Video Games as a Tool for the Promotion of Reading Literature

Abstract

In the context of present reading situation in Mexico, studies published by official institutions (Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes in 2006), report that the reading habit in the country, not only is minimal, but even that those who call themselves readers not necessarily read literature. In this paper the authors present a proposal on the use of commercial video games as a tool to approach young gamers to literature. This work is a part of a thesis investigation under way, where two phenomena, apparently different to each other and from different worlds, converge: literature and video games, this last, considered as visual narrative. Our goal is to present the important aspects of the literary workshop that took place at University of Sonora with university students, in order to rouse their interest in the literary world using their attachment for video games. Although the results of this work are still in the process of analysis, a first approach allows us to observe that video games can be an effective way to promote literature and encourage reading habits.