Skip navigation
SuUB logo
DSpace logo

  • Home
  • Institutions
    • University of Bremen
    • City University of Applied Sciences
    • Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences
  • Sign on to:
    • My Media
    • Receive email
      updates
    • Edit Account details

Citation link: https://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-00106983-18
00106983-1.pdf
OpenAccess
 
copyright

Win to Exit : Perma-Death and Resurrection in Sword Art Online and Log Horizon


File Description SizeFormat
00106983-1.pdf3.09 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Authors: McConeghy, David 
Abstract: 
Trapped inside their virtual-reality gaming worlds, players in both Sword Art Online and Log Horizon find themselves fighting virtual battles for their real-world lives. This essay looks at the secular approaches to issues of death and dying presented by these Japanese anime television series. Instead of relying on Buddhism or Shintoism, the characters in these shows use gaming mechanics to explain their predicament. Eternal life becomes a source of ennui in Log Horizon where players are trapped and resurrected upon death. In Sword Art Online, players find new value in their virtual lives, but fear perma-death in both worlds at the hands of players who continue to see the game as solely a game. Video games and anime are powerful tableaus for exploring death and religion, but they are used here to greatest effect to show that social contracts between players do not end when their virtual lives begin
Keywords: gamevironments; Video Games; Sword Art Online; Log Horizon; Virtual Reality; Death and Dying; Religion and Popular Culture; Secularism
Issue Date: 2018
Journal/Edited collection: gamevironments 
Start page: 170
End page: 201
Volume: 9
Type: Artikel/Aufsatz
ISSN: 2364-382X
Secondary publication: no
URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-00106983-18
Institution: Universität Bremen 
Faculty: Fachbereich 09: Kulturwissenschaften (FB 09) 
Institute: Institut für Religionswissenschaft und Religionspädagogik 
Appears in Collections:Forschungsdokumente

  

Page view(s)

802
checked on May 11, 2025

Download(s)

324
checked on May 11, 2025

Google ScholarTM

Check


Items in Media are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Legal notice -Feedback -Data privacy
Media - Extension maintained and optimized by Logo 4SCIENCE