Video Games and Anti-intellectualism: Higher Education in Modern Video Games

As video games expanded their audience and the scope of their content, higher education became a more frequent feature in those games. This chapter examines portrayals of higher education in 69 video games released between 2004 and 2015. Although exceptions do exist, the chapter’s author argues that anti-intellectual themes commonly seen in American culture (e.g., isolated faculty conducting research that does not benefit society) are visible consistently in video games as well.