News (2)

Two members of ZeMKI have been newly appointed to the editorial board of the journal gamevironments: Christian Schwarzenegger and Karsten D. Wolf will strengthen the scientific panel of the gaming journal.

Karina Moritzen is a PhD candidate in Musicology at the Universtiy of Oldenburg and in Communication at the Universidade Federal Fluminense. Since April 2026, she serves as an advisory member of the “Media and Religion” lab led by Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler at ZeMKI.

ZeMKI member Kerstin Radde-Antweiler will participate in a panel discussion on the topic "Does Politics Belong in Video Games? Games have long since become more than just a pastime. They tell stories, build worlds – and in doing so, sometimes convey values." on the ARD MixTalk program on March 4th at 8:30 pm.

For 2026, the ZeMKI Steering Committee has selected seven international visiting scholars as part of the Visiting Research Fellowship program. Each fellow will spend at least four weeks collaborating with selected ZeMKI Labs.

ZeMKI member Kerstin Radde Antweiler was interviewed by up2date, the online magazine of the University of Bremen. The interview discussed the relevance of video games to society. Whether serious games, environmental games, or first-person shooters: they all offer insights into human values. They promote violence, incite aggression, or are simply a waste of time: this is how video games are often portrayed. But this perspective is outdated, as religious and media studies scholar Kerstin Radde-Antweiler demonstrates.

The new ZeMKI working paper by authors Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Solange Lefebvre, and Gladys Ganiel, entitled “The Changing Role of Religion in Societies Emerging from Covid-19. Research Project Methodology,” is now available.

BEDROOM JOURNALISTS? ZINES AND EARLY PLAYER CULTURES  In the 1980s and 1990s, for many computer game enthusiasts, the dream of a job in the games industry often began in their bedrooms: some created their first games on the C64 or Atari, while others wanted to write about games and literally put together their own gaming magazines. However, not much is known about these so-called zines.

Two new publications in the "Routledge Critical Studies in Video Games and Culture" book series were released in December. One of the publications, authored by former ZeMKI member Dr. Katrin Trattner, addresses "The Role of Enemies in Military Shooter Video Games: On Hostile Ground."

The latest issue of the gamevironments Journal, focusing on gaming, was published on December 18, 2025. Among the published articles are exciting pieces such as "The Byzantine Army in Video Games: Common Misconceptions Shaping Popular Perceptions" and "Hollow yet Hopeful? Sky Islands, Hubris, and Gravity in Video Games." Check it out here. 

On December 11, 2025, ZeMKI member Kerstin Radde-Antweiler will give a lecture at the University of Bern on "RECOV-19: The Changing Role of Religion in Societies Emerging from Covid-19". The Covid19 pandemic has revealed how diverse worldviews shape responses to crises.

ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler will participate in a network meeting of the CARD project at the University of Würzburg from December 8th to 10th. How is religious agency changing in the age of digitalization and artificial intelligence? Researchers at the Universities of Bremen and Würzburg are addressing this question in the new DFG research network CARD. The interdisciplinary project is scheduled to run for three years.

The Network of German-Speaking Religious and Cultural Researchers in Times of Deep Mediatization (GeNet-ISMRC) is hosting an online lecture by Prof. Dr. Pauline Cheong (Arizona State University) on the topic of "Faithful Automation and dynamisms of innovation in leadership, communication and ethics" on December 2nd from 6-8 pm (online). Registrations can be sent to ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler.