This month’s Frame: improving game development through Talal Asad's theory of religion
A framework that helps game developers “design devotion” by identifying the core aspects of a game’s experience which inspire fandom.
It used to be the case that creating a media product based on a pre-existing franchise was the path to guaranteed success. After all, there was a set of people—fans—who were very likely to watch a film sequel, or play a game based on their favourite book.
But in recent years, once-beloved media franchises have struggled to connect with their audiences. Despite massive budgets, new entries in these storied universes have underperformed, alienating fans and sparking divisive cultural debates. On the more extreme end, review-bombing and harassment of developers have fuelled a broader narrative that such bad-faith attacks are to blame for a franchise’s failure.
Such a disconnect between fans and creators is especially worrisome in the gaming industry. Not only have so-called AAA games become incredibly expensive to produce (and for fans to purchase), but the industry itself has been wracked with recent layoffs and job insecurity.
Game developers face a difficult challenge. They must create games that resonate with the core audience of a franchise, while also speaking to less-engaged fans, and attracting new audiences. Fandom itself is extremely diverse—from obsessive “stans” to casual fans, everyone needs to find something of value in the new game.
With franchise games central to a studio’s success, how can developers understand what makes a franchise particularly worthy of devotion from its fans, so that successive games can be built with those aspects in mind? How can they identify opportunities for innovations that add to rather than disrupt past editions? And how might this help them to develop games that please rather than polarise?
To answer these questions, we can apply the work of anthropologist Talal Asad, who created the concept of a “discursive tradition” to answer a similar problem in the anthropology of religion. His analysis of religion reveals how traditions evolve through reinterpretation and community engagement, helping us see gaming fandoms not as static entities but as living, participatory cultures.
The framework
The topic of how to analyse Islam has been debated back and forth by various social scientists for many years. Because of the political, economic, linguistic and ethnic diversity of Muslims across the world, theorists disagreed on what even counts as “studying Islam”. The topic was almost too broad to capture. Yet—ask any Muslim—Islam is clearly real. There must be an analytical approach that sufficiently balances the specific and the broad.
The anthropologist Talal Asad developed such an approach. He argued that Islam ought to be considered as a “discursive tradition”, or a set of practices, neither static or monolithic; rather something dynamic, evolving through ongoing interactions between foundational religious texts and both individual / social actions. Discursive traditions are constantly being reconfigured and recontextualised—hence they are “discursive”.
In his own words, religious traditions are discourses that “relate conceptually to a past (when the practice was instituted, and from which the knowledge of its point and proper performance has been transmitted) and a future (how the point of that practice can best be secured in the short or long term, or why it should be modified or abandoned), through a present (how it is linked to other practices, institutions, and social conditions).”
To illustrate this, let us analyse the Muslim tradition of daily prayer according to Asad’s framework. The conceptual link to the past is there since it is common knowledge among Muslims that the tradition of prayer was established by the Prophet Muhammad. The link to the future exists in how it is one of the five “pillars of faith" that are mandatory for Muslims. Yet there is a variety of how prayer is conducted in the present, depending on the political and religious institutions that are “linked” to that prayer technique. One of the major differences is how Muslims of the Shia sect often pray with their foreheads touching a “turbah” (holy tablet made of clay or sacred soil) whereas Sunni Muslims do not. Prayer is therefore central to Islam, while retaining variety.
In contrast to the centrality of prayer within Islam, consider the celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. This practice is observed by many Muslims, particularly in Iran and parts of Central Asia, where it has deep cultural significance. However, Nowruz is not rooted in foundational Islamic texts like the Qur'an or Hadith, and its inclusion in Islamic tradition varies greatly. While some communities have integrated it into their religious practices, others view it as a cultural, rather than religious, event.
By using Nowruz as a counterpoint to prayer, we can see how some practices align strongly with a discursive tradition's past, present, and future, while others occupy a more peripheral or contested space. This comparison helps us understand the boundaries of what defines the core tradition of a religion—as Asad states, “Clearly, not everything Muslims say and do belongs to an Islamic discursive tradition”.
Using the framework
We can apply Asad’s framework to the practices of gamers to help game developers identify what exactly makes a particular franchise special, what qualifies as part of the game “canon”, and understand the significance of the wider culture around it. We suggest the following steps:
1. Engage many different types of player
Before everything else, engage with the fanbase. Immersion into community spaces such as forums, subreddits, and discords is important to find core fans. However, speaking to more general gamers is equally crucial. Engaging with many different types of fan creates a foundation for understanding and prevents developers from being too swayed by one set of voices.
The studio Digital Extremes (creators of Warframe) exemplifies this approach. They invest heavily in community management, even promoting their Creative Director internally from the community management team. This rare move demonstrates a strong commitment to their fans and ensures their games remain rooted in player needs and expectations.
2. Create a longlist of gaming practices
Next, developers must catalogue not only in-game experiences but also the broader rituals and practices that surround the franchise. These could include:
Gameplay mechanics that define the core experience.
Memes and shared jokes.
Community-led tournaments and competitive play.
Social rituals, such as conventions, cosplay events, and fan art creation.
Streaming culture, where fans watch others engage with the game.
Understanding these behaviours provides insight into how the game exists as a living culture, not just a product. For example, conventions like BlizzCon for Blizzard franchises or Final Fantasy XIV’s Fan Festivals become essential “holistic touchpoints” where developers and players coalesce around shared traditions.
3. Determine which practices link a past and future, and in doing so, identify the most widespread conception of past and future
To identify the core of the franchise’s discursive tradition, developers must analyse which behaviours link conceptually to the past (what has defined the franchise so far) and project towards the future (where the franchise should evolve). In doing so, they will uncover an understanding of what is truly “canon” to the core experience of a game, vs. what is extraneous or contingent.
For example, within the Pokémon franchise, catching, training, and battling Pokémon are core to the franchise’s identity. These mechanics originated in the first ever Pokémon games, Red and Blue, and they embody the future vision of collecting and mastering creatures to “become the very best.” The catch / train / battle mechanics remain central in every mainline game, anchoring players in a shared tradition. Discursive innovations like regional variants and open-world battling build on this foundation, ensuring continuity while keeping the series relevant. In contrast, Pokémon contests, which were introduced in the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire games and focused on aesthetic appeal, are peripheral—enjoyed by some but not integral to the franchise’s core experience.
4. Keep new game innovations in conversation with the shared past / future that you have identified
Lastly, with the knowledge gained in steps 1-3, developers will need to ensure that innovations they have planned for the latest version of the game are linked to the shared past and future. This linkage will need to be clear in marketing and communications before the game has even launched.
Past: Highlight gameplay mechanics, storytelling techniques, and visual aesthetics that fans see as the franchise’s identity. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild innovated with open-world gameplay but justified it as a return to the original game’s exploratory spirit, thus linking innovation with tradition.
Future: Develop a roadmap that communicates where the franchise is headed. This should include clear goals for expanding gameplay, introducing new stories, and enhancing player engagement.
By following these steps, a game developer will have identified the core experience elements of a particular franchise, and along the way will have established relationships and deepened their knowledge of the entire player base. Taking a “discursive” approach that engages fans in conversation with the past and looks towards a shared future can retain the cultural momentum of the franchise, ensuring its success for years to come.
Interested in exploring this topic further? Explore our archive of past Frames:
In Using rhizomatic thinking to unlock new ideas, we consider how rhizomatic systems can help us reimagine the possibilities of Gen AI, another lens through which we might view discursive traditions of religion and fandom.
In Rethinking immersion with tech, we propose Sara Ahmed’s theory of affective economies to help us reframe what makes technologies feel truly immersive.
In Igor Kopytoff and singularisation, we explore how content recommendations become meaningful exactly when they become rooted in social history, social identity and social practices.
Frames is a monthly newsletter that sheds light on the most important issues concerning business and technology.
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