I am not sure how relevant this is to your point, but a question I have is:

Why are video games always compared to literature and film and not, say, to ... games.

Like Chess, Go, Pinochle, Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, etc.

We never hear anyone ask, "Why aren't video games more like Hungry Hungry Hippo?" It's always, "Why aren't games more like Citizen Kane?"

It seems to me that academics are spending a lot of time talking about narrative in games and other fancy talk, but Tetris and Super Monkey Ball are both games and they have fuck all to do with narrative.

I don't know, my argument here isn't well thought out, but it is something that bothers me when I don't self-medicate.