glyphstrip FAQ button
Halo.bungie.org
glyphstrip
Frequently Asked Forum Questions
 Search the HBO News Archives

Any All Exact 
Search the Halo Updates DBs

Halo Halo2 
Search Older Posts on This Forum:
Posts on Current Forum | Archived Posts


Vague, abstract terms are just headaches!
Posted By: Leviathan <levihoff@yahoo.com>Date: 4/18/10 12:16 p.m.

In Response To: (F)ART OR NOT? (Miguel Chavez)


: A nice woman makes the nice film critic man revisit a topic near and dear to
: our hearts.

: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/04/video_games_can_never_be_art.html

: Hundreds of comments already - you would be wise to peruse those - may make
: some of your already-forming thoughts sharper if so.

*If you'd like the short version, skip down to the bold sentence at the bottom.*

So if I respond that games, like Braid, have fulfilled all the categories that Mr. Ebert says it fails in, and games can be art, then what?

It's just a lot of people getting in a hoopla about what you call a thing, it seems. An academic argument over what the classification of the flower I'm holding is, with no one actually experiencing its beauty... If that sappy analogy makes any sense.

If I had to try and defend it...

I think one of the main problems video games face in being validated as art is not that the actual artistic value isn't there, it's just the terminology and preconceptions associated with them, (especially in regards to older generations, it seems). 'Video games' is a outdated term now, and the breadth of things that it is used to describe is ridiculous, often used to lump things together that are fundamentally different from each other. It's a bit like 'film' can describe artistic works as well as commercial endeavors, but it's bit more extreme than that actually.

'Death' and 'beating the game' in tetris, or something more competitive, challenging like that, doesn't actually serve the same purpose (for the most part) that say a game like Braid does. In the latter, death is just a storytelling device, and beating the game? It's exactly the same as turning the last page on your novel, or viewing a film to its end.

Braid may have structured itself like a Mario side-scroller (oh how that makes the story even better!) but it owes its roots more to a post-modern novel than any video game.

.....

Ebert says he doesn't understand the need for 'gamers' to have their medium be validated as art, but I also don't understand why he feels the need to do the opposite.

I'm not saying to not be critical, but instead of spending time arguing about such abstract classifications and definitions, lets just go make and experience art, and not worry about what another person calls it.

:)

Shameless Plug



Message Index




Replies:

(F)ART OR NOT?Miguel Chavez 4/18/10 4:06 a.m.
     Re: (F)ART OR NOT?NsU Soldier 4/18/10 6:19 a.m.
     (F)ART *NM*hyokin 4/18/10 7:14 a.m.
     Re: (F)ART OR NOT?DHalo 4/18/10 9:03 a.m.
     Vague, abstract terms are just headaches!Leviathan 4/18/10 12:16 p.m.
           Re: Vague, abstract terms are just headaches!Jillybean 4/18/10 3:10 p.m.
           Re: Vague, abstract terms are just headaches!Cody Miller 4/18/10 7:01 p.m.
                 BLAAAAAAAAAAAHRiceatron 4/18/10 7:30 p.m.
                       Re: BLAAAAAAAAAAAHCody Miller 4/18/10 7:47 p.m.
                             Re: BLAAAAAAAAAAAHRiceatron 4/18/10 7:51 p.m.
                 Re: Vague, abstract terms are just headaches!Leviathan 4/18/10 9:16 p.m.
     Re: (F)ART OR NOT?General Vagueness 4/18/10 1:28 p.m.
           Re: (F)ART OR NOT?General Vagueness 4/18/10 1:30 p.m.
           Re: (F)ART OR NOT?SonofMacPhisto 4/18/10 1:46 p.m.
                 Re: (F)ART OR NOT?General Vagueness 4/18/10 2:27 p.m.
                       Re: (F)ART OR NOT?SonofMacPhisto 4/18/10 3:29 p.m.
     A view from outside HBOSonofMacPhisto 4/18/10 4:54 p.m.
           cut/paste failSonofMacPhisto 4/18/10 4:56 p.m.
           Re: A view from those asshole Hardcore gamersHawaiian Pig 4/18/10 5:24 p.m.
                 Re: A view from those asshole Hardcore gamersSonofMacPhisto 4/18/10 6:03 p.m.
                       welp, i posted a commentHawaiian Pig 4/18/10 7:45 p.m.
                             Re: welp, i posted a commentCody Miller 4/18/10 7:59 p.m.
                                   Re: welp, i posted a commentHawaiian Pig 4/18/10 8:10 p.m.
                                         Cody.Riceatron 4/18/10 8:57 p.m.
                                         Re: welp, i posted a commentCody Miller 4/18/10 9:20 p.m.
                                               JRPGs don't give up a lot of control bro *NM*Hawaiian Pig 4/18/10 9:24 p.m.
                                                     Re: JRPGs don't give up a lot of control broGeneral Vagueness 4/18/10 10:08 p.m.
                                                           Re: JRPGs don't give up a lot of control broHawaiian Pig 4/18/10 10:39 p.m.
                                               Re: welp, i posted a commentSonofMacPhisto 4/18/10 9:38 p.m.
                             Re: welp, i posted a commentLeviathan 4/18/10 8:29 p.m.
                                   Re: welp, i posted a commentSonofMacPhisto 4/18/10 9:02 p.m.
                 Re: A view from those asshole Hardcore gamersGeneral Vagueness 4/18/10 9:34 p.m.
     Re: (F)ART OR NOT?Cody Miller 4/18/10 6:47 p.m.
           Re: (F)ART OR NOT?NsU Soldier 4/18/10 7:08 p.m.
     Re: (F)ART OR NOT?ThorsHammer 4/19/10 8:50 a.m.
     What about this?Avateur 4/21/10 4:34 a.m.



contact us

The HBO Forum Archive is maintained with WebBBS 4.33.