Persuasiveness, in the context of videogames, means that a work of Art seems real even if it is a complete fantasy. Even a world with magic, mythical creatures and an alternate history if it is sufficiently consistent and detailed. If a work of art is persuasive enough, the audience will ignore the impossibility of the fantastic elements in it; this is called the suspension of disbelief. Persuasiveness is different from realism; when something is realistic, it is like the world in which we all live.
Realistic works of art can, however, be completely unpersuasive. This happens in plenty of novels and films where all the scenes are possible in real life, but they seem incredibly contrived or they make no sense at all. Or the characters in a "realistic" work are false and inconsistent, the things they do are mere caricatures of human action without meaning or coherence. A persuasive work of fantasy is almost always more popular than an unpersuasive work of realism.
Consdier that Shakespeare's The Tempest, Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, or Mozart's The Magic Flute all contain abundant supernatural elements. Nobody would be so quick to prove themself ignorant by saying that these were not timeless works of art.
Videogames have a unique kind of supernatural quality to them: they must be playable. Life does not resemble a game most of the time, but the notion that this means videogames cannot contain engrossing, persuasive worlds is foolish. Art is not reality; it never has been. The hurdles that videogames have to leap, making gameplay part of an artistic experience, is just another part of the process for future artists in that medium.
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