Good day, fellow lore-enthusiasts!
I've written a bachelor's thesis about the religious themes in Morrowind. The purpose of the essay is to show how different cultural (with focus on religious) themes in role-playing games and their research should be considered a valid academic branch. It also presents an idea of how computer games might have great potential in teaching people about different cultures.

I'm hoping this will be of interest to some here, and especially to the academics who still believe computer games cannot hold anything of academic or cultural interest. I couldn't find any academic work establishing basic reliability for content of this kind, and so I chose to do it myself. For this reason, it focuses on content on a more basic, easy-to-understand level. My intent is to delve more deeply into specific themes of interest in later works.


Here is the link:
http://kau.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:508317
To download as PDF, click on "fulltext" under File Information.
Hope you'll enjoy reading it!

Linking to your thesis shouldn't be a problem, though i would recommend wearing a bulletproof vest for a few days just in case i am wrong

I think there's a new rule on the forums that doesn't allow posting link until you have 5 (or so) posts. After posting some posts, the linking feature should unlock.

Wow! That must be something. You'll be able to post links soon, it's just a matter of your being a new member. And about that, have a http://images.uesp.net/c/c4/Fishystick.jpg

What is your major? Sociology, I'd guess? Anthropology? Religious Studies?

I love lore, I love Morrowind, and I love the depth of great RPGs (and other games too), but I'm not sure there's enough meat there for a serious academic thesis- so I'll look forward to reading yours!

Ah, I see. Well, I'll just keep posting and hopefully it'll fix itself in time. x)

Hahah, thank you. I've got some time left before it's a full exam, but the major will be in religious science/history of religion. This summer I'm planning on focusing studies on mythology in books and films, which'll definitely be useful when researching computer games. ^^

Well, same here, obviously. Among the RPG games I've played, I think Morrowind's the one game with the most interesting religious content. It shines through all the time how much the authors know about the subject. My teacher was baffled by the content when I started presenting it. ; )

Hope the link in my PM works! Anyone else who wants to read, just tell and I'll send it. Cheers

I want it and I want it now! I'm currently doing my bachelor's thesis as well, and I'm interested as hell in Morrowind. So, what could be better?

What is your subject? Theology or something related, or some more general culture study? Perhaps a literature subject?

Of course! Uh, when I try to send you a PM it says I don't have permission for it.

The subject is religious science, focused on history of religions. I couldn't find a single proper thesis on religious content in computer games, so the purpose of this thesis is to prove it can be incorporated effectively. As such, it mostly contains content on a easier level of anolysis, but hopefully it'll be an interesting read either way. You're very welcome to keep spreading it around, especially to your teachers my hope is to make this an accepted academic branch of study, after all.

Also, if you want to study Morrowind or some other computer game for your thesis you're very much welcome to quote my work. Could prove useful if someone would say "who cares, it's just a computer game"

Anyone who's recieved the thesis link by PM and are allowed to post links are very much welcome to paste it here, would be much appreciated. :'D

Here you are:
http://kau.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:508317
To download as PDF, click on "fulltext" under File Information.

Will probably do. I'll soon have to start working on my project on Christianity and pagan influences, and I'm unconventional enough to give Morrowind some "screen time".

Just read through it. First time in a while that i can say I have read through over 34 pages of something and cared enough to remember the details. Blame schoolwork just seeming like a chore that is to be done but is important. That said, this was extremely interesting to read. I really, really hope the people who grade this will read it and not just throw it aside saying, "Okay. That gets an A. Next!" I'm not in college yet, and am in 10th grade, so I don't know if colleges pay attention to the contents of papers in a way that isn't, "Does this meet the rubric?" Happens for me, but I do online schooling.

I probably will find myself writing a paper on Silent Hill 2's philosophical ideas and psychological ideas when I am able to do a paper on it. Silent Hill 3's religious themes could be another good topic for such a paper as the one you wrote. I may use your idea if I can someday and write about the first three Silent Hill games and the cult in the games.

Sounds great, I love anolysing Morrowind! I'll edit this post once I've read it.

Varana: thanks!

War_Psyence:
I see may I ask the area/subject/etc. that they are said to influence? Or is it christian and pagan influences on computer games?

Klawed Flaw:
I'm happy to hear that! That's the whole point of it; Morrowind teaches the player about culture while making the learning process interesting.
"Well, this gets an A. Next!" is pretty much what I got. No comments on it. I'm quite disappointed in my teacher at that time, but he did talk about how fascinating the content was and how it shone right through how learned the author was on religious themes.

It's sad that works usually aren't published online until they reach bachelor's thesis or above (at least it's like that here in Sweden). Well, doesn't stop you from posting it here or using it for studies on a higher level

I would love to read about that. I haven't played the third game, but I've heard things about The Order (I think it was called) that made me want to play it. The second game (and the whole series in general, I guess) deserves a lot of study, fantastic idea and concept.

SirBryghtside:
Then you could certainly find it interesting. as said earlier, as the purpose is to establish a basic reliability it only presents and anolyzes content of a more basic level.

First of all, your essay is amazing. Narrow-minded teachers do not deserve to teach. "Silly things" like games are often much more fascinating and deep than what they want you to study. Nice that you quoted Eliade. (I'm romanian so I was genuinely glad you did.)

As for my project, it will be about pagan influences on Christianity. I should've put it better the first time.

Thank you so much! Exactly, that's why I want the academic world to recognize this subject.

Eliade is one of my favorite academic authors, if not the favorite. Essential sacred writings from across the world (I think it's called) is just lovely.
Sounds interesting! I'm really intrigued by Asherah's role in ancient Hebrew mythology (if you don't know about her, try wikipedia).

No problem The academic world is not aware of many things, and does more things wrong tha does right so it's just natural that they won't give a damn about not so traditional subjects. One thing I'd love to tell teachers is "You know, these guys that make games often know..ehhm..understand their history, psychology, language, math and physics better than you do....because it's just part of their job."

To be honest I've only read his "Bengal Nights" and it was very nice. I still haven't read that book of his you quoted from. Yeah, me too. She's the one I want to write/talk about. People don't know God once had a wife.

An excellent piece op. This should be on TIL for dissection and discussion.

Be advised, typo in your abstract.

Still looking forward to read it during next two months or so. <_> Kinda busy with my own studies until then. Glanced it a bit a few days ago and it seemed like a good read indeed!

Two areas of lore that I think would be good fodder for a theology paper would be comparing TES' solipsistic godhead to real-world forms of gnosticism, or comparing/contrasting the Nerevarine prophecies with Judaic messianism.

I may be a little late to the party... but this was interesting and I'd certainly be interested in reading any continuation of it.

Now for something that came to mind when I read the part where you said the buildings in Morrowind aren't based on some sort of divine inspiration.
From The Anticipations. http://uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:The_Anticipations
This obviously doesn't have to apply to every building - or, in fact, any building as it could be about the Great Houses - but I thought I'd point it out.
(You also need to do some more proofreading, I saw you spell "their" as "heir".)

Oh and the part about walking on water made me smile.

Too short for my tastes. Hope you make a follow-up.

Wat. Something might be wrong with my cookies; several times on different occasions I visited the forum and it said I hadn't gotten any new answers on this thread. Now I suddenly get to see there's a whole bunch of replies x) prepare for a long post!


Too true, sadly. I find that fascinating. An academic is supposed to hunger for information; how can they become so stuck-up like that?
Bengal nights? Haven't read. The book I mentioned lists creation myths and other stuff of religious character from all kinds of places, old and new texts.


Thank you very much. You're very welcome to present it there (or just tell me how to do it, lol); I'm not very familiar with their site, I mostly get lost when I try to navigate that place.


Oh snap. Well, I'll just have to give that one for free. English isn't my first language, and I didn't have a spell check when writing the thesis.


Yeah, I know the feeling there. In the meantime, good like with your own studies


Sounds interesting! What solipsistic nature is there in TES' godhead? My ambition is to research the nature of the Heart of Lorkhan in relation to concepts of material-divinity, both gnostic and otherwise.


We're talking religious studies here, it could be a thousand years old and you still wouldn't be too late to comment on it.
I will post all forms of continuations or work that it otherwise related to the ES universe.

Ha, you got me there! I missed that. Well, it's still a point strengthening the conclusion in my thesis.
Hahah. As told above, didn't have a spell check. I think I did a decent job either way

Hahah, I'd love to see Jesus come to Morrowind, gather some people around him, do the water and claim his divinity, only to be followed by a bark of laughter from everyone.


Much too short for my taste as well. However, as said in the text, this is only supposed to be an appetizer.

Have you read any Campbell?

No, don't think I have. What's his whole name? What has he written?