“Video games can never be art”

This is an interesting read. I don’t agree with it, but it says a lot about the state of video gaming in general. Instead of stating that video games can never be art, I think it should rather ask, Where is the art? Have the formulaic publishers of game titles subjugated the expression of artistic resonance in favor of the sequel driven rush to create a golden cash cow?

Anyway, here is my response. (just in case you did not want to read through the odd 4,000 comments to get to the bottom of Mr Ebert’s article)

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The artist is not art
The painting (expression) itself is not art.
The audience it is not art

Art is created the instant that the bridge between artist and audience is crossed. From this divide the artist returns having (hopefully) touched the Audience. The Audience continues on their journey (hopefully) taking with them a piece of that experience.

Some experiences are worth taking and savoring.
Some experiences are disturbing and best forgotten.
Some experiences are disturbing and best contemplated.
Some experiences speak to a point.
Some experiences are pointless beyond the moment itself.

When it happens spontaneously we call it life.
When we orchestrate it It is sometime called soulless, mechanical, bereft of life. (A critique much like Georges-Pierre Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”)

I have often experienced a connection to the artist (or group of artists) in the language of plays, movies, literary endeavors, paintings, dance, sculpture, and yes, video games.

Although I have to admit that the latter is a rare occurrence, I am never the less effected by the harmonic chorus that a game such as the original MYST offers. The game had a point, but the point was not always about the end as it was about the journey. Point in fact; I will sometimes go back to the game, not to replay it, but to sit and experience the wonder of being transported by the artistic motivation of the storytellers. (Much like a good book.) There is a resonance to it that goes beyond the limited technologies of the time, and touches me. There is an appreciation of the “simplicity of line” drawn in the dim shadows of 8 bit architecture, that is still striking in an age of duo-core processing power.

While I agree, that not all ham-fisted choreographers of content create credible artistic statements that express a maturity beyond your average 12 year old; A trolling statement like “video games can never be art” not only limits the expression of the artists who pioneer the form, it insults the audience that walks away from the experience enriched by the voice of the creator(s).

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