Video games are literature’s new frontier

When does entertainment become art? When does art become entertainment? Since I decided to renew my interest in gaming, I’ve been wrestling with the line between entertainment, art, and education. Part of my struggle is that high school and college force-fed so much unentertaining, dull literature, and art. Teachers and professors preached as dogma that certain books and paintings were works of art even though they added nothing introspective to my life.

But definitions of art and literature have evolved throughout history. And in the past decade, video games have become a new frontier of literary creativity. As someone who taught ancient languages and literature, I argue that it is fair to view video games as an art form worth studying in university classrooms. Games like Uncharted 2, The Last of Us, and Red Dead Redemption 2 are interactive, experiential art that deeply immerse the player in the narratives. The immersion allows the player to explore personas, themes, and moral quandaries in a way that few other art forms can match.