(Posted by: Harrison)
Film critic, Roger Ebert
Can and will video games be considered an piece of high art? That's the topic of debate among gamers and renowned film critic, Roger Ebert, who continues to be the industry's number one opponent against the medium being considered an art form. Ebert recently wrote about the subject on the Chicago Sun-Times website, which has sparked debate. The piece was a response to thatgamecompany president Kellee Santiago's TED talk at USC last summer (check it out if you want some history behind the debate). So far, Ebert doesn't slam Santiago's speech to the ground, but regardless of her points, he continues to state that games "can never be art."
Hit the jump to read the rest of Ebert's comments.
Hit the jump to read the rest of Ebert's comments.
Ebert brings up good points in his piece, stating that "no gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form" and that famous athletes like Michael Jordan never said their sports were art. Ebert also points out that games consist of "rules, points, objectives, and an outcome," which is the ideal reason why games aren't considered a serious art form.
At first, we might not agree with Ebert's theory, it can be attested that we must not get into a huge debacle over games as art. After Ebert published his piece, the critic's Twitter feed was filled with counter-arguments against him. Ebert quickly refuted the arguments with videos against the topic. Like film, it will take a few years before we can classify video games as a high art form. Despite the control aspect of Ebert's argument, games can be an improvisational form of art. Until then, we as gamers, should not make this a huge topic of concern.
At first, we might not agree with Ebert's theory, it can be attested that we must not get into a huge debacle over games as art. After Ebert published his piece, the critic's Twitter feed was filled with counter-arguments against him. Ebert quickly refuted the arguments with videos against the topic. Like film, it will take a few years before we can classify video games as a high art form. Despite the control aspect of Ebert's argument, games can be an improvisational form of art. Until then, we as gamers, should not make this a huge topic of concern.
