Video game age gettho

[Erik_Twice]

You know the drill, they are not art, they are only for kids and I would rather have all of them burn that sacrifice Hukelberry Finn. That's when they are not murder simulators that make people kill each other, of course.

I wonder, what do you think about this? When will this end? Will it suffer the same fate as animation, seen as kid's stuff for 40 years with it's golden era forgotten?

I think that we are going to see a very confrontional period now that videogames are being pushed so hard into the household. On one hand, it's going to start to be noticed and valued but only in a commercial way, like those mindless blockbusters that you forget the next day.

This is going to be supported by a weak fare of critics from mainstream reviewers like IGN, making videogames as art hard to accept by other art critics as blockbuster games do not tend to hold high artistic status or be innovative uses of the medium (Which is not to say that they are not fun).

Games right now don't have any pretentious stuff, for example. They don't really try to push the envelope and I think that's the main hurdle games have right now.

[flamepanther]

Games right now don't have any pretentious stuff, for example. They don't really try to push the envelope and I think that's the main hurdle games have right now.

There are some that do. The problem is that they are usually not very fun to play, so even gamers generally don't like them very much. THAT is the big problem facing the idea of "games as art".

[Inazuma]

It's just a matter of time. When all of the old people die off, we will be more socially accepting of things like video games, animation, the internet, file sharing, etc.

Right now the average gamer is in his 30's, so we are making good progress. There are many adults who understand video games now, unlike how it was 20+ years ago when video games were primarily played by little kids.

[Hatta]

Compare comic books. They were invented in the 30s, and it was only in the 90s that it became marginally acceptable for adults to read them. Also film was invented in the 1890s, and it was the 1940s before we see Hitchcock, Kurosawa, and Orson Welles. The increased cultural diffusion caused by the internet may have compressed this some, but I doubt by much.

[ZeroAX]

Right now the average gamer is in his 30's, so we are making good progress. There are many adults who understand video games now, unlike how it was 20+ years ago when video games were primarily played by little kids.

Only 1 problem. Most people, even at that age, don't play video games. Specially women. Well they play games, but mostly online flash games, or something like that. Hardly artistic examples of the medium, I'd call them closer to Sudoku than art.

[dsheinem]

gettho?

[flamepanther]

gettho?

He's making a comparison to the so-called "Animation Age Ghetto" which is a name for the tendency of many people (at least in large portions of Western society) to automatically assume anything animated is fluff meant for small children. It's a baseless prejudice that confines the medium to a certain "area" and limits its chances of success and recognition--hence "ghetto"

[Ack]

gettho?

He's making a comparison to the so-called "Animation Age Ghetto" which is a name for the tendency of many people (at least in large portions of Western society) to automatically assume anything animated is fluff meant for small children. It's a baseless prejudice that confines the medium to a certain "area" and limits its chances of success and recognition--hence "ghetto"

I think it was more the spelling that he was wondering about.

[flamepanther]

I think it was more the spelling that he was wondering about.

Oh. Yeah, my brain auto-corrected that, so I didn't notice

[Gamerforlife]

The problem with games is that most of the people making them have the minds of 13 year old boys. Mature storytelling is not the norm, nor is "artistic" quality

I'll use Enslaved as an example. I've heard people say it has a good story. If Enslaved was a movie, critics would tear it apart for its amateurish, predictable story with ZERO character development or character conflict and its completely derivative epilogue. Its story is considered good, by gaming standards, but it'd be a joke in any other medium.

Also, gameplay is too laughably unrealistic to get gaming more respect as an art form. I'll use my classic example of whenever critics bash a movie for having ridiculous, over the top action, they typically compare it to a video game. Video games may be more popular and maybe even mainstream today, but they are still not taken seriously. The Wii is being marketed mostly as a kid's toy or an exercise device. It's the most popular system right now, but does it have any games that are so deep and meaningful we could compare them to sometime like Citizen Kane? There are few games that can be compared to the high art and mature storytelling we've seen in cinema and tv. Sure, we get the occasional Mass Effect or Ico, but again, those aren't the norm

I also dislike how male dominated gaming is. Would be nice to get more women writing or designing these things. Maybe then everything we see would NOT be mindless, testosterone infused shooters or games glorifying gore and violence as much as possible like God of War. Not that I have a problem with that, but it's a shame that this is most of gaming's output. The Gears of Wars, the Call of Dutys, the Grand Theft Autos. Few games that are deep and meaningful in any way