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Academics Turn Their Attention To Videogames
Onyxviper writes "As one who is an avid gamer, an article by USA Today/AP discussing the growing academic study of games, or 'Ludology', makes some points about gaming that I had only begun to think about. Seems like the plots and composition of the game are starting to overtake the gameplay itself, and it is interesting to see that others are starting to look at it in a more serious light. What do the rest of you think, are any of you actually involved in one of these programs?" Is there plenty important being done in this field, or is it possible that academic study of videogames can tend towards overanalysis?
I'm not sure that many video games can be considered art. Arts play on our emotion, make comments about the human condition, etc. Art forms like sculpture, paintings, literature, etc all try to say something, or at least make us think about something. Most games focus on letting people have fun, and I'd say these can't be considered art. The games that do make comments do so through their storylines and the non-gameplay content. I'd say for something like a game to be an "art," it would have to be closer to the "interactive storytelling" that the guy referenced in the article. I dont know about you, but I'm not empathizing or philosophizing when I'm stomping goombas.