Beyond Representation: Reconstructing Muslim Hero Identity through Procedural Rhetoric in Islamic Video Games
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61942/msj.v4i3.642Keywords:
Islamic video games, Muslim hero identity, Procedural Rhetoric, Digital Religion, Representation Theory, Game StudiesAbstract
The representation of Muslims in digital games has received increasing scholarly attention, yet existing research has largely focused on visual imagery, narrative representation, and ideological discourse while overlooking the procedural nature of gameplay. This article argues that Muslim hero identity in Islamic video games cannot be adequately understood through representational analysis alone. Instead, identity emerges through players' interaction with computational systems that organize ethical choices, moral responsibility, and religious meaning. This study aims to reconstruct the concept of Muslim hero identity by integrating Representation Theory, Procedural Rhetoric, and Digital Religion into a unified conceptual framework. Employing a qualitative theory-building approach, the study combines systematic literature review, qualitative content analysis, critical discourse analysis, and theory synthesis to examine how identity is constituted through interactive gameplay rather than static representation. The analysis demonstrates that procedural mechanics, player agency, moral agency, and religious meaning-making collectively shape the construction of Muslim hero identity. Based on these findings, the study proposes the Procedural Muslim Hero Identity Framework (PMHIF), comprising five interconnected dimensions: Representational Foundation, Procedural System, Interactive Moral Agency, Religious Meaning-Making, and Procedural Muslim Hero Identity. The framework reconceptualizes Muslim hero identity as an emergent, participatory, and ethically situated process enacted through gameplay rather than merely represented through narrative or visual symbols. By moving beyond representational paradigms, this study extends Procedural Rhetoric into the domain of Digital Religion and offers a new interdisciplinary framework that contributes to Game Studies, Islamic Media Studies, and the broader scholarship on religion and interactive digital media.
Downloads
References
Al-Ghazālī, A. Ḥ. (n.d.). Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn. Dār al-Maʿrifah.
Al-Rawi, A. (2018). Video games, terrorism, and ISIS's Jihad 3.0. Terrorism and Political Violence, 30(6), 937–955.
Asad, T. (2003). Formations of the secular: Christianity, Islam, modernity. Stanford University Press.
Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. MIT Press.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
Campbell, H. A. (Ed.). (2013). Digital religion: Understanding religious practice in new media worlds. Routledge.
Campbell, H. A., & Garner, S. (2016). Networked theology: Negotiating faith in digital culture. Baker Academic.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). Sage.
Fairclough, N. (2015). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Flanagan, M., & Nissenbaum, H. (2014). Values at play in digital games. MIT Press.
Frasca, G. (2003). Simulation versus narrative: Introduction to ludology. In M. J. P. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The video game theory reader (pp. 221–235). Routledge.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday.
Hall, S. (1997). The work of representation. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices (pp. 13–74). Sage.
Hallaq, W. B. (2009). Shari'a: Theory, practice, transformations. Cambridge University Press.
Huizinga, J. (1955). Homo ludens: A study of the play-element in culture. Beacon Press.
Hutchings, T. (2017). Creating church online: Ritual, community and new media. Routledge.
Juul, J. (2005). Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. MIT Press.
Kamali, M. H. (2003). Principles of Islamic jurisprudence (3rd ed.). Islamic Texts Society.
Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (4th ed.). Sage.
Said, E. W. (1997). Orientalism. Vintage Books.
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. MIT Press.
Shaheen, J. G. (2009). Reel bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people (Updated ed.). Olive Branch Press.
Šisler, V. (2008). Digital Arabs: Representation in video games. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 11(2), 203–220.
Šisler, V. (2013). Playing Muslim hero: Construction of identity in video games. In H. A. Campbell (Ed.), Digital religion: Understanding religious practice in new media worlds (pp. 136–146). Routledge.
Sicart, M. (2009). The ethics of computer games. MIT Press.
Swedberg, R. (2014). The art of social theory. Princeton University Press.
Wolf, M. J. P., & Perron, B. (Eds.). (2003). The video game theory reader. Routledge
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Yuana Ryan Tresna, Hendri Waluyo Lensa, Dody S. Truna, Rifki Rosyad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
