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Games Are Not Drugs
Kyle Orland has a considered look at some more poor reporting on gaming in the mainstream media. This time it's Chicago's WGN, and a weak report about the 'medical dangers of gameplaying'. From the article: "Sorry, but isn't this how rebellious teenagers have been acting for generations? I'd challenge the reporter to find a adolescent child whose hormones don't make them act this way at some point. I'd also like them to explain how playing fun games fails to make a child 'fun-loving' (or show some evidence that any of these children were 'family-focused' and 'totally different kids' before being exposed to the evil of games). And while it's regretful that the three children that are the focus of the story have a mother who says 'it felt like I really couldn't connect with them' it seems a bit much to blame video game for the generation gap that inevitably develops once a child passes the age of, oh, eight." Kotaku also has a nice deconstruction of the piece on journalism grounds.
The real reason pot is illegal in the US is because it cuts back on a users economic productivity. It's rather harmless substance, but very harmful to the GDP rate if the masses started smoking it casually...so it's been theorized.
Point is, once the VR experience provides a "holodeck" sense or realism then you will see a level of introversion in society like never before. Why face the real world when you can live our your fantasies as though it was the real thing?
My prediction is that a new law will be passed banning any biological or technological method of providing an "alternate reality".
Life is not for the lazy.
I tried to read yur post, but I kept drifting off. Hmm, what am I typing? Must get to next lvl, earn food pellet [drool]. Flashy gfx, sound fx, zzzz....
Seriously, video games are an artistic medium not unlike any other. How many teens do you know sit and contemplate fine art, or remain pensive when dealt life's great mysteries? The ones I know read pulp novels, stare blankly at MTV, or appreciate MC Escher because it looks cool on Acid. Pulp games are no different; they are targetted at this audience.
Can there exist a game that embodies the greater stimulation you describe? There most certainly could be, in my opinion. There is no doctrine that mandates art be passive. There is no inconsistency as you indicate. It is a new medium that we discuss. Would a cave painting impress if it wasn't ancient? We reflect on the cave painting because it reveals a bit of ourselves to us; in that it becomes great art.
Like a cave painting, modern games are a reflection of everyday life, or perhaps modern fantasy. The interactive nature provides opportunity for the artist to engage the patron in an unbounded manners, not excluding reflection on oneself or pause for contemplation. Simply because there are no clear examples of this today does not indicate the medium itself does not accomodate these facets of humanity.
Yet there are perhaps challenges to creating a lasting work as a game. The pace of technical development is very rapid compared to any similar venue. The "here today, gone tomorrow" nature of this is significant, and cannot be ignored. Nonetheless, I submit great art could come in any form, at any time.