ABOUT ICONOGRAVE

The main purpose of IconoGrave is to catalogue and examine funerary imagery — particularly graveyards and cemeteries — throughout the history of video gaming as an ongoing project. In addition to maintaining a database of graveyards in video games, we offer brief assessments and interpretations of the imagery using methods drawn from art history, literary and media studies, and semiotics. Additionally, these design decisions can reveal how historical information is transmitted across different cultures, often creating new concepts associated with graves as designers and players alike keep engaging with video games featuring prominent funerary environments. In addition to maintaining a database, we welcome original work by writers, scholars, and artists — both hobbyist and professional — relating to funerary imagery or closely-related subjects like death studies, thanatology, mythology, folklore, gender/class studies, and other topics applicable to video gaming. Ultimately, we hope to show how a wide range of interpretations can be made if these environments are paid close attention.

Contributors