http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/2192520269

Information Technology Surrogate for Religion

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".

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