On Game Developers and Legitimacy 214
Gamasutra is running a feature by game developer Brian Green on how he and his colleagues are still striving for legitimacy and respect as part of a medium that's still commonly thought of by many as "for kids" and "potentially harmful to kids." He notes that while financial legitimacy is no longer in question, artistic and cultural legitimacy are taking more time. Green makes some interesting parallels to the early movie and comic book industries, and points out that moral outrage against comic books did significant damage to the medium's growth in the US.
"... in the United States there was a 'moral panic' about the corrupting influences of comic books on children, as there often is with many 'new' media. The government threatened to enact laws to censor comic books, for the good of the children. (Does that sound familiar to game developers?) The industry reacted by enacting their own regulations, the Comics Code Authority (CCA). The Comics Code Authority heavily restricted the content that comics could contain. For example, the words 'horror' and 'terror' were not allowed in the titles of comics. Werewolves, vampires, zombies, and similar creatures of the night were forbidden."
Re:Games have been legitimate for years... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:When did comic books become legitimate? (Score:3, Informative)
Definitely art:
Deus Ex.
The Fallout games.
The Half-Life series + Portal
Perhaps System Shock 2
Maybe not "art", but comparable to things that sometimes are considered art:
Max Payne 2--it's obviously not "The Godfather", but it's certainly better than your average gangster/cop movie. A damn-near flawless game. Does what it sets out to do, does it well, tells its story, and makes a graceful exit.
Many RPGs are every bit as good as a decent fantasy novel. Some are even better.
Re:When did comic books become legitimate? (Score:2, Informative)
do you consider this art?
Don't click the link, folks.
But then you have George Lucas tweaking his movies 30 years after they were finished.
He sold his soul to the Divell for the almighty dollar. See also: Metallica. Both entities now drink bottled water and wear Dolce and Gabbana sunglesses while they settle in some trendy celebrity's lap.
John Lennon met Yoko Ono at an art exhibit where one of her pieces involved the spectator pounding a nail into a board.
Maybe John Lennon was also always on acid at the time, and was impressed by Yoko who was always on acid at the time, who in turn impressed everybody else who was on acid at the time. And hey, the dominance of being the leader of the greatest band of all time gets old after awhile. That's when being dominated by the nearest fuckable female Japanese loser comes into play.
Personally, I wouldn't call that "art", just like I wouldn't call a man sitting at a piano and not playing "music".
...and that's what boring space-marine alien-zombie FPS' are. No, wait. At least boring space-marine alien-zombie first-person shooters would play "heart and soul" with two fingers. Sure, we've heard it again and again without any real improvisiation, but eh. Status quo and all. Oh, shit, I've been troll'd.
Re:is this really still true? (Score:4, Informative)
To add one more example, the library [uiuc.edu] at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a video game collection with vintage and current title.