I gotta go with Ebert on this one. Games aren't true art... yet. Aside from the previously mentioned Deus Ex, I can't name one other game I've played that has actually stimulated genuine critical thought. Most, if not all, games are simple exercises in rudimentary mechanical and problem solving skills, hand-eye coordination mostly.
An interesting thought: the general public definition of what qualifies as 'art' is, as noted, typically applied to things that require a passive audience. We look, watch, and listen. There is no direct interaction. But, 'true art' is argued to be that which compels us to think and/or act in a new or different (and hopefully, positive) way after we have ingested it. Interactive entertainment is something of the opposite, but the action serves only the game itself. There is no direct physical outcome for being a Brigadier General in 'Battlefield 2'. Nor does obtaining grinding a task in WoW make one any more adept at that same task in reality. And, yes, I am confining 'reality' to include only the physical, not the virtual for the sake of this argument, so don't get all metaphysically and philosophically bullshitty.
Ultimately, games do not provoke one to action beneficial to mankind, as 'true art' is meant to do.
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I gotta go with Ebert on this one. Games aren't true art... yet. Aside from the previously mentioned Deus Ex, I can't name one other game I've played that has actually stimulated genuine critical thought. Most, if not all, games are simple exercises in rudimentary mechanical and problem solving skills, hand-eye coordination mostly. An interesting thought: the general public definition of what qualifies as 'art' is, as noted, typically applied to things that require a passive audience. We look, watch, and listen. There is no direct interaction. But, 'true art' is argued to be that which compels us to think and/or act in a new or different (and hopefully, positive) way after we have ingested it. Interactive entertainment is something of the opposite, but the action serves only the game itself. There is no direct physical outcome for being a Brigadier General in 'Battlefield 2'. Nor does obtaining grinding a task in WoW make one any more adept at that same task in reality. And, yes, I am confining 'reality' to include only the physical, not the virtual for the sake of this argument, so don't get all metaphysically and philosophically bullshitty. Ultimately, games do not provoke one to action beneficial to mankind, as 'true art' is meant to do.