The thing that always surprises me about this debate is that people take such extreme viewpoints. Games are art, or they're not. All games. Ever.
Are movies art? Is music art? Some is, much of it is not.
Why shouldn't it be the same with games? Many games are just disposable meaningless toys made to entertain us for a few hours, so why shouldn't we treat them as such? And there's nothing wrong with that, just like there's nothing wrong with movies that simply attempt to entertain. Few people would consider them art, but so what? Movies don't have to be art.
The important thing is that movies can be art, and that some of them are art.
I do wish that developers would take the art side of games more seriously, and think of the games they make as more than just dumb entertainment.
But let's not pretend that every game should be art, or is ever going to be art.
That's almost as silly as claiming that games "are not", or can not be, art. Almost.
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Posted by jalf on Sep 9, 2009 half past four pm
Are movies art? Is music art? Some is, much of it is not.
Why shouldn't it be the same with games? Many games are just disposable meaningless toys made to entertain us for a few hours, so why shouldn't we treat them as such? And there's nothing wrong with that, just like there's nothing wrong with movies that simply attempt to entertain. Few people would consider them art, but so what? Movies don't have to be art.
The important thing is that movies can be art, and that some of them are art.
I do wish that developers would take the art side of games more seriously, and think of the games they make as more than just dumb entertainment.
But let's not pretend that every game should be art, or is ever going to be art.
That's almost as silly as claiming that games "are not", or can not be, art. Almost.