Q&A: Hollywood is pointing to a larger convergence of video games and movies. While what results may not appear as story to you, what does that means to consumers who may think otherwise?

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Hollywood is pointing to a larger convergence of video games and movies. While what results may not appear as story to you, what does that means to consumers who may think otherwise?

Aug 30, 2010

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henrymann: apples and oranges

at Aug 30, 2010 - 5:35 PM

movies and video games are different endeavors that serve different purposes. only a cultural vandal or a soul-dead bean counter for a media conglomerate would attempt to marry the two.

Bass wrote

at Aug 30, 2010 - 11:32 AM

What I love so much about the point of view Mr McKee expresses here is that the "Are Games Art?" debate is something that has been talked about for years as video games become more and more complex and financially successful.

But the debate is essentially down to people trying to *legitimise* games. The word "art" seems to mean to a lot of people, "an important, cultural artifact that gives meaning to the lives of people in society". As such, people want to say that "X" is art so that it is now legitimate and respected in the eyes of society. And others, who are snobbish to games and sports, claim it's an immature pursuit that one should grow out of and thus, it cannot truly be art. And this goes back and forth, all built around the fundamental problem of not knowing what *art* is.

And Mr McKee points out precisely why they're not by discussing not the politics, demographics, or histories of gaming, but by what it is to sit down and *play* one.

It's such a cut through all the bullshit and I can't be happy enough. There's no snobbery. It's just "Games are this" and "Art is this" and there's no shame in being a game.

Chess isn't art, but it is an important, cultural artifact that is timeless, and exquistely designed. It is a better game than most artworks are art. The same can be said for many sports.

I hope this kind of thinking catches on; that art is not synonymous with quality, but an aesthetic experience and games offer a different, but wonderful experience. The desire for games to be 'art' is the cause for a lot of problems in video games as they replace playing the game with poorly designed cut sequences.