Video Games: The New Literary Genre

James Trofa Video Games: The New Literary Genre The relationship between video games and literature has always been a difficult argument to settle. Video games, in general, offer depth and development into the story, characters, and complex themes or ideas of the particular game. However, can a video game offer the same depth into these subjects as a novel or even possess greater depth and understanding between the player and the game? The answer depends entirely on the video game itself. Like all works of literature, video games vary greatly in many aspects whether it is through the storytelling, character development, interaction within the game, or simply gameplay mechanics. Though all the genres of video games can tell some sort of story, even if it is as simple as a yellow sphere character running from ghost in a maze (Pac-Man). Some of the most prominent story telling game genres, role playing and adventure games, can be considered works of literature above all others through their ability to immerse the player into the game’s universe. Surely many will argue gaming and literature have no commonalities and should be regarded in completely separate criteria. However, Gaming and literature at their core are all about storytelling. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit delivers a powerful literary narrative and is an all-around great work of literature. Game developers set out to deliver a powerful story or message within the game the same way an author would in a book. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series were actually developed into many games since the films were produced, from games which follow the story exactly to games which focus solely on separate events within the universe created by the novel. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Electronic Arts) follows the story of the book series, however The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (Electronic Arts)