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Games As Transformative Works
Deepa Sivarajan sends word that the journal Transformative Works and Culture has published an issue that focuses on games, containing a variety of articles which examine how games interact with modern culture. One essay takes a look at how developers gain an understanding of the systems and structures that drive gameplay, and another discusses motivation and "participatory culture" in games that have a substantial degree of user design involvement, such as mods and addons. There's also an evaluation of how the enthusiast press affects the perceived value of games. The issue includes game-related book reviews and interviews, which can be found at the bottom of the full list of articles.
Games are more interactive, yes. But are they really complex or deep? I don't think so. When you can turn an entire county back from a hellish war full of maddened characters by visiting every town and shown them the bodies of their children, and NONE of that was scripted by the game designers, then you'll have complex and deep interactions. Then, games will truly take the crown of entertainment (and more). However, when you shoot stuff and people say "I surrender" and an outro plays, then a book or even a good movie with decent portrayals of the human condition is still WAY a more interesting, complex, and life-changing experience.
But on the bigger point here, that games, 3d art, and software in general are great creative works, that deserve more recognition by the traditional art community... right on. It's been a long time coming, and there's a long way to go yet before the digital world (and digital artists, including coders) have been properly recognised for their contributions.
being a part of the story rather than simply observing it.
But that is exactly where games today fail at. The player isn't part of the story, he is a passenger in a roller coaster ride. Giving him not only the non-interactivity of a book or movie, but also all the restriction that come from being locked to the viewpoint of a single character and of course the whole immersion breaking parts of pre-scripted events, bad AI and bad user interfaces.
As a medium, video games have the potential to go further, much further than that.
I don't disagree with that, after all everything from Tetris to the Holodeck falls into the 'game' category, so there is plenty of room left to explore. But so far games have at best scratched the surface of their potential, leaving a lot to be desired.