Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace... — Andy Serkis

Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.

Author: Andy Serkis

Insight: Video games get dismissed as trivial by people who don't recognize them as what they are: the storytelling medium of our time. Just as your grandparents might have felt movies were shallow compared to literature, we're watching the same skepticism play out with games. But the reality is that games do something unique—they let you live inside a story rather than just watch it unfold. That's genuinely powerful. The interesting part is that this isn't about games replacing other art forms. It's about recognizing that meaningful stories have always found the newest available technology. Shakespeare used the theatre, filmmakers grabbed cinema, and now storytellers use interactive worlds. When a game genuinely moves you or makes you think, you're experiencing art in exactly the same way someone gets transported by a great film or novel. The medium changed; the human response to meaning didn't. The real divide isn't between "gamers" and "serious people." It's between people who are open to where culture actually lives versus those still waiting for entertainment to come in a format they already know. If you want to understand how your kids experience narrative, imagination, and emotion, you have to meet them in the stories they're actually living through. That's not lowering standards—that's paying attention to where quality storytelling actually happens now.

The medium changes, meaning stays

Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.

Video games get dismissed as trivial by people who don't recognize them as what they are: the storytelling medium of our time. Just as your grandparents might have felt movies were shallow compared to literature, we're watching the same skepticism play out with games. But the reality is that games do something unique—they let you live inside a story rather than just watch it unfold. That's genuinely powerful.

The interesting part is that this isn't about games replacing other art forms. It's about recognizing that meaningful stories have always found the newest available technology. Shakespeare used the theatre, filmmakers grabbed cinema, and now storytellers use interactive worlds. When a game genuinely moves you or makes you think, you're experiencing art in exactly the same way someone gets transported by a great film or novel. The medium changed; the human response to meaning didn't.

The real divide isn't between "gamers" and "serious people." It's between people who are open to where culture actually lives versus those still waiting for entertainment to come in a format they already know. If you want to understand how your kids experience narrative, imagination, and emotion, you have to meet them in the stories they're actually living through. That's not lowering standards—that's paying attention to where quality storytelling actually happens now.

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Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis is an English actor, director, and producer, best known for his groundbreaking work in motion capture performance. He gained international acclaim for his portrayal of Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and has since become a prominent figure in film and theater, known for roles in "The Hobbit," "King Kong," and "War for the Planet of the Apes." Serkis is also recognized for his directorial work, particularly on the film "Breathe" and the upcoming adaptation of "The Hobbit."

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