4 ms·

Men need to see that novels aren't for losers

• Terr_ 2y ago
  > Fiction’s great trick, putting you inside other people’s minds, is one that no other art form can pull off. Cinema, video games, painting — all these are hopelessly stuck in the world of surfaces. Huh, I hadn't through of it that way before, but I think that the author is far too quick to dismiss video games. Sure, some video-game genres are simply not applicable (e.g. flight simulators) or have you as a floating observer, but a few--like books--let you "walk a mile in another's shoes." Not only that, but they can do something extra that novels cannot: They can present the player with an emotional dilemma and make the player agonize over the choice and own the outcomes. The same is not true in books (outside choose-your-own-adventure types) because even if you empathize with the dilemma the character has you can just turn the page to see what the author has predetermined.