-
With the toothless, worn out whore – the games as art debate – dragged again into the town square to be publicly flogged, I find myself driven to reject any response at all. To answer the question is to miss the point entirely, because any answer validates what I think is a fundamentally flawed concept, as though art were some quantifiable, describable thing. You might as well ask if games are love.
I say, in my most haughty voice possible, let high minded fools pass down their judgments on what is or is not allowed to be art. I didn’t really want to play the Mona Lisa anyway.
—
So Long Orson Welles | Gamers With Jobs
Sean “Elysium” Sands brings up some good points here and it’s a valid perspective. Yet, I feel compelled to defend the concept of games as art regardless. I think the gaming industry still has a long way to mature before we see anything like the Mona Lisa, but it doesn’t mean we should strive to create a masterpiece from this uniquely interactive medium so prevalent in our present culture. The shift, however, has to happen where the intent of a game is not entertainment. We are already seeing the beginnings of a this shift happening by indie developers but there’s a long way to go yet.
