Techno-Religion and Cyberspace Spirituality in Dystopian Video Games

Abstract

Once a niche part of the cyber community, video games today represent one of the major industries and “the combination of technology and spiritualist narratives”. In the cyberspace dedicated to video game trivia, we can find intimate reports of players who claim that video games impacted them spiritually or that they felt unity with the spirit of the universe. By analyzing three video games (Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Cyberpunk 2077, and Death Stranding), the author aims to explore how spirituality and cyberspace interact in narratives that follow the mentioned games and the interface that pulls the player deeper into the storyline. These games vary in styles and approaches and do not tend to support a view of one true God or any mainstream religion. Therefore, an intricate relationship between cyberspace, algorithmic patterns, and spirituality make these games different and exciting for examination. The author demonstrates the unique perception of spirituality and ideas that influenced the creation of these new spiritual cyberspaces within video games, especially New Age concepts of technopagans such as singularitarians and transhumanists.