers, it is undeniable that they have amassed a
large followership that watches them religiously.
Some watch for educational reasons, some for
entertainment; most important is the fact that people now
spend time watching people play games rather than
playing the games themselves.
’This relationship is like a church! The religious head
leads the service, and the congregation follows along. The
Twitch streamer, much like the religious head, engages
with and leads his or her congregation of followers
through the religiously inspired games. His or her viewers
follow along and engage the streamer through the Twitch
chat function. Live streaming has literally become a
religious service for video games.
At the very least, this relationship is equivalent to the
televangelists, preachers that broadcast their services over
1
live television.”
Religious Education and Worship Service via Gaming
Can video games do religious work? Certainly, the
evangelical Christian community thinks so. For decades,
game designers have labored to leverage the power of
video games for readable conversation among academics,
industry leaders, and community members, including the
Digital Games religious education in the evangelical
2
Christian tradition.

1. Boren, 2016, p. 52.
2. http://www.mobygames.com/genre/sheet/religion.