On a recent afternoon at the museum of Modern Art in New York City, the actress Hailee Steinfeld paused in front of a video-game installation. Steinfeld--who, at 14, received an Oscar nomination for her role in 2010's True Grit--isn't a gamer, though her role in the new movie Ender's Game (in theaters Nov. 1) involves, as the title implies, some serious time with a battle simulator. Nevertheless, she picked up the joystick to a game called Passage, in which the player progresses through a lifetime.
"The early stages of life seem to be all about the future: what you're going to...