Do Games Count?

The psych world continues to debate whether or not video games have cognitive benefits, with one study countering the results of another, and it is even suggested that too much screen time can cause "structural and functional changes in brain regions involving emotional processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control." The most important aspect of literature is its intellectualism. Being detrimental to cognitive well-being would make video games different from literature. Or does it?

"My introduction to e-lit, the Sega Pico" -Ashley Bach

In the 19th century, a time fruitful with canonical literature, it was thought that fiction did not exercise the mind and caused mental deterioration, caused dissatisfaction with one's life, and "numb the soul to tragedy" (desensitization).

While there is more science to accusations of video games negative effects, and more research is needed into seeing how video games alter the mind, at this time, in respect to the question of whether or not they count as literature, it is important to keep this quote from Maxwell Neely-Cohen's "Appetite for Risk: At the Intersection of Games and Literature" in mind.

As a kid, video games taught me just as much about writing as novels did. The thousands of hours I spent with my head in books were matched by the thousands of hours I spent at my computer. In my child brain, they didn’t seem as if they were disparate forms belonging to different centuries. I’m not sure I even recognized the difference.

The article is of particular interest to someone in digital humanities in his call to action regarding the publishing industry and gaming industry coming together in order to help each other overcome modern shortcomings.

When it comes to the publishing industry, Neely-Cohen opines

Even in terms of pure content, contemporary fiction too often fails to fully evoke 21st-century life and contend with its burgeoning issues. We writers disproportionately focus on the past, or worse, replicate the form and structures of centuries gone without appetite for the risk, resistance, and failure innovation entails.

As for the gaming industry, he says this

Despite the best efforts of a growing cadre of games critics, journalists, writers, and theorists, not to mention a legion of talented independent developers, the industry is plagued by issues of cultural legitimacy and a real struggle to grow out of repetitive content.

It is important to appreciate all narrative forms. Film is already considered to be an art form and something that can be studied at depth, like a novel, and there may very well be a day in years to come, where video games are seen with the same reverence.