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.