Is it Art?, an essay on videogames.
A common criticism of video games made by non-gamers is that they are pointless and escapist, but a more valid observation might be that the bulk of games are nowhere near escapist enough. A persuasive recent essay by the games theorist Steven Poole made the strong argument that the majority of games offer a model of play which is oppressively close to work.
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I find this very interesting. It gave me pause and then I immediately had to mentally classify all the games I enjoy into several sub-categories loosely under the headings “work” and “non-work, non-capitalist-purpose-driven games”.
Some thoughts:
I’ve always found it troubling that non-gamers (and not just videogamers) always present the pointless/escapist argument about videogames, computer games, role playing games (the list is endless) set up in dichotomy to being productive. Even “creative” people do this.
I feel that they should know better, that escapism can be functional, creative, meditative sometimes.
I recently posted a blog entry about a new game I discovered that I instantly fell in love with. The design and art of it is astounding, but more than that, it’s dreamy. Running and jumping around in this world is like a dream – the kinds of scary-suspenseful-beautiful dreams of flying or being chased.
Dreams bring a kind of balance to me. And I believe some games bring dreamy chaotic surrealism into every day life. Maybe this is unnecessary for some people, but if I had to say why games are a good use of my time, that would be why. Alternate worlds. Alternate rules.
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