According to Märten Rattasepp, who was involved in the creation of the hit game "Disco Elysium," the reputation of video games in Estonia has started to improve, thanks to the success of "Disco Elysium" and the growth of the local gaming industry. While in the English-speaking world, video games have been recognized as a significant form of art and culture for several decades, Rattasepp still senses a lag in Estonia. "Here, the general perception tends to regard video games as something trivial, something that only children or oddballs engage with," he said on the Vikerraadio show Teise mätta otsast."

Playwright Taavi Eelmaa agreed, noting that cultural exchange progresses faster in places with larger populations. "I don't think this mindset is inherently here to stay. It's inevitable that any kind of development is accompanied by some degree of conservatism," he said. While video games are mainly played by younger people, cultural trends are often set by those at least a generation older. "This is not a criticism, just an inevitability," the playwright remarked.

One key distinction between video games and films or stage productions is their length. While a movie typically lasts two hours, a more in-depth role-playing game with a detailed narrative might take between 20 and 100 hours to complete. According to Rattasepp, it can be challenging to explain to people why they should devote so much time to understanding a game as an art form.

"The difference between cinema and games is that events and characters in cinema are compressed. They are generalizations. [...] Even the most realistic film, in a way, is a little deceiving," added Eelmaa. In comparison to a video game that lasts dozens of hours, a two-hour film is not so much a work of art but rather a summary of one, the playwright said half-jokingly. Eelmaa also sees this principle reflected in the success of TV series over the past decade: "An hour and a half isn't enough to fully feel, absorb and grasp the true significance of an entire work."

Rattasepp explained that the literary quality and storytelling depth of a game depend on its genre. "Some do this very deeply, like role-playing games. These are built on being heavily narrative, character-driven, plot-focused, atmosphere- and experience-centered," he described. In contrast, in genres like shooting or fighting games, the story often just serves as a backdrop to justify why the player is engaging in certain actions.

The player as an actor rather than the audience

When comparing the experience of video games to other cultural forms, Taavi Eelmaa draws a distinction between collective and solitary consumption. "Cinema and theater are more similar in this regard, while gaming and reading a book are much closer to each other," he observed. In his view, the story changes depending on the audience, and in theater, the audience's engagement with the story can vary based on the size of the crowd in attendance.

"The player's experience is far more individual," noted Rattasepp. "To understand what a game offers, you have to experience it yourself." The pixels move on the screen, yet what's happening in the game feels real enough to the player that, according to Rattasepp, they can talk about embodying the role of their character.

Eelmaa agrees, saying that the video game player's experience is much more akin to an actor's work with their role than to the experience of a passive viewer in the audience. "Unlike the viewer, an actor immerses themselves just as deeply in their material. Ideally, they reach a preverbal level, one that is very personal, sensory and dreamlike," the playwright explained. In other words, a skilled actor no longer consciously thinks about why they are acting a certain way on stage or in front of the camera. "Meanwhile, the viewer still has to process everything in their head," Eelmaa compared.

Games as 21st century literature

Both Eelmaa and Rattasepp agree that video games have the potential to help children and young people engage with mandatory literature, and that the boundaries between films, books and games are increasingly fluid. "In the past, the purpose of reading was for children to develop abstract thinking. They read, create images in their minds and learn to distinguish between reality and fantasy," Eelmaa explained. However, if we consider a book as just one platform alongside a screen, there's no longer a distinction in where a child learns abstract thinking, according to the playwright.

Rattasepp pointed out that games based on Shakespeare's works already exist. But the idea of mandatory reading led him to contemplate the concept of mandatory games. "How dull would it be if you had to play certain required games because your teacher made you," he mused. The issue with video games, he explained, is that game mechanics can become outdated: a game released 20 years ago may now feel too technically dated to engage players.

Compared to a book, Eelmaa emphasized that video games use a different medium – visual worlds – to convey the descriptions presented in the work. However, in a game like "Disco Elysium," the story is still driven forward by text-based dialogue. "This is a great example of future literature or one possible platform for 21st-century literature," the playwright pointed out.

Eelmaa noted that games don't discard previous art forms, but rather enrich them through a new approach. Rattasepp agreed, adding that games follow their own logic and aren't meant to replace other forms. As an example, he noted that a player might read text equivalent to five volumes of War and Peace through brief dialogue bubbles in a game, supported by the user interface. "In this way, it can be a very useful tool to get young people to read," Rattasepp remarked.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!