Videogames and Creativity

What is the relationship between videogames and creativity? Whether or not they are art (and some of them surely are), it is clear that the design and production of videogames can, and indeed typically does, involve creativity. What about playing videogames? On the one hand, videogames have sometimes been seen as a threat to creativity. A recent Newsweek article reports that “It’s too early to determine conclusively why U.S. creativity scores are declining. One likely culprit is the number of hours kids now spend in front of the TV and playing videogames rather than engaging in creative activities.” 1 On the other hand, defenders of videogames have touted their connection to creativity as a significant virtue. So, for example, writing in the Guardian, Lucy Prebble has argued that “gaming is essentially private and individual (although it really doesn’t have to be). It is creative, in comparison to the passivity of watching a film or reading a book. You are making choices and, often, are even designing the world yourself.” 2 Or, as the Telegraph put it succinctly, “Videogames more creative than reading.” 3 And a recent scholarly overview of the benefits of videogame play states that “video games seem to be associated with … enhanced creativity” (Granic, Lobel, and Engels, 2014: 69), although the authors admit that the results of the cited study leave significant questions unanswered.