Ben Mignogna English 1101

Are video games literary? (Final Draft)

Developing in the mid twentieth century, video games have evolved into a dominant industry and, as some may say, art. Depending entirely on the game and genre, a video game can contain structures similar to that of a novel and/or movie, thus placing it under the category of art. Literary works are made up of these same structures, giving them the perks of creativity and self-expression. Art, as a whole, can simply be defined as the application of human creative skill and imagination1. Moreover, video games that are well-made and detailed requires creative skill and imagination from the sole designer. There is a large variety of video games that exist in todays culture. Some have storylines, some have scoreboards, some have mythical creatures, but they are all placed under the same category. Others even, have just one mission that is constantly attempted until pure satisfaction. Classically, older video games such as Tetris, Tron, and Frogger tend to be seen as a form of childish activity and unproductive. These games will always be known as classics, however they will never be known as art. Todays modern equipment and technology have allowed designers, with t he help of engineers, to make their imaginations come to life. These unique creations have progressed into fine pieces of art that can now easily be considered literary.

2 Some may argue that being literary strictly deals with literature itself. However vigorous that argument may be, it does, in fact, strictly deal with literature. Nonetheless, for a video game to be literary it must contain contents of literature. These contents are simply the kind valued for quality of form2. Today, there are video game critics who evaluate games based on their quality: graphics, creativity, sound, etc. It is clearly noticeable that people value these games more than anyone ever has in history. Video games are merely a way to escape reality, explore new ideas, and quest for hardearned answers. There is a sense of enjoyment and delight when playing these games; demonstrating that the value for quality of these literary video games is, and will always be there. Logically, all great things must be taken in moderation. Regardless of how productive one may be within an alternate reality, one must always remember which reality is always more important: the one in which we exist. Video games can be unhealthy if the user obtains traits such as obsession and/or addiction. There are cases in which addictive games cause countless problems with time management and moderation. These negative characteristics are what individuals feed off of when arguing against such a concept as video games being art. However, as previously stated, most of the addictive games (i.e. sports, classics) do not contain contents of literature. Therefore, removing them from the literary and artistic category would do justice in helping the concept of video games being literary: valued for quality of form. Perhaps it is all a matter of preference, but it is proven that video games are imaginative and valued. Not only do modern-day games exercise the mind with critical-

3 thinking and problem solving, they tell stories with magnificent graphics and artistic features. While some video games may be considered as childish and unproductive, the majority of them require true intelligence and creativity to conquer. With conquering these forms of literacy comes creativity, moderation, value, and self-expression: all of which are essential for respectable pieces of artwork.

4 Works Cited Oxforddictionaries.com/definition www.ais.up.ac.za/literaturereview.htm