Game Expert?
Game Politics.com :: Where politics and video games collide Nice entry at Game Politics.com. Worth reading.
In any case, Senator Demuzio appears not to harbor much good will where video games are concerned. An AP story carries the following quote, attributed to the legislator:
“Video games are not art or media. They are simulations, not all that different from the simulations used by the U.S. military in preparation for war.”
Hmmm… Mario, Madden and Tetris are military simulations? Who knew?
Mmmmm…column fodder.
If we’re lucky she’ll NEVER be appointed to the US Supreme Court. I can see her rulings now….
“TV and movies aren’t art, they’re merely video or film recorded enactments.”
“Photographs aren’t art, they’re merely pictoral representations of reality.”
“Music isn’t art, it’s merely a system whereby air is pushed against the ear drum.”
Of course, this one is going to explode. Senator Demuzio has obviously never been an active computer game player. After getting used to the tongue-in-cheek violence in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, I’d ask her if she honestly felt the sunsets in Vice City beach do not qualify as art…
Sorry Ima, I don’t agree. Not everything in life is art. Although there may be some art involved in the production of the game, that in it self does not make the game art.
Does a cartoon drawing or a good photograph make an advertisement art? Of course not! The artistic components may be appreciated for their attributes, but not the whole. An advertisement’s main purpose is to get your attention involved enough to have you buy something. Like the ad, the game uses art as a background for the actual game.
A car may be very beautiful and even be proclaimed a work of art. It is, however, still a car with the primary mission of getting passengers from point “A” to point “B”. The better looking the car, the better it looks in the showroom and maybe the better it sells, but it is still a car and will be sold and used as a car.
I gather that the Senator’s intension is to limit the CONTENT of the game, the same as content of movies are rated and “skin magazines” are so far from the floor behind opaque screens. We don’t allow children to watch extremely violent or pornographic movies, magazines, TV shows etc, so why are video games any different?
Sounds like she’s echoing the philosophies of Lyndon LaRouche, who’s been saying the same things for years. I have yet to make the figure out the connection myself; I don’t see droves of game players joining the military. In fact, most serious career military folks I know stay away from games in general.
FISH>> >> “Photographs aren’t art, they’re merely pictoral representations of reality.”
Of course your’ re right… but do you realize that this was a OFTEN used criticism of photography for its first 50 years or so? It took A LONG TIME for photography to get accepted as fine art.
As for me, I think most electronic games ARE CRAP. (But, at 46, I am WAY OUT OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC for these games.)
Are there any games for my demographic? If I buy a PSII for my kid, I’d like at least one game I could play on it after I send her to bed. Or, maybe a game I could play on my laptop on the airplane.
I’d like to see a cool graphic novel with adult themes (and I don’t mean porno). I think a 40s crime novel “whodunnit” would be cool. Maybe you could chose to explore the world from the detective’s vantage point and then from the criminal’s?
But I DON’T want any of that “bonus lives”-collecting-gems- jumping-over-bottomless-pits crap…
…just a really good story line and great illustrations.
Hank, check out this editorial here:
http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/manifesto.html
It was written by a hardcore gamer who’s now a little older without the time to spend days and days playing the latest game. He calls for game producers to start making games for older people with real lives. I.e., people with jobs, kids, errands, etc.
He also wants games specifically for his, AKA our, demographic. It’s quite an interesting read if you’re an old geezer gamer.
Pat, you’re all over the place. Advertising can be controlled by the state because it is not considered speech as interpreted by the Constitution. In other words, the government can impose restrictions on it. Namely that it be true/verifiable. Thus you cannot really compare advertising with works of art as they are two completely different legal concepts.
I don’t get your car analogy. No one is considering limiting the rights of automakers to make cars in relation to protecting children from indecent content.
And you simply don’t understand the Senator’s point of view. She’s not talking about limiting content. SHE DOES NOT THINK IT IS CONTENT! Shows are content. Movies are content. Newspaper articles are content. She is under the serious belief that games deserve absolutely NO constitutional protection.
And lastly, games ARE already rated by content. In my state minors cannot buy violent and sexually suggestive games and our attorney general strictly enforces it.
Ima, I copied the first paragraph of the article linked above.
It appears more and more likely that Illinois will be the first state to pass legislation this year restricting the sale of violent video games for minors. Whether or not the Illinois law is ultimately judged constitutional will be a matter for the courts. In any event, people of good will can certainly disagree on the matter.
It sure sounds like content to me.
Nowhere in the quote attributed to Senator Demuzio is the word CONTENT used. What she said was that they “are not art or media”. Although she did use a comparison to military simulations, I don’t think she was too far off the mark as they all use similar algorisms.
As for the analogy of advertising and automobiles, art may be a component of each but neither may be classified as works or art. Advertising uses graphics to enhance a message, the same as video games. Automobiles use art to sell a product, the same as video games. In both examples, art is only a component, not the reason. Both may and are controlled by the state to varying degrees.
I doubt very much if you or anyone else would buy a video game just because the artwork is superbly done. And I grant that much of the art in video games is outstanding.
A final comment about the Senator. This was a two-sentence quote about her reaction to the bill. I am quite sure that she had more to say about the bill, possibly more detail about what she is quoted on. I am hesitant to judge anyone on a two-sentence quote.
While I’m not in favor of banning or seriously restricting video games (other than to keep the foulest of them out of the hands of 10-year-olds), I think most of them are crap too. Unless you’re a 12-year-old trying to get out of doing his homework, there’s not enough in them to occupy the non-deadened mind long enough to learn all the “hacks” and “cheats” and other tricks that the pre-teen set seems to thrive on these days.
And to call the lumbering monsters of Doom 3 or the things in Halo 2 “art” seems to be stretching the definition about as far as it can go without breaking (or maybe it’s already broken). Was Clutch Cargo “art”? Are Mario and Tetris “art”? How about Pong?
Guys, there is art and there is art… For instance, there are photos which are considered art, and there are snapshots. There are paintings which are art and there are inkblots. Even grafitti may one day be considered art. It’s very flexible, and all depends on the sensibility of the viewer. Therefore there are games which may not be considered art – the aforementioned Dooms, Marios, etc, but there are also games which may be considered art – remember Myst?
My personal favorit, GTA, may be considered a mindless shooter. However it’s full of touches you don’t see in many other places. I mean, when you stop running over people and shooting prostitutes… you can stop and wander around the city. And it’s so beautifullly made that you HAVE to realise there’s some aestethic in it all. It was done with care to provide that kind of experience. Can’t it be considered a work of art? The same way some ads are considered works of art, some cars are considered works of art, some movies are considered works of art. It’s all relative.
I think you can’t legislate taste.
Hey Parents – how about taking the game devices away and kicking your fat litle darlings outside to play?