Sorcelleries vidéo-ludiques : figures sorcières, pouvoir et communauté dans les mondes The Witcher 3 et World of Warcraft
(2026) Social Compass : international review of sociology of religion — Vol. 73, n° Issue 1, p. 0 (2026)
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- This article examines the appropriations and reconfigurations of witchcraft across two major video game universes : The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red, 2015) and World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004). Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that brings together cultural studies, the socio-anthropology of digital media, and game studies, it argues that magic can no longer be understood merely as a narrative archetype or a rule-based system, but rather as a critical operator through which contemporary social tensions are articulated. Rooted in contrasting geocultural contexts – The Witcher 3, developed in post-communist Poland and deeply shaped by Polish Catholicism, and World of Warcraft, emerging from a Californian technological ecosystem influenced by free-market ideals and digital innovation – these video game representations intertwine power, gender, and faith. An analysis of game mechanics, narrative structures, and community-driven reappropriations (modding practices, blogs) reveals a form of witchcraft in transformation : simultaneously feminist, collective, and reflexive. Digital magic thus emerges as a social language, a postmodern ritual, and a mirror reflecting the contradictions between rationality, belief, and control.
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Servais, O., & Maillo, R. (2026). Sorcelleries vidéo-ludiques : figures sorcières, pouvoir et communauté dans les mondes The Witcher 3 et World of Warcraft. Social Compass : international review of sociology of religion, 73(Issue 1), 0. https://doi.org/10.1177/003776862614465 (Original work published 2026)