The Avatar Faculty: Ecstatic Transformations in Religion and Video Games, 1st Edition

.Ecstatic Transformations in Religion and Video GamesThe Avatar Faculty creatively examines the parallels between spiritual and digital activities to explore the roles that symbolic second selves—avatars—can play in our lives. The use of avatars can allow for what anthropologists call ecstasy, from the Greek ekstasis, meaning “standing outside oneself.” The archaic techniques of promoting spiritual ecstasy, which remain central to religious healing traditions around the world, now also have contemporary analogues in virtual worlds found on the internet. In this innovative book, Jeffrey G. Snodgrass argues that avatars allow for the ecstatic projection of consciousness into alternate realities, potentially providing both the spiritually possessed and gamers access to superior secondary identities with elevated social standing. Even if only temporary, self-transformations of these kinds can help reduce psychosocial stress and positively improve health and well-being.The Avatar Faculty: Ecstatic Transformations in Religion and Video Games 1st Edition is written by Jeffrey G. Snodgrass and published by University of California Press. ISBNs for The Avatar Faculty are 9780520384378, 0520384377 and the print ISBNs are 9780520384361, 0520384369. Additional ISBNs include 9780520384354.