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Chapter 6: What lies beneath, Page 15

Dark Pascual

on April 22, 2010

Well, that explains something… Isn't?

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I don't know if you followed the controversy that Roger Ebert had caused with his comments about how videogames cannot ever be "art".

Have to admit that the subject always had fascinated me… After all, not every generation can claim that had experimented the birth of a new form of artistic expression.

So, if you excuse me, I will express my VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS… (yeah, I will not editorialize in my comic XD):

Have to say that first and foremost, I'm a huge fan of Roger Ebert. I always have found his critiques and reviews highly insightful and enjoyable.

However, I cannot disagree more with his statement.

One thing is say that there are no video games that had reached the state of Art YET, and other is to say that video games cannot achieve the state of art EVER. Dismiss an entire media as incapable of be art strike me as a gross generalization.

Some have stated that while the development of a video game implies a great number of artistic activities (music, writing, graphic art, acting, architecture), the sum of all those elements do not grant video games the state of art.

But it couldn't be the same be said about movies?

Cinematographic art is a sum of of previously existing arts used to give a new dimension to the process of story telling. Artistic resources used to achieve and artistic result. Games CAN be cinematographic experiences with the added value of interactivity with the audience (in this case, the player)

At the same time, I disagree with the fact that what disqualifies the videogames as art is the interactivity and capability of the player to take part of the story and even determinate the outcome. Whatever is the meaning of art, it's clear the one of it's purposes is the transmission of an idea or message. The fact that the audience can be put in the skin of the character doesn't mean that it diminish by itself the meaning of said message.

Of course that not all games are art. The same it's said in all the forms of entertainment. (Are all movies art? or all paintings, music, etc…)

Video games titles like Bayonnetta or the Death or Alive series have the same artistic merit than Michael Bay movies. Quick and even fun thrills, but nothing more.

The same cannot be said about some of the Final Fantasy titles and the Metal Gear Solid series.

IF videogames had not evolved enough YET to be considered an art form is arguable. But simply state is impossible for the media to evolve into an artistic expression is rather ludicrous.

On a final note, it should be remembered that the cinema was born as a scientific novelty, without an artistic or commercial merit in sight at the time of it's creation.

Phew… that was some tirade…

Thanks to Warpedwenger for reading proof.

Thanks to everybody for the visit.

Had an awesome weekend!!!

P.S: I had a pretty crazy week, so there is a good chance that Shaman Quest will not update until Tuesday next week… I haven't work in new pages in all this last days, and I like to have a sizable batch of pages to upload…