Ebert admits defeat in the “Games vs. Art” debate!
Roger Ebert, an industry-respected film critic, has shocked the gaming community for the second time in 2010; He’s cried “uncle.”
In a surprising turn of events, Ebert posted a brand new blog entry stating that his position on video games was one of ignorance and bullheadedness.
I should not have written that entry without being more familiar with the actual experience of video games.
By now, most gamers who are able to tear themselves away from the controller are intimately familiar with Roger’s initial claim and subsequent revival that games cannot be art. A position that I felt the need to respond to in a blog entry of my own.
No one could have predicted how gigantic the inevitable backlash would be. As Ebert noted, he received and approved thousands of “mostly well-written” responses to the opposition of his own stance.
It’s more than Anna Karenina, David Copperfield and The Brothers Karamazov.
Roger goes on to speak of the fallout of this solitary entry, and how Sony, paired with Kellee Santiago (whom Ebert’s first 2010 game post was a response to) had offered the critic a chance to test his theory. Given the ok, a Playstation 3 would be provided to Ebert, along with some installed games, including “Flower”.
As of this writing, Ebert has yet to accept the invitation and admits that “I didn’t want to play a video game.”
The article wraps up, and finds Roger addressing many critical concerns by attempting to find his own definition of art. A search that, he also admits, cannot in principle exclude games, as he had initially argued.
As affected gamers everywhere collectively rejoice and begin endless chains of “I told you so”s and “suck it, Ebert!”s, it’s important to note the manner in which Roger has conceded a point. He’s acknowledged that he’s mostly ignorant to the experience of gaming (as I had hypothesized in my previous entry). He’s allowed room for other opinions outside of his own, and, most importantly, he’s listened to his critics.
Well played sir, but you still owe me 30 minutes of Passage.
July 1st, 2010 at 6:36 pm
[...] greater analysis of this rebuttal, check out a new post by Fabricatorz developer, Brad Phillips! Filed under: commons — Tags: art — by bradphillips @ 7:36 pm Comments [...]