Roger Ebert (arguably the most well-known movie critic in the U.S.) controversially declared his stand on video games in 2005; Ebert's opinion is that video games are not art. Last month, Ebert elaborated on his claim, further stating that video games can never be art.
Ebert's stance on games can be quickly dismissed as his being just an old fuddy-duddy ignorantly criticizing a newer form of media that he is not familiar with. Or one can examine the nature of video games and intelligently defend their opposing opinion. This blog will do the latter.
Ebert is old and some old people think old.. Though I don't blame him for having an opinion but I strongly disagree with him. I know video games are art, because the they have to be created by designers no less, they can be beautiful, harsh, exciting, scary, and they bring out emotion in us just as some great master pieces do. I know that the trade in learning programing code and graphic art can be just as complicated as sculpting. Though don't get me wrong it's no Sistine Chapel and they shouldn't be compared, its like country isn't opera, but both have room to be called art.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think a lot of it has to do with Ebert possibly being stubborn. I mean he has even admitted that he's never played a video game!
ReplyDeleteBut, you know, despite that, I still respect the guy totally. I've always like him and his opinion on video games doesn't change that.
Maybe one day though he'll get his hands on something like Ico and change his mind.