Uses of Digital Enchantment : Computer Games as the New Fairy Tales

In this paper we argue that digital games have come to fill the cultural niche traditionally occupied by fairy tales, and that they are ideally suited to realize some of the unique characteristics of this genre of folklore and literature. One of the most influential authors of fantasy narrative, J.R.R. Tolkien, wrote extensively about fairy tales, authored fairy tales and considered his great epic work of high fantasy, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, to be a fairy tale of sorts. He argued that fairy tales were not about fairies per se but took place in the “realm of Faerie,” the magical world that fairies inhabit. "The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and everpresent peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords" (Tolkein 1965: 3). The “realm of Faerie” provides a context for archetypal characters and narratives that express the inner life of the child and the process of transitioning to adulthood, universal themes that have equal resonance with both children and adults.