Video games as art

[scorpio_grudge]

Recently, Roger Ebert on twitter (@ebertchicago) wrote a journal entry about his thoughts on video games as art (Found here: Ebert's journal). If you can guess, he doesn't believe they are, nor can ever be, art

Comments

[alessar]

I don't want to say too much but Persona 3 had me weeping at the end. I was overwhelmed and moved, and I'm getting a little watery thinking about it now. To me, art is something that can move you so ... I think it qualifies.

[scorpio_grudge]

And this is the exact problem, why it's easy to say that video games are or are not art: art is so subjective, there's no definition everyone would agree on.

As I said, why I would say no is that there's no mystery for me in video games, but to deny that they are compelling and can be moving (intention and emotion) is a lie.

For someone to outright say "never" means that, not that they "don't get it", they have no experience in just how a game can move people now, like a good movie, but one that the viewer (player) is even more invested in. Ebert said that because a game allows a player to make choices, and has a goal, that invalidates it as art, but to me any piece of art lets someone make a choice about it, and art has a goal.

I just don't think video games have gotten to the point that they can be accepted as art by people who don't play them. I do think this will happen in the future.

I thought the topic was really interesting, but that too many apologists were simply saying "You don't get it", which is no way to debate the

[alessar]

Every now and then, there are games that are made by just one person or a handful of people (Braid and Cave Story) that stop and make you think and reflect on your life. Likewise, there are plenty of killfest games that don't do that at all.

I say some games are art and others are not just like some songs, books, movies, and artworks. Some make you think, while others require no thought and only turn a profit.

Last note: lots of people refused to accept films as art at first, and some still refuse to accept them as art.