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# Are Video Games a Waste of Time? Art and Upbuilding Value (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 10)
- URL: https://mythicmindfellowship.com/are-video-games-a-waste-of-time-art-and-upbuilding-value-mythic-mind-games-ep-10/
- Published: 2025-08-08T13:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:45:49.000Z
- Author: Andrew Snyder

Mythic Mind GamesEpisode 10

# Are Video Games a Waste of Time? Art and Upbuilding Value (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 10)

Dr. Andrew Snyder in conversation with Master Samwise and Josh Traylor

8 August 2025

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7g7z-PmVwU&ref=mythicmindfellowship.com)

## In this episode

Are video games just a waste of time, or can they carry real artistic and upbuilding value? Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by Master Samwise and Josh Traylor for an early Mythic Mind Games conversation on games as art, story, and participatory subcreation.

They ask what games are for: empty amusement, or secondary worlds that answer the human desire for story and enchantment. Drawing on Tolkien (escape as part of recovery; On Fairy-Stories; literature’s co-subcreation versus cinema’s finished spectacle), they argue that many games let players help make the story within the world’s bounds. Rightly ordered play can pursue wisdom, elucidate truth, and grow virtue; the wrong kind of escape is a vice of the player more than a fatal flaw of the medium. Along the way they trade favorite titles and themes across Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Knights of the Old Republic, Red Dead Redemption 2, Zelda, Dragon Age, XCOM, and more.

Note: In the intro Andrew says this conversation was Mythic Mind episode 80; it was actually episode 78 (March 2025), inserted here while Mass Effect 3 was delayed.

### People

**Dr. Andrew Snyder**Host

**Master Samwise and Josh Traylor**Guests

### Key themes

- Games as art, story, and participatory subcreation
- Escape as part of recovery
- Secondary worlds that answer the desire for enchantment

## Related

- [**Video Games as Fairy-Stories: Tolkien and Subcreation (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 1)**Watch the episode](https://mythicmindfellowship.com/video-games-as-fairy-stories-tolkien-and-subcreation-mythic-mind-games-ep-1/)
- [**Why Video Games Repay Philosophical Attention (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 45)**Watch the episode](https://mythicmindfellowship.com/why-video-games-repay-philosophical-attention-mythic-mind-games-ep-45/)

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[Previous in Mythic Mind GamesMass Effect 2: Shepard’s Resurrection and the Question of the Soul](https://mythicmindfellowship.com/mass-effect-2-shepards-resurrection-and-the-question-of-the-soul-mythic-mind-games-ep-9/)[Next in Mythic Mind GamesMass Effect 3: Shepard, Reapers, and the Controversial Ending](https://mythicmindfellowship.com/mass-effect-3-shepard-reapers-and-the-controversial-ending-mythic-mind-games-ep-11/)

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