Sometimes, someone I know says something so unexpected that I am taken aback, momentarily literally stopped in my tracks.
We were walking downstairs to get coffee, when my co-worker Lyn says “I hate video games”. Now, she’s a smart person, and this kind of blanket statement struck me as so short-sighted and ignorant that I was momentarily stunned.
It is one thing to condemn a work, or even a theme, but to condemn an entire medium seems like an awfully broad stroke.
It frustrates me when people have a narrow view of a medium because it is “new”, treating it as special or different because it’s not exactly the same as what came before it.
Comic books/graphic novels, for example – people make assumptions like “they are just for kids” or “they are a waste of space” or “they aren’t art” just because the few they have seen are less sophisticated (if they have even seen any, many judgements of this type are based on second- or third-hand information). But if they were to read Maus, could they then say that comics were not art, and a waste of space?
Video games are now in the same spot. Recently, Roger Ebert declared “video games can never be high art”. I strongly disagree, for a number of reasons. His main arguement is that because video games are interactive, they cannot be art, because the artist doesn’t have complete control over the viewer. Does this mean that scuptures are not art, because the viewer is free to walk around and see it from any angle? Or interactive art installations are not art, because they are interactive? Saying that interaction negates art, or relegates it to “low art” seems like a very limited viewpoint.
The other part of his statement, that video games “will never be” high art, is similarly limited in vision. He is making a firm prediction for all of time. Video games are in their infancy, but even now there are games that I would say qualify as art, such as “Ico” or “Flow”. I think his exposure to video games is also pretty limited, he has seen a handful of games and is basing his views of the entire medium on that small group. That would be like seeing “Son of the Mask,” “3 Ninjas,” “Kazam,” and “Lawnmower Man 2” and declaring that movies can never be high art.
In the end, I cannot contridict the statements “I hate video games” or “I think video games will never be high art”, because they are opinions. What I can do is strongly disagree, and offer my own point of view.
I have to say, for the most part, that I hate the activity of video gaming. My experience with video games has been one of two things: being the person who isn’t playing and is bored off my ass or being the person playing and getting my ass kicked or not knowing what the hell i’m doing and stopping after 10 minutes because i just don’t care. Some video games are fun, but for the most part, I could just as well never ever play them and not feel like I was missing anything. I find them to be a poor substitute for actually doing something. I know what arguments you might make, but for me, they are just not that interesting. I’d rather go play tag or talk or go shoot paintball or something. Not sit on a couch looking at a screen and pushing buttons. But like you said, it’s my personal opinion on it. It’s not that people who like them are any less entitled to their opinion. Some people hate golf, some people love it. It’s the same thing with video games.
Sorry for the rambling 🙂
True, like I said, inherently an opinion can’t be “wrong”, I can only express a differing opinion. I just find “hate” to be a strong word.
Same as if someone said they “hate books” or “hate movies”… I guess I’m just not a very hateful person. =)
My concern is that when people hate something, they try to destroy it. Which is when you get into censorship, banning things, book burnings, etc. When someone says they hate video games, I get concerned, because I happen to like video games, and don’t want them stamped out of existance.
Your argument that they are a waste of time is completely true, but the same is also true of books, movies, music — any time you are a “consumer” of media instead of a “creator” of media, you are “wasting time”.
But they are no *more* a waste of time than any other media. They are no less important than other forms of expression, which is where I have to be defensive, because many people who are not gamers think that games are less important than books or music.
It’s certainly arguable that the average book has more sophisticated content than the average game, but what we are talking about is not the average game, but rather the whole of video games, including future potential.
I’m just sick of everyone constantly attacking video games. It’s one thing to “dislike” games, but to “hate” games and want to remove them from the world is something I can never agree with.
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On a personal note, hearing you say you “hate” video games saddens me (literally – I’m very sad right now), because it means it’s something I can never share with you, it’s something you never want to try. I don’t want to force something on you that you hate.
Not that I expected you to be a hard-core gamer, but I thought it would have been fun to play a game together every now and then.
I’m glad we talked about this last night. And I think what it comes down to is that feeling of exclusion that I feel when I’m around people playing video games (going all the way back to my brothers kicking me out of their room and making fun of me when I did play Atari because they were so much better). But that isn’t about the games, it’s about the people. And for me to disregard a whole genre of art because of a few bad experiences is pretty silly. I guess what I’m trying to say is “Wanna play video games sometime?” 🙂
PS: you can also teach me chess!