Editorial: Videogames as Art

So, I've heard this question tossed around: Are videogames art?

Short answer: Yes

Long answer:

I always think that someone is asking the wrong question when they ask if something "is art." If it's trying to send you a message or invoke an emotion, it's art. I think the question they mean to ask is "Is this good art? Is it quality art?" The quality of art is an opinion, but there are some qualities that most people expect from art. Whether something is art or not is much more factual. The first rule being, if you care enough to argue whether it is or isn't art, it probably is.

So let's assume now that art encompasses videogames in the same way it encompasses television commercials, carpet patterns, and crudely drawn anatomy on the walls of restrooms. Let's asses whether videogames are high art, quality art, and art worthy of respect.

Some videogames are no simpler than television commercials. Burger King released a series of XBox games specifically as a commercial. Are these quality art? Hardly. It does take time and effort to produce games like this. Graphics artists, sound producers, and programmers have to collaborate in an overall effort certainly more impressive than the boobs drawn in the Men's room. The games lack a certain finesse though. It needs to tell people more than "Kids have fun at Burger King" and strike more of an emotion than a lust for less expensive car insurance.

But some games are worthy of respect as artwork. Games are mixed media productions and so there are several facets of art that games employ.

Graphics - Actual artists actually draw graphics for videogames.

Animation - A well made cinema event can be as good as a clip from a Hollywood movie

Music - Many respected composers and musicians create pieces used in games that are even sometimes sold next to regular music

Literature - Some games, especially RPGs can have prose or scripts that stir emotions and tackle deep philosophical thought

Gameplay - Even gameplay can be well crafted and if you don't think gameplay can stir emotion then you should watch a bunch of frat guys huddled around Madden.

I'd like to list some, not all, of the games I consider to be of the highest quality of artwork. These are games that blended several aspects of art together in a way that sychronized smoothly:

Chrono Trigger
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy VII
Shadow of the Colossus
Super Metroid
Earthbound (Very abstract art)
Halo, campaign mode
Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Pac-Man
Final Fantasy Tactics
Saga Frontier II (Water color actually)

In conclusion, are videogames art? Definitely. Are they good art? Sometimes. Can they be bad art? Of course. The same can be said of paintings, symphonies, and sculpture. You get the picture.

A little snapshot of today. I still haven't gotten one of my textbooks. The bookstore has been swearing it'll be here soon for the last three weeks. My patience is wearing thin with them and I'm about to ask for my money back. My brother has caught bacterial bronchitis and the rest of the family aren't feeling that hot either. I'll continue to be praying for them. I've been hooked on Harvest Moon lately, farming game. I have it emulated on my PC and whenever I feel like playing a game I get sucked into playing it. So, I played some Harvest Moon.

And then...

I went to the local Greyhound station. Most people don't know that they actually offer rides to other galaxies as well. Bought a ticket to Reeva and boarded the bus. I had some down time now. Even though the bus travels at several thousand times the speed of light it still takes about four hours to reach Reeva from Earth.

I already told you that time does not pass relative to myself on the bus and myself on Reeva due to Special Pirate Relativity. So when will I arrive on Reeva? According to Adamsian physics, not only are you not certain when my other self should arrive on Reeva, but neither is the universe. The universe will therefore take an educated guess, which usually turns out to be both convient for the universe and me.

I sat next to some old dude with a backpack that looked liked it held all his belongings. He kept asking me questions.

"Where ya headed? Reeva? I been there, not as much the tourist spot as it used to be. What you going there for? You have to save the shellfish? Save yourself! Oh, got it. Is that some kinda metaphor? Oh you warped here, that makes sense. I don't warp anymore, bad for my lower back. What were you doing on Reeva? No, I don't suppose it's any of my business. I just wondered if you might be looking for the person who killed it."

At that, I stopped dead in my tracks. Ash had mentioned she knew who killed the people of Reeva. She sounded guilty too. The old man told me how Reeva and Kattox used to be good trading partners, but the Kattox Refractor Crystal Incorporated began using Reeva's dependence on their product to influence their political decisions. Reeva boycotted further crystal purchases in an attempt to get their political rights back. Kattox Refractors demanded their crystals be returned to them. When their demands were not met, they razed the planet to the ground. Only underground equipment remained operational and until the scrubbers had time to recover, the entire planet's atmosphere was unbreathable.

After that discussion and a few more on the fine art of macaroni sculpture. I arrived on Reeva. I ran to the facility, bolting towards my last known location. I arrived just in time. I watched as my previous self fell from the robot's blast. I saw myself make a dash towards the robot and slide under his short stubby legs. I quickly ran towards the robot as it spun around. I reached into the access panel that Ash had already opened and ripped the safety cord.

The robot grinded to a halt and my previous self warped to Earth, unaware of the robot's deactivation, as I had done. I was glad. Contrary to popular opinion, temporal paradoxes do not cause rifts in the space time contiuum nor are they impossible to commit. However, they can lead to severe emotional and psychological problems in later years.

Ash picked herself up and dusted off, despite the lack of dirt to dust off, and looked at me with a "I coulda done that look." I was thinking about more important things.

"Ash, I gotta ask you something."

Until next time fellow pirates.

Back from Dragon*Con

I have returned from DragonCon. It was incredibly fun, and there were at least 30,000 fellow con-goers there. I took over 50 pictures on some disposable cameras which I will have developed sometime this week. I will post them at that time.

I saw George Lowe, the voice of Space Ghost on Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I also saw George Krstic one of the creators of Megas XLR, an amazing show that ended too quickly. I also saw Richard Epcar, the English voice of Batou from the anime series Ghost in the Shell. There were more celebrities that I missed or didn't have time for at the con. I heard that Lenard Nimoy and a couple of the cast of Enterprise were at the con, but I didn't see them.

I competed in a Magic the Gathering card game tournament, but I didn't make it past the first round. The guy I went up against was very experienced. The whole thing felt kinda cheap, the judge was one of the contestants and made it at least to the third round as I recall. Most of the contest was kinda on your honor and there was a lot of room for people to cheat and no one would know. I didn't stick around to see who one, but I wouldn't doubt it if the judge himself won the tournament.

I noticed that there were dozens of game sessions for a game called Shadowrun that I had never heard of. I tried to sign up, but they all booked solid. Interested in why this game was so popular I decided to buy a copy from the Dealer's room, but the Shadowrun vendor had SOLD OUT of copies of the core rulebooks. At that point I gave up. I checked reviews of the game online and wasn't impressed and I still have no idea why the game was so popular.

I bought a t-shirt:



And a game called Dungeoneer.

The experience was definitely great overall, but there were some excruciating parts. We arrived at the con around 11 on Saturday, but it took us til 4 PM to register! We literally stood in line for FOUR HOURS. When I got through the line I understood why. They only had two cashiers taking credit cards and the data entry guy who put my registration info into the computer, COULDN'T TYPE! I have to ask, why would you sign up for Data Entry position if you Can't Type?

We got back from the con on Monday evening. It was definitely worth it. When I got back, I had caught a bug sometime during the weekend, but I'm feeling much better now. My mom and people also caught something on their camping trip, keep them in your prayers for getting well soon.

Today I've been drudging through class with a tissue. I got done doing some homework. I played some video games.

And then...

I played some more games.

You expected me to jump right back in front of that robot's blaster? No, I was going to be smart about this. I picked up my cell and called an old friend.

"Hey Chief, I need a new warp point. What? Yes. I know. Look, I know it doesn't just work like that. Yes, yes. Look, how 'bout you just tell me how much it's gonna cost. THAT much? Well, do you take Space Visa? I'm good for it, I swear! Look, I'm right on top of a refractor crystal. Yes, a Refractor Crystal. So we're cool, great. Can you come to Earth?"

Instantly Nauta, "Chief", warped into my living room. He quickly began rattling off a disclaimer.

"Okay, N.O. energy utilizes the two halves of the user's brain and therefore is not appropriate for everyone. Some risks are involved including but not limited to: dizzyness, headaches, spontaneous combustion, death, pregnancy regardless of gender, and eternal entrapment in an endless void. N.O. is known to cause cancer in the state of California, but only in the state of California."

Warp points move with you, but remain in the same place when you are not present. I have two, one located on Earth and another currently on Reeva. The first two cost a pretty penny, the third was costing me almost twice the original amount.

Nauta picked up his guitar. N.O. always comes with a guitar, I've got one too. He drew back and swung the thing directly at my head. I was knocked against the wall and my mind began spinning. The pain is intense, but at the same time it feels like all the secrets to the universe are being unlocked within you. I blacked out and woke up a moment later.

"Thought I was going to lose you for a second. Well, try it out."

I stood up and began to feel my third warp. It was located right across the room. I willed myself to jump there and I disappeared and reappeared instantly on the other side of the room.

"Good job Chief. I'll catch you later. Right now, I have to catch a bus to Reeva."

Until next time fellow pirates...

Maybe a Game Review

I know I haven't written since Sunday, but not much has been happening. I think I'll start picking random topics when I don't have anything to report. So today... video game review.

Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)

This game is a point-and-click mystery following a 14 year old girl as she searches for her father that she hasn't seen since she was a child.


Presentation (Graphics and Audio):

The graphical art style in this game is very anime, and very good looking. The main world is an animated 3D top down environment and whenever Ashley gets close to a certain section of the room you can switch to a hand drawn visual to explore point and click style. The lighting and detail really sets the abandoned mansion mood they were going for.

The sound track is very good. Well above most handheld soundtracks.

For Presentation this game gets full marks.


Literary Value (Story):

Point-and-click games don't have much going for them except the story. So I'm often disappointed when point-and-clicks have bad stories. BUT, this game's story works. The main events of the story mostly involve Ashley rummaging around in the old mansion, but while rummaging around she gets bits and pieces of the history of the game. There are two main story lines: one following the original owners of the mansion, and another following her inventor father and the secret project he's been working on.

I will admit that I didn't get the best ending in the game, but even the bad ending was very satisfying.

Literary Value for this game is splendid.


Entertainment (Game play):

I don't really like the point-and-click genre. I usually feel like it doesn't give enough interaction to the player and I usually get stuck on one of its hundreds of ridiculous puzzles that don't make any sense. This game worked better than any point-and-click game I've played. The materials to solve the puzzles were located near-by. All the puzzles made sense, I got stuck a few times, but I knew what to do I just wasn't doing it quite right. My only complaint about the gameplay was the occasional use of the DS's microphone without any hint to use it and the fact that it was a point-and-click and therefore kinda dull to play. Very relaxing though.

It should be noted that this game is very short. It was my first time playing it and it only took seven hours, and it felt like less, I probably left it on while I was looking at something online. It was quality all the way, but very short.

Entertainment gets half-credit.


Respect (Gamer cred):

I will usually use this section to set apart the great games from the legendary games. I'm afraid it's going to set this game in the great game category. This game isn't obscure or anything, but it wasn't that popular. It's not multiplayer so you can't invite your friends to play it, and it's not the most manly game so it'd be hard for me to talk about it to a stranger without sounding kinda weird.

Sorry Ashley, but this game gets no Respect.


Overall

Presentation: Check
Literary Value: Check
Entertainment: Half-Check
Respect: None
Final Score: 2.5 / 4 (Above Average)

P.S. I bought this game for 6.99! It's worth twice that at least.


So today in class, my professor started teaching us about Flux. I almost lept out of my seat and yelled, "Great Scott!" In reality it's just a concept about something flowing past some surface.

And then...

We walked down a long flight of stairs. The temperature significantly dropped as we dove lower into the bowels of the facility.

"So Ash, just out of nagging curiosity, who's place was this?"

"Somebody from Reeva."

"Right."

We passed several empty hallways. Every once and a while, Ash would type into a computer terminal and read something in a language I didn't understand. I had to ask...

"So Ash, these people of Reeva, what exactly..."

"Happened to them!? You're asking a lot of questions. Questions you probably shouldn't ask. Just because I know how the people of Reeva died, doesn't mean I had anything to do with it!"

She looked aside realizing that her outburst had revealed too much. She turned around curtly and kept marching. The situation was obviously touchy, so I thought I'd keep my mouth shut from now on. I found that getting women angry is a bad idea, especially when they have guns.

We could hear the low stomping of the Golem class robot in the next room. Ash motioned us to follow her.

"The bigger they are..."

"No Ash, no. That's so overused."

"Fine. How 'bout..." -cocks gun- "I think he needs more lead in his diet."

"We'll work with it."

The Golem was tall with short stubby legs and a huge cylindrical torso. His one red eye glowed from the top of his head. He had one cannon attached to one arm, but the other just looked like a hand. These robots have an access panel on their lower backs with a convenient shutdown emergency cord inside. I ran out in front of the robot creating a distraction. The robot fired right away. These things were big, but not that slow. The blast landed next to me and threw me on my ass. I stared up into the monster's eye, but I should have been looking at his cannon because it was charging another blast.

I ran straight towards it and slid underneath it. I wound up lying next to Ash who was busy dismantling the access panel. She took a quick glance over at me and then her eyes opened in realization. The robot spun around promptly staring at me lying on the floor and Ash kneeling next to me where his access panel was just a minute ago. I decided now was a good time to head to bed back on Earth.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Just Taking a Walk

Today was pretty quiet. I woke up and took one of my long walks I like to take. I just can't get enough of walking to faraway places. I'm like a walk-a-holic. I was actually going to walk down and take a bus to Heroes and Dragons, a favorite comic store of my friends and mine, but I decided on postponing that to a later date. I just walked down to the GameStop on Rosewood and drooled for awhile. Did some homework, then I went to Blue Cactus for dinner. I probably shouldn't have, but I was craving. I came back and played some games.

And then...

I pulled out my adamantine saber. Archaic, I know, but it's got a flair that you just can't beat. Ash and I were standing in the doorway and we could see the red glow of the robot's one eye. Ash was muttering some plan using one of Captain's crew as bait, but I wasn't listening. The thing hadn't spotted us and it was on a patrol routine. I waited for it to turn its back and then I rushed in. The humanoid robot barely had time to turn around, let alone aim its pitiful gun, before I cleaved deep into its mechanical cranium.

"Come on Ash, it's not brain surgery."

Ash told me not to get so cocky. Then she asked why I had appeared to flicker before the fight. I explained that I had gained the ability to warp between two points in space and that I had just come back from Earth. I told her that I had been there about one day, but no time passes between these two places. Why you ask? Well, thanks to Special Pirate Relativity if two pirates are at least 1.7 trillion leagues apart then no time passes relative to the other.

"Okay Keelhaul, but you gotta be more careful with the next robot. It's a Golem class; he's big and he's mean."

I should note that my name on Earth is Chris, but I chose a more piratey alias for my adventures in space. Keelhaul. It's funny 'cause if you get keelhauled in space then you like, explode... Well I thought it was clever.

Until next time fellow pirates.

I Love Fridays.

It's the weekend, yay! It looks to be a pretty quiet one this weekend. That's okay though, Dragon*Con is next weekend so I should probably spend this weekend getting ready. I finished reading the Dark Tower II recently and started the Dark Tower III. I really like this series. I've heard that the later books aren't as good, but I hope the reports are greatly exaggerated. The ACM had Bad Movie Night and we watched, Death Bed, The Bed that Eats. It was bad. The worst part I think was how calm everyone was while their friends were being eaten and even when they were being eaten.

In Business Communications we watched the opening scene of Joe Versus the Volcano. I want to see the rest now. It looked good. He was trying to illustrate miscommunication in business, but I noticed that it seemed well produced.

I came home, worked on some physics homework, played some Mario.

And then...

Captain Comic's ship descended to the surface of the planet Reeva. He was beginning to doubt my ability to pick places filled with "Adventure." The place looked desolate. The atmosphere was breathable, unbelievably, but there was no vegetation or signs of life. Just gray jagged mountains and fields of metallic ash. I lead a small party towards a cave our sensors had picked up to the north. The mouth of the cave was two stories tall and oddly rectangular. The cave wasn't perfect but the walls were too flat, too straight for natural formations.

We marched into the cave with the low sound of wind howling behind us. At the end of the cave was a door. A big, metal door with an electronic lock that was turned on. I began to feel nervous, but when life throws you big scary doors, you do what every good pirate does. You knock first, cause who knows, might be a big scary dude. The door slid open and standing right behind it was my contact, Ash.

"Looking for something?" she said. We marched deeper into the facility. The walls were now lined with computer interfaces and access panels. She explained that this facility was abandoned, but the Refractor Crystal powering it was still operational. Then she mentioned how we might run into resistance with the local robots.

"I thought this was a dig, strictly treasure hunting. How many of these things do we have to deal with?"

"Three. But they're security droids and heavily armed." I was mad at her. She lied to me, but I couldn't help notice that she was actually kind of attractive. Her green hair was cut short, but it fell gracefully around her neck ending in dainty blond tips. Her gray pants and tank top fit tightly around her Well-developed muscles. (and other features)

"And you're sure no one is going to miss this crystal?"

"What do you care, you're a pirate?"

"Good point."

Until next time fellow pirates.

First Log

Okay, I'm not a Galatic Pirate Lord, but I will be one day. Currently, I'm just your run-of-the-mill space pirate, but even being a normal space pirate is quite exciting. I live a double life here on Earth to make my friends and family think that I'm just a normal human student. I've decided to chronicle my adventures in space and the one's here on Earth too, I guess.

I recently started school at USC again. This will be my fifth year here. I am ready to get this degree already. I say that, but I also need to start working on a professional portfolio and contacting various companies that I'm interested in working for. I am staying in an apartment near campus. I was recently forced to have a roommate. The guy's name is Noah, he's okay. My classes look pretty normal this semester, some programming, some English, some Physics.

I am looking forward to going to Dragon*Con soon. My friends and I go to a convention once a year and this year we decided to go to Dragon*Con on Labor Day weekend. Ben says he can get us at least two nights of hotels free. I am a little concerned about the money, but I'm going to budget myself so I don't wind up running out of money this year, again.

It was a pretty normal day today. I got my glasses which my mother had sent to me. I had to go running all over the city to get them. The postal system had decided to play hot patato with it or something. I went to an ACM meeting. I think I'm going to try to be more active in that community. I got some supper and headed home.

And then...

I boarded Captain Comic's ship. I've been serving under him for almost two years now. He's a good guy besides the whole scavenging the stars and taking everything valuable from the helpless space merchants, but you know, we all do that from time to time. He keeps things clean and organized and our operations are very efficient, but everybody's kinda lazy and figures that everyone else will cover for their lack of looting.

I would expect my crew to be full of fire and take everything they could get their hands on like a pack of starving wolves. I've been working on getting enough money to build my own spaceship. A wooden one. Yep, it is quite a challenge, but I've got most of the details worked out. With today's Varia shielding and standard gravity manipulators, you can keep a pretty solid atmosphere and protective barrier wrapped around any vessel. I plan to use a N.O. warp drive supplemented with a rocket propulsion system in the back for short ranged manuevering. I can't wait to captain my own space pirate ship.

I met a girl named Ash during our stay on planet Edwar. She told me about a Refractor Crystal in the Reeva system. Refractor Crystals are very valuable, they can power starships for years on end. I'm supposed to rendevous with her on the surface of Reeva tommorrow. I managed to convince Captain Comic that Reeva is filled with "Adventure" and we should head there post haste. Until next time fellow pirates.