Slashdot Mirror
Are Videogames Art?
Game Politics, as always, has some meaty thoughts on offer. Today they're revisiting the perpetual question, 'Can videogames be considered art?'. They touch on the words of Roger Ebert, and discuss a recent piece on the subject in the Sydney Herald. From the article: "Brendan McNamara, game director for Team Bondi, makers of the upcoming film noir PS3 game L.A. Noire, has no doubt his team is creating art. With a project plan that includes 170 pages describing cinematic moments, and 1,200 pages detailing interactive events, the game has a Hollywood-like budget of more than $30 million. 'We control the delivery of the information ... We give players a setting and a framework, we control what they see and do. So how are we not authors?' McNamara wonders if video games are stigmatized because they are a mostly commercial venture. At the same time, he believes that being driven by sales is a good thing." What is the Slashdot opinion? Are games too different from other form of expression to be considered art? Is Shadow of the Colossus comparable to Leaves of Grass or Citizen Kane?
Is this actually a debate? If we think about the definition of a debate, we expect to have two sides making reasoned arguments about a common topic. "Are video games art?" produces two sides that define art how they feel, then point out that under their definition it obviously is/isn't art. Since this activity cannot be classified as reasoned and furthermore the two sides aren't even discussing a common topic since they don't agree on the meaning of the term art, it's safe to say that "Are video games art?" is not a debate at all in the true sense of the word.