Presentation given May 23, 2024 at the 14th International Conferenc of Religion and Spirituality in Society, Complutense University, Madrid.

1. KUSHIEL'S BELOVED AND ST.
BERNADETTE'S: RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
IN ONLINE ROLE-PLAY
COMMUNITIES
Jean-Paul DuQuette
University of Macau
14th International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society
Complutense University, Madrid
May 23, 2024

2. PREFACE:
A BIBLE STUDY SESSION AT
ST. BERNADETTE’S

3. RELIGION IN ROLE-PLAY
• Took place online.
• Took place in a virtual world
community using avatars.
• Participants are all role-playing.
• The priest is not a priest.
• The children are not children.
• The parents might be parents…but
they’re not the parents of the children.
• But the lesson / message is ‘real’.

4. SECOND LIFE:
A PROTO-METAVERSE
• Released in 2003 by Philip Rosedale’s
Linden Lab (Au, 2008)
• A persistent, contiguous, 3D graphical
chat environment
• Resident-based economy with its own
currency
• Arguably still the most popular (non
MMORPG) MUVE online

5. COMMUNITIES WITHIN SL
• Educational (e.g. languages, building,
scripting, etc.)
• Social / chat
• Recreational (live music, art galleries)
• Role-play (historical, fantasy, sexual)

6. ROLE-PLAY IN SL:
LARP ADJACENT
• LARPs are embodied in the player
(Stenros & MacDonald, 2013).
• LARPs are co-created
• LARPS are emergent
• LARPS are reflexive - “players
experience both fictive and real worlds
in a dialogic relationship” (Hoover, et
al., 2018).
• LARPs require inter-immersion
(pretending together).

7. ROLE-PLAY IN SL:
ATYPICAL PARTICULARITIES
• Less game, more improv.
• No game master.
• Social interaction (which can include
romance) is the focus.
• Shares similarities with asynchronous
online freeform play (Hammer, 2018),
especially emphasis on text over voice.
• Few norms regarding IC (in character) vs.
OOC (out of character) (which can lead to
bleed (Montola, 2010; Bowman 2015) and
other issues.

8. A LOOK AT RELIGION AND RITUAL IN
THREE SL ROLE-PLAY GROUPS
•1. The Firefly
Companion’s Guild
•2. The Night/Moon
Court (New Elua)
•3. St. Bernadette’s

9. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
•How do these groups
integrate religion /
spirituality into their
communities?
•Why do they feel the
need to do it?

10. METHODOLOGY
• Qualitative and ethnographic, focusing
on participant observation.
• In the CG (2016-2020). All other
research was done (2022-2024).
• Discourse analysis of semi-structured
interviews, classes, informal activities,
and recorded ceremonies with
participants and event leaders.
• Methodologically atheist (Berger, 1967)
i.e. not concerned with truth
propositions or authenticity.

11. 1. THE FIREFLY COMPANIONS GUILD
• A role-play finishing school and adult
RP group loosely based on Joss
Whedon’s Firefly.
• Incorporates Tibetan Buddhism, &
Japanese geisha and tea culture into
their curriculum.
• While there were more than 100 active
members at its peak of popularity, as of
2023 it hovered around 30-50
members.

12. TIBETAN BUDDHISM IN THE
COMPANION’S GUILD
• Dakini Land
• Buddhawheel
• Priestess training
• Meditation classes
• Integration into other rituals
• Focus on spiritual intermediaries (i.e.
guru culture)
• Performative spirituality (Grieve, 2017)
driven by role-play

13. MANDALAS OF VAJRAYOGINI
• A Tantric Buddhist goddess and dakini
(“a Tantric term for female practioners,
adepts, spirits and dieties” (Shaw, 2006,
p. 359)).
• An unselfish deity that strives for the
well-being of others and the
destruction of their egos
• Appropriate for those people with
passionate natures (which she can
change into more enlightened virtues)
(Gyatso, 1996; Shaw, 2006)

14. 2. THE NIGHT / MOON COURT
• Based on the fantasy novels of
Jacqueline Carey (Carey, 2001).
• Adult themes make it similar to the
Companion’s Guild
• Conflict within the group led to a
transformation from fantasy to sci-fi –
New Elua
• Focuses on opportunities for dedicated
IC role-play and OOC socializing

15. NATIVE AMERICAN THEMED
HEALING RITUALS
• Unlike the Companion’s
Guild, these are primarily
OOC.
• Resemble secular support
groups.
• Some ceremonies in the
group are IC, but are
members only.

16. 3. ST. BERNADETTE’S
• Entirely different than the previous two.
• A Catholic church for IC family role-
players.
• Regular services and Sunday School
lessons.
• Specifically for non-adult rated role-
play.

17. DISCUSSION:
WHY DO ROLE-PLAYERS FEEL THE NEED
TO INCLUDE RELIGION AND RITUAL?

18. 1) THE COMPANIONS GUILD AS A
TRANSMEDIA HYBRID NRM
• Religon and ritual was reported
to have an impact on
psychological well-being
outside of the magic circle of
role-play (Huizinga, 1955).
• Practice-based / dogma-light
interactions in role-play
provide an opening for Guild
participants initially averse or
ambivalent to religion /
spirituality.

19. ROLE-PLAY AS AN INTRODUCTION
TO BUDDHISM
• “While the Guild hasn't turned me into a Buddhist by any stretch, I
do know I'm operating under a perception of concepts like
attachment that I didn't have before.” (Lysana, private
conversation, 13/4/18)
• “The Guild training, particularly the meditation element, gave me
a social self-awareness that my previous meditation training
hadn't addressed. Varahi is not only a gifted teacher but an
originator and has effectively created a new spiritual tradition.”
(Beeflin, private conversation, 13/4/18)

20. 2) THE MOON COURT AS ON ONLINE
FRIEND GROUP, BOTH IC AND OOC
• There are RP based rituals,
but…
• Many religion-themed
activities spring from offline
backgrounds and goodwill,
not a desire for RP
immersion.
• New Elua itself is evidence of
close-knit OOC friendships
within the group.

21. SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES ARE SUPPORT AND
(PRIMARILY) SEPARATE FROM RP
• “The spiritual activities DO increase group cohesion…I mean, look at
Facebook groups. there are a lot of big groups based around health, or
mental issues, or whatever, with people meeting complete strangers and
leaning on them for support.”
• “So, for our group, we have a lot of wiccans and a lot of atheists. The faux
spiritual framework of the Kushiel books, gives us a sort of mutual
groundwork that "normies" get from church groups, I think. But that's just
my opinion.”
J. (SL interview, 4.4.24)

22. 3)ST. BERNADETTE: IMMERSION AND
VALIDATION
• IC but not “unserious”.
• Started at the request of the family sim
owner.
• Run by a former priest in RL.
• Why family RP in the first place? It’s “a
willing act of pretense to pretend their
way into a fictional time-space in
exchange for a deeper childlike
enjoyment of its splendor” (Schrier,
Torner & Hammer, 2018; Saler (2012).

23. IC BUT SERIOUS
• “I think that some on SL want a place they can pray and meditate and be with
others. Many are unable to go to a RL church.”
• “We are on a family sim, so we do have adult avis and child avis. To be honest, I
think of the person behind the avi.”
• “There are a few places that are serious. Unfortunately there are also some creepy
and unserious places…On the sim we are at, we have a security team that makes
sure people here follow TOS (Terms of Service) and are not ‘bad’”. F. Chris (Discord
interview, 2.4.24)

24. CAVEAT:
AMBIGUITIES IN SL ROLE-PLAY
• There are few clear norms in SL
role-play.
• Even SL role-players in one
group may not understand the
motivations of others in other
groups.
• Case studies like these are
difficult to generalize.

25. SECOND LIFE RELIGION:
PLAYFUL, BUT NOT PLAY
• “Do you really think most people
don't understand the seriousness of
many online communities?” J. (SL
interview, 4.4.24)
• Though religion and spirituality are
integrated into role-play in different
ways in different role-play
communities, there is an
assumption that this is for RL (real
life).

26. IT’S NOT FOR THE ROLE-PLAY, IT’S FOR
THE ROLE-PLAYER
• Religion in the groups studied is not
(primarily) for immersion.
• Spiritual dimension as justification – for
time spent in play.
• Validation – that one’s hobby is
meaningful outside of the circle of play.
• Camaraderie – to reassure members
that outside of RP, they are thoughtful
and caring people.

27. RELIGION IS INCLUDED NOT FOR RP
IMMERSION, BUT BECAUSE IT’S SEEN AS A
VITAL ASPECT OF HUMAN INTERACTION

28. PHOTOS
•All photos by Jean-Paul DuQuette except:
•Slide 4, Patrick Kovarik (The Independent, 2022)
•Slide 6: Steve Mitchell (Getty Images, 2023)
•Slide 16,17: Fiona Fei (2020)
•

29. REFERENCES
• Au, W.J. (2008). The making of Second Life. HarperCollins.
• Berger, P. (1967). The sacred canopy. Anchor.
• Bowman, S.L. (2015). Bleed: The spillover between player and character. Nordiclarp.org. https://nordiclarp.org/2015/03/02/bleed-the-spillover-between-player-and-character
• Carey, J. (2001) Kushiel’s Dart. Tor Books.
• Grieve, G.P. (2017). Cyber Zen: Imagining authentic Buddhist identity, community, and practices in the virtual world of Second Life. New York: Routledge.
• Gyatso, G.K. (1997). Guide to Dakini Land: The Highest Yoga Tantra Practice of Buddha Vajrayogini. USA: Tharpa Publications.
• Hoover, S. Simkins, D., Deterding, S., Meldman, D. & Brown, A. (2018). Performance Studies and Role-Playing Games. In J. Zagal and S. Deterding (Eds.). Role-playing game studies: A
transmedia approach. (pp. 213-226). Routledge.
• Huizinga, J. (1955). Homo ludens: A study of the play element in culture. Boston, MA: The Beacon Press
• Montola, M. (2010). The Positive Negative Experience in Extreme Role-playing. Proceedings of DiGRA Nordic 2010: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players.
• Saler, M. (2012). As if: Modern enchantment and the literary prehistory of virtual reality. Oxford University Press.
• Shaw, M. (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of India. Princeton University Press.
• Schrier, K., Torner, E. & Hammer, J. (2018). Worldbuilding in role-playing games. In J. Zagal and S. Deterding (Eds.). Role-playing game studies: A transmedia approach. (pp. 349-363).
Routledge
• Stenros, J. & MacDonald, J. (2013, October 28). Aesthetics of Action. Jaako Stenros. https://petterkarlsson.se/2013/10/28/jaakko-stenros-aesthetics-of-action