You'd exist lucky if you found whatsoever gamer these days willing to entertain the 'games as art' debate.  We've heard the talk from both sides of the camp advertisement nauseam, and to this solar day no one knows the reply.

'Are games fine art?' is right up there in the list of cultural taboos i does not bring up in mixed company, like organized religion and politics.

That didn't stop Roger Ebert revisiting his famously explosive stance on the affair in one case once more on his regular web log for the Chicago Sun Times.

Mr. Ebert is by no means an empty voice to be ignored.  His movie reviews are raw, honest and entertaining appraisals - serious fresh air in an industry plagued by simulated promises and hyperbole.  He is a rational person that calls it similar he sees it.

However, in his most recent periodical entry, he came to drib bombs:

"Having once made the statement above [Videogames Can Never Exist Art], I take declined all opportunities to enlarge upon it or defend it. That seemed to be a fool'due south errand, especially given the volume of messages I receive urging me to play this game or that and recant the error of my ways. Withal, I remain convinced that in principle, video games cannot be art. Perhaps it is foolish of me to say "never," because never, every bit Rick Wakeman informs us, is a long, long time. Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium every bit an art grade."

The unfortunate catalyst for Ebert'due south rant was a TED talk given at USC past Kellee Santiago, a designer and producer of video games.  It's a shame that this presentation, above all others, was the argument Mr. Ebert chose to eviscerate.

Having watched the talk myself, I certainly wouldn't consider it a solid argument on the matter, worthy of converting the not-laic.  If annihilation, Kellee Santiago's talk aimed depression and stayed low, citing such predictables as Braid and Flower being  prime examples of games being fine art.

kellee santiago games art

Plus, information technology'due south hard to contend her case when Mr. Ebert's closing paragraph is this:

"I let Santiago the final discussion. Toward the stop of her presentation, she shows a visual with six circles, which stand for, I assemble, the components now forming for her brave new world of video games equally art. The circles are labeled: Evolution, Finance, Publishing, Marketing, Education, and Executive Direction. I rest my case."

Could information technology exist that Kellee Santiago's presentation was more a comprehensive justification of gaming in general?  Closing a talk about games beingness an fine art course with a flatulent showing of financial success is a serious misstep, if this wasn't the case.

I know this is a touchy discipline for some, but ultimately, practice y'all - the gamer - really care if a game is viewed by others equally legitimate art?  Personally I play games for enjoyment and stimulation.  I do not play games in society to feed my inner art critic and to further justify my pastime as legitimate to the folks who wait down their noses at such things.

I myself sit somewhere in between both sides of the statement.  I believe games are fine art, if fine art is something created past people - that appeals to people for reasons other than purpose and functionality.  If a game can appeal to me in a myriad of means and make me experience things that only humans can feel, then information technology is fine art.  I certainly exercise non call up Braid, for example, is art. Braid is pretty to look at and to listen to.  The mechanics are interesting and even so the script is laughably over-achieving.

Then, yes, I believe games tin can exist art.  The irony is that I actually don't care.  The manufacture is far beyond having to justify itself to anyone that doesn't go information technology.  I'm bluntly surprised that Kellee Santiago felt the need to present this at TED at all, especially in 2010.

Roger Ebert, for amend or worse, has rekindled this old flame, challenging usa once over again to defend games to people who don't understand.  Arguably, if he has never played a video game, which he has claimed to be the case, is he really vocalism worth listening to in this affair?

I'g looking for some stiff audience participation on this, because this is such a polarizing topic, and I'm actually interested in your opinions.  Is Ebert 's opinion valid?  Can games be art?  Audio off!

Source: Roger Ebert's Journal

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