Video games as concept art.

[greatgreybeast]

The following is a reply posted to Ebert's journal entry, "The agony of the body artist." If you are not immediately familiar with Chris Burden's performance art, specifically "Doomed," then I suggest you read the original entry first

Comments

[disheah]

I agree with you. I think Mr. Ebert, as great a film critic as he may be, is blinded by his medium. I like how you place film in perspective with the other arts, where it's very much an author-controlled form as compared to say a painting, a play, a dance, or even a novel.

I actually think a lot of video games right now can qualify as works of art. Mass Effect, Fallout 2, Katamari, and Portal come to mind.

[greatgreybeast]

Yes, the Companion Cube came instantly to mind when I tried to think of a video game analog to Burden's simple performance art. Hilarious and brilliant.

My theory is that the essential art of games is more closely related to sculpture, where the work simply is the story. This kind of storytelling has always been possible in theory, but too expensive to ever evolve beyond a haunted house, or Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride at best - until virtual realities finally busted the medium wide open. That said, linear narratives can certainly be successfully shoe-horned into a video game, sometimes with excellent results. But often I think it becomes a crutch for designers who would really rather be making movies

[disheah]

I've played a few of those games. Myst was a break through, possibly one of the first story-driven puzzle games. I remember the zen-like qualities of the game environment, especially that clock tower island.

I remember playing Silent Hill for the first time, and muttering "oh my f*cking God" straight about 4 hours, and jumping at every noise in the house.