Roger Ebert Backs Down On Video Games As Art 265
Jhyrryl writes "Roger Ebert has again posted about video games. It's an apology of sorts, for having publicly said that games are not art. He wrote, 'I should not have written that entry without being more familiar with the actual experience of video games. ... My error in the first place was to think I could make a convincing argument on purely theoretical grounds. What I was saying is that video games could not in principle be Art. That was a foolish position to take, particularly as it seemed to apply to the entire unseen future of games. This was pointed out to me maybe hundreds of times.'"
Critics (Score:5, Funny)
Criticizing movies is not art. Nor even a nice profession :)
Re:He Did No Such Thing (Score:5, Funny)
To paraphrase Eddie Murphy... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:To paraphrase Eddie Murphy... (Score:4, Funny)
"Tell Roger to have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up."
And if he calls you again, tell him to suck my dick.
Definition of art (Score:2, Funny)
What is the definition of art? I once heard it described as:
Art is anything you are willing to exhibit
If I want to exhibit a turd on a stick - well that's art. You might not like it, but that does not change the facts.
Re:He Did No Such Thing (Score:5, Funny)
In the words of Terry Pratchett, "he's not only not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he might even be a spoon."
Re:He Did No Such Thing (Score:5, Funny)
Re:He Did No Such Thing (Score:3, Funny)
Ha ha ha! You must be daft. That's hilarious, criticizing someone for using a perfectly cromulent word in perfectly acceptable context.
Dunno, it still doesn't change my main point (Score:3, Funny)
While that certainly has merits, and we could discuss artistic currents more in depth for the rest of the afternoon, I think it doesn't change my main points. If deviating from prescribed art forms to paint a prostitute for pure erotic value is still art (and nobody would call Manet non-art), surely deviating to include an interactive element wouldn't be any worse.
That said, though:
1. I don't think Duchamp intended even that, judging by his actual interviews. He didn't try to question what is art and what isn't, and test boundaries, or whatever. He literally says that he wanted to destroy it all. His message was basically, "art is crap".
2. Well, for better or worse, that has become the dominant current in modern art. While technically dadaism is not _all_ of it, it has at least influenced all the other aspects of it in the graphical arts.
3. Well, I've been in teams in MMOs or generally online games which would qualify as dadaism, and made me question what is a raid, after all :p
E.g., the blaster (mage) pulls with an area-effect spell, and gets insta-killed, then complains that the tank should have gotten them off him in the about 0.5 seconds it took him to faceplant. The main healer appears bunnyhopping from a side corridor (WTF was she doing in another direction than the rest of the team?), screaming "help!" and pursued by an angry mob of NPCs. The secondary healer is busy pretending he's a mage and doing pitiful damage with his attacks, and never even heals himself. Seriously, having to bandage a "healer" when I'm one of the melee DPS-ers, is enough to make me question a lot of things. Another guy is running against a wall. And after the wipe is complete, the tank suddenly pipes up with, "soz, was afk. back now." :p
If that's not dadaism, I don't know what is ;)
Re:Since when did "good enough" matter? (Score:3, Funny)
My favorite aspect of "Fountain" is that, the way it is arranged, if you did try to use it as a urinal you'd end up with piss on your shoes.
If you pissed on most modern art you would end up with piss on your shoes.