BYU creates program for playing, studying video games — ‘a new form of human expression’

Video games have been studied from many different angles, with people trying to determine their physical, social and emotional impacts. Now, two BYU professors are taking a new approach by studying them through a humanities lens.
Every Monday at 4 p.m., students gather in the Humanities Learning Commons for a faculty lecture on a video game. That game is then available for students to play throughout the week.
The games Stardew Valley and Minecraft have already been analyzed and played as part of the initiative led by humanities professors Michael Call and Brian Croxall.
“What I have finally learned to embrace is how video games are just as complicated, just as immersive, and just as beautiful as poetry, paintings, the Parthenon or people,” Croxall said in a statement. “Why play games? Why on earth wouldn’t we?”
Call said his work on 17th-century France connects to video games because that period of time is known for the development of quantitative probability by French mathematicians.
“A lot of my recent work has focused on the cultural impact of that discovery, since it revolutionized so many aspects of life: the measurement of risk, insurance, annuities, interest rates, life expectancy and, yes, gaming. Studying the changing state of games and play in 17th-century French society got me interested in the role that games play in our own current cultural moment,” Call said.
He said there is a large disparity between the cultural importance of video games and how much they are actually studied on campus. He says the gap is larger than any other creative medium.
“Our students are eager to talk about and think about them, but it didn’t seem to us that there was a good forum for that — and that’s why we created the lecture series. We also thought it would be a great way to introduce students to some of the approaches and concepts that are important for the humanities,” he said.
Professors trained in literary studies, philosophy and visual arts apply their own expertise and theorization to the various video games in their lectures.
The humanities professors got to choose the game they talked about. Call said he has enjoyed seeing the connections his colleagues make between their own expertise and the games they choose.
“The humanities are about human expression and creativity. Our college already has a lively tradition of studying the human experience as expressed in literature, visual art, and film,” he said. “Video games represent a new medium, one that is starting to contribute in interesting ways to this ongoing cultural conversation.”
Analyzing video games from a humanities perspective allows students to ask questions about the game like they would a novel or painting, such as what argument it makes or how it contributes to discussions about contemporary issues.
“As a humanities professor, I’m fascinated by the idea that I’m living at a moment when I can watch the birth and development of a new form of human expression. That’s a rare historical privilege,” he said.