Representation of Islam in digital games

As a result of the development of digital technologies, new media has become one of the areas that has the most effect on the social structure and texture. The rapid development of new media has been reflected in all fields of production and has led to it becoming a tool for the spread or activation of cultural policies in addition to having news and entertainment purposes. One of the most effective and voluminous working areas of new media is the digital game industry. Despite the fact that in appearance digital games are solely entertainment activities, a cultural influence and orientation function has also emerged over time. Within the scope of this thesis, digital games which are products of the culture industry have been examined in terms of "representation of Islam". The sample of the research consists of digital games published between 2010 and 2019, which include Islamic elements and has reached the highest number of players by using the criterion sampling type of the non-probability sampling method. In this regard, the sample consists of games Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Civilization VI: Gathering Storm and Battlefield 3. In the study, qualitative data analysis was applied based on Espen Aarseth's "Three Dimensional Analysis Method". Three Dimensional Analysis Method consists of gameplay, game-structure and game-world dimensions. Within the scope of the research, the game structure and game world dimensions were used, and the gameplay dimension was excluded since it examines personal experiences. Depending on the limitations of the research the most recent games with Islamic elements which reach the most players were examined. As a result, it has been determined that there are neutral approaches as well as negative representations. In two of the three digital games covered by the review, Islam is represented as compatible with terrorist activities and malignancy in the games Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Battlefield 3. The third game, Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, unlike the two games, displayed a neutral attitude in the representation of Islam and portrayed the elements of Islam without attributing a positive or negative meaning.