An Information Technology Surrogate for Religion: The Veneration of Deceased Family in Online Games: Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture

Avatars through which players experience computer games can virtually resurrect deceased members of the player's family, to become spiritual mentors for the player, to memorialize lost loved ones, and to transform grief into continuing love. Avatar was originally a religious concept, and can be again, referring to a simulation of the dearly departed, created through partnership between a computer and a survivor. This book demonstrates principles of Ancestor Veneration Avatars (AVAs), by running avatars based on eleven deceased members of one family through ten highly diverse virtual worlds, from the violent Defiance to the intellectual Uru: Myst Online, from the early EverQuest to the recent Elder Scrolls Online, and from the pessimistic Age of Conan to the optimistic Lord of the Rings Online.