Post-Mortem Concepts in Digital Games: A Systematic Literature Review
Resumo
Introduction: As digital technologies increasingly mediate human relationships, new forms of memory, presence, and post-mortem interaction emerge, raising relevant sociocultural and ethical questions. Digital games provide distinctive sociotechnical environments for investigating these phenomena. Objective: This paper investigates how digital games support memory preservation, posthumous presence and interaction, and grief-related coping processes. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted following Kitchenham’s guidelines. Searches in ACM, IEEE, and Scopus retrieved 100 studies, of which 10 were selected for further analysis. Results: The results show a predominance of narrative-based approaches focused on individual and single-player experiences. Post-mortem presence is mainly symbolic, with low technological automation. AI-based approaches remain incipient, and multiplayer and community-based practices are still underexplored.
Palavras-chave:
digital games, posthumous interaction, memory preservation, digital immortality, post-mortem technologies
Referências
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Galvão, V. F., Maciel, C., Garcia, A. C. B., and Viterbo, J. (2017). Life beyond the physical body: The possibilities of digital immortality. In 2017 XLIII Latin American Computer Conference (CLEI), pages 1–10. DOI: 10.1109/CLEI.2017.8226419.
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Maciel, C. and Pereira, V. (2012). The internet generation and its representations of death: considerations for posthumous interaction projects. In Proceedings of the Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC), pages 85–94.
Maciel, C. and Pereira, V. C., editors (2013). Digital Legacy and Interaction: Post-Mortem Issues. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-01631-3.
Moffat, D. C. and Shapiro, A. (2015). Serious games for interactive stories about emotionally challenging heritage. In 2015 Digital Heritage, volume 2, pages 709–712. DOI: 10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2015.7419604.
Muzumdar, P., Cheemalapati, S., RamiReddy, S. R., Singh, K., Kurian, G., and Muley, A. (2025). The dead internet theory: A survey on artificial interactions and the future of social media. Asian Journal of Research in Computer Science, 18(1):67–73. DOI: 10.9734/ajrcos/2025/v18i1549.
Oliveira, G. A., Germoliato, M. H. G., da Luz, A., and Ferreira, N. (2019). A utilização de jogos como forma de preservação do patrimônio cultural imaterial. In Anais do XVIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Jogos e Entretenimento Digital (SBGames). SBC.
Orianne, J.-F. and Eustache, F. (2023). Collective memory: between individual systems of consciousness and social systems. Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 14 - 2023. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1238272.
Patil, P. (2025). Healing agent: A virtual companion for grief and remembrance. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 25th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA Adjunct ’25, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3742886.3756702.
Roth, D., von Mammen, S., Keil, J., Schildknecht, M., and Latoschik, M. E. (2019). Approaching difficult terrain with sensitivity: A virtual reality game on the five stages of grief. In 2019 11th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications (VS-Games), pages 1–4. DOI: 10.1109/VS-Games.2019.8864549.
Savin-Baden, M. and Burden, D. (2019). Digital immortality and virtual humans. Postdigital Science and Education, 1(1):87–103. DOI: 10.1007/s42438-018-0007-6.
Savin-Baden, M., Burden, D., and Taylor, H. (2017). The ethics and impact of digital immortality. Knowledge Cultures, 5(2):178–196. DOI: 10.22381/kc52201711.
Silverman, G. S., Baroiller, A., and Hemer, S. R. (2021). Culture and grief: Ethnographic perspectives on ritual, relationships and remembering. Death Studies, 45(1):1–8. PMID: 33272138. DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1851885.
Takano, M., Yokotani, K., Kato, T., Abe, N., and Taka, F. (2025). Avatar communication provides more efficient online social support than text communication. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 19(1):1862–1879. DOI: 10.1609/icwsm.v19i1.35906.
Tateo, L. (2023). Cultural mediation of grief: the role of aesthetic experience. Culture & Psychology, 29(3):411–433. DOI: 10.1177/1354067X221145901.
Verhalen, A. E. C., Pereira, V. C., Bim, S. A., de Mello de Picoli, R. M., Maciel, C., and da Hora Rodrigues, K. R. (2021). Jungle party: a game about loss and grief. In Proceedings of the XX Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’21, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3472301.3484364.
Verhalen, A. E. C. and Rodrigues, K. R. D. H. (2024). Design of therapeutic digital games that support dialogue with children about death. In Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’23, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3638067.3638112.
Wang, H., Gao, Z., Zhang, X., Du, J., Xu, Y., and Wang, Z. (2024). Gamifying cultural heritage: Exploring the potential of immersive virtual exhibitions. Telematics and Informatics Reports, 15:100150. DOI: 10.1016/j.teler.2024.100150.
Yoo, Y. (2010). Computing in everyday life: A call for research on experiential computing1. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 34(2):213–231. DOI: 10.2307/20721425.
Ataguba, G. (2018). Poster: Towards an evaluation of mobile life logging technologies and storytelling in socio-personal grieving spaces. In UbiComp/ISWC 2018 - Adjunct Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers, page 5 – 8. Cited by: 7. DOI: 10.1145/3267305.3267651.
Barbier, B. (2022). The immaterial aspects of video games: Platforms as preservation sites for traces and communities. Hybrid, (8). DOI: 10.4000/hybrid.2175.
Carmo, A. and Ribeiro, K. (2026). Jogos digitais e continuidade da interação pós-morte: Uma revisão sistemática da literatura. In Anais do VII Workshop sobre as Implicações da Computação na Sociedade, pages 224–238, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC. DOI: 10.5753/wics.2026.23125.
DMartins, G., Seabra, R., and Lima, P. (2025). A ten-year systematic mapping of cultural aspects in brazilian digital games. In Anais do XXIV Simpósio Brasileiro de Jogos e Entretenimento Digital, pages 726–740, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC. DOI: 10.5753/sbgames.2025.7142.
Doyle, D. T. and Brubaker, J. R. (2023). Digital legacy: A systematic literature review. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., 7(CSCW2). DOI: 10.1145/3610059.
Ferri, G., Salvador, M., Schouten, B. A., and Venturi, I. (2017). Memory must not be lost: "progetto ustica" and civically-engaged games. In Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, CHI PLAY ’17 Extended Abstracts, page 87–97, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3130859.3131434.
Galvão, V. F., Maciel, C., Dos Santos Nunes, E. P., and Da Hora Rodrigues, K. R. (2024). A framework to support the development of empathic games. In Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’23, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3638067.3638104.
Galvão, V. F., Maciel, C., Pereira, R., Gasparini, I., Viterbo, J., and Garcia, A. C. B. (2021). Discussing human values in digital immortality: towards a value-oriented perspective. Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society, 27(1):15. DOI: 10.1186/s13173-021-00121-x.
Galvao, V. F., Toledo, R. V., Dos Santos, D. B., Maciel, C., and Nunes, E. P. D. S. (2020). Game over: Death representations in virtual reality environments; [game over: representações da morte em ambientes de realidade virtual]. In Proceedings - 2020 22nd Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality, SVR 2020, page 296 – 305. Cited by: 3. DOI: 10.1109/SVR51698.2020.00052.
Galvão, V. F., Maciel, C., Garcia, A. C. B., and Viterbo, J. (2017). Life beyond the physical body: The possibilities of digital immortality. In 2017 XLIII Latin American Computer Conference (CLEI), pages 1–10. DOI: 10.1109/CLEI.2017.8226419.
Kitchenham, B. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. EBSE Technical Report EBSE-2007-01, Keele University and University of Durham.
Kyrlitsias, C. and Michael-Grigoriou, D. (2022). Social interaction with agents and avatars in immersive virtual environments: A survey. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, Volume 2 - 2021. DOI: 10.3389/frvir.2021.786665.
LeFevre, C. and Chung, C.-F. (2024). New understandings of loss: Examining the role of reflective technology within bereavement and meaning-making. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’24, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3641968.
Li, P., Qi, F., and Ye, Z. (2024). Influence of avatar identification on the attraction of virtual reality games: Survey study. JMIR Form Res, 8:e56704. DOI: 10.2196/56704.
Maciel, C. and Pereira, V. (2012). The internet generation and its representations of death: considerations for posthumous interaction projects. In Proceedings of the Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC), pages 85–94.
Maciel, C. and Pereira, V. C., editors (2013). Digital Legacy and Interaction: Post-Mortem Issues. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-01631-3.
Moffat, D. C. and Shapiro, A. (2015). Serious games for interactive stories about emotionally challenging heritage. In 2015 Digital Heritage, volume 2, pages 709–712. DOI: 10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2015.7419604.
Muzumdar, P., Cheemalapati, S., RamiReddy, S. R., Singh, K., Kurian, G., and Muley, A. (2025). The dead internet theory: A survey on artificial interactions and the future of social media. Asian Journal of Research in Computer Science, 18(1):67–73. DOI: 10.9734/ajrcos/2025/v18i1549.
Oliveira, G. A., Germoliato, M. H. G., da Luz, A., and Ferreira, N. (2019). A utilização de jogos como forma de preservação do patrimônio cultural imaterial. In Anais do XVIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Jogos e Entretenimento Digital (SBGames). SBC.
Orianne, J.-F. and Eustache, F. (2023). Collective memory: between individual systems of consciousness and social systems. Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 14 - 2023. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1238272.
Patil, P. (2025). Healing agent: A virtual companion for grief and remembrance. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 25th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA Adjunct ’25, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3742886.3756702.
Roth, D., von Mammen, S., Keil, J., Schildknecht, M., and Latoschik, M. E. (2019). Approaching difficult terrain with sensitivity: A virtual reality game on the five stages of grief. In 2019 11th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications (VS-Games), pages 1–4. DOI: 10.1109/VS-Games.2019.8864549.
Savin-Baden, M. and Burden, D. (2019). Digital immortality and virtual humans. Postdigital Science and Education, 1(1):87–103. DOI: 10.1007/s42438-018-0007-6.
Savin-Baden, M., Burden, D., and Taylor, H. (2017). The ethics and impact of digital immortality. Knowledge Cultures, 5(2):178–196. DOI: 10.22381/kc52201711.
Silverman, G. S., Baroiller, A., and Hemer, S. R. (2021). Culture and grief: Ethnographic perspectives on ritual, relationships and remembering. Death Studies, 45(1):1–8. PMID: 33272138. DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1851885.
Takano, M., Yokotani, K., Kato, T., Abe, N., and Taka, F. (2025). Avatar communication provides more efficient online social support than text communication. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 19(1):1862–1879. DOI: 10.1609/icwsm.v19i1.35906.
Tateo, L. (2023). Cultural mediation of grief: the role of aesthetic experience. Culture & Psychology, 29(3):411–433. DOI: 10.1177/1354067X221145901.
Verhalen, A. E. C., Pereira, V. C., Bim, S. A., de Mello de Picoli, R. M., Maciel, C., and da Hora Rodrigues, K. R. (2021). Jungle party: a game about loss and grief. In Proceedings of the XX Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’21, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3472301.3484364.
Verhalen, A. E. C. and Rodrigues, K. R. D. H. (2024). Design of therapeutic digital games that support dialogue with children about death. In Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’23, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3638067.3638112.
Wang, H., Gao, Z., Zhang, X., Du, J., Xu, Y., and Wang, Z. (2024). Gamifying cultural heritage: Exploring the potential of immersive virtual exhibitions. Telematics and Informatics Reports, 15:100150. DOI: 10.1016/j.teler.2024.100150.
Yoo, Y. (2010). Computing in everyday life: A call for research on experiential computing1. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 34(2):213–231. DOI: 10.2307/20721425.
Publicado
29/09/2026
Como Citar
CARMO, Alexandre Muraro do; RIBEIRO, Karen da Silva Figueiredo Medeiros.
Post-Mortem Concepts in Digital Games: A Systematic Literature Review. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE JOGOS E ENTRETENIMENTO DIGITAL (SBGAMES), 25. , 2026, Goiânia/GO.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 1448-1460.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbgames.2026.26109.
