The children of Abraham, videogames and education : A report on videogames and the didactics of religion from an ethnographic perspective

The terms of socialization have changed with the development of society. Today’s modernity acts as cause for change and technology is no exception. When society change, the context of our lives does as well, and today’s transformation seem to affect young people at a larger rate than it did for older generations. This report aims to investigate the didactic potential of video games by using an ethnographic perspective on how religious symbols and religious symbolism is portrayed and exposed in a digital format. By investigating the occurrences of these aspects in popular videogames with sales over 10 millions, and analyzing the findings through literature and scientific methodologies, the paper could conclude that the videogames God of War, Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations held a didactic potential in the aspect of contributing to the students’ own self-chosen educational process. While acting as motivational means, videogames could result in a boost affecting the motivation within young students in the learning-process that further on is affirmed in an educational environment. By taking advantage of a process the student has already chosen of its own free will, the pedagogic behind the theory may then be able to affirm and reinforce the foundation on which certain knowledge stands. Earlier studies showed that the motivational aspect of video games in education has a strong connection to young students today and the self-chosen learning-process has an important role to play in the potential video games pose in further usage in an educational context