{"id":291,"date":"2006-11-02T18:12:30","date_gmt":"2006-11-02T17:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/?p=291"},"modified":"2007-11-06T23:43:34","modified_gmt":"2007-11-06T22:43:34","slug":"games-as-art-discussion-transcript","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/2006\/11\/02\/games-as-art-discussion-transcript\/","title":{"rendered":"Games as Art Discussion Transcript"},"content":{"rendered":"

For posterity, here is the transcript from our Games as Art discussion on IRC yesterday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To convey the mood of the event, I have not done any editing. A good discussion IMO, but reading the transcript I can see that I could have done more turn-taking<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

* Now talking in #gamesandart
\n<eel_rich> I have a fire in my kitchen.
\n<DoctorJ> Well, let\u2019s bring this conversation to a crawl and take time to listen to our special guest.<\/p>\n

<ThomasRobertson> You should probably do something about that.
\n<eel_rich> Minor fire. brb
\n<DoctorJ> Dr. Henry Jenkins is the director, coordinator and visionary behind an interdisciplinary
\n<Egglet> Minor fire of property damage +5.
\n<DoctorJ> program in media at M.I.T.<\/p>\n

* Eptin has joined #gamesandart
\n* Guest82401 has joined #gamesandart
\n<Egglet> Hello Dr. Jenkins!
\n<DoctorJ> So, why don\u2019t we let Dr. Jenkins share some basics with us about HIS philosophy of games and
\n art.
\n* Guest82401 has quit IRC (Client Quit )<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> Ouch I left some spilt fries on the bottom of the oven. They were actually burning!
\n<saraid> Yay, we\u2019re starting.
\n<saraid> Or are we?
\n<eel_rich> oh
\n<HENRYJENKINS> sure<\/p>\n

<Egglet> Eel you\u2019re bringing the tone down. This is serious business.
\n<eel_rich> lol okay\u2026
\n<rex_m> this is ART
\n<Egglet> No. This is\u2026
\n<DoctorJ> So, why don\u2019t we start with some definition of what we even MEAN by art.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> \u2026MORE THAN ART.
\n* EricZ is now known as ERIC_ZIMMERMAN
\n<saraid> avant-garde?
\n* Frosty13 has joined #gamesandart
\n<HENRYJENKINS> I have written an essay which draws on Gilbert Seldes notion of the lively arts. for
\n him, the function of art is to enliven human experience<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I don\u2019t think all of the invited guests are here.
\n<rex_m> Jesper?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Perhaps we should wait for Greg to kick things off.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> good idea.
\n<rex_m> oh there he is<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n<rex_m> n\/,m
\n<Dugan> greg signed off
\n<Dugan> I believe the time disjunction has left him a bit exhaustde
\n<Egglet> He\u2019s back again.<\/p>\n

<saraid> no, he\u2019s back
\n<manifestogreg> oh lord\u2026. its 3 AM here\u2026 I\u2019m okay with Johnnny taking the lead
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Oh, didn\u2019t realize \u201cDrJ\u201d was Johnny.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Sorry\u2026
\n<JesperJuul> Is Marc here?<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> So, I think enlivening the human experience is a good start.
\n<Egglet> It\u2019s certainly better than not enlivening the human experience.
\n<rex_m> as a def of art?
\n<DoctorJ> I think focus and perspective have a place in the definition, too.
\n<DoctorJ> But let me leave room for Eric to respond before I harangue you.<\/p>\n

<Eptin> How about accessibility? Is art something that can strive as a mainstream object?
\n<eel_rich> Something created that moves you in some way.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For me, art is a category that can be framed in many ways.
\n<Eptin> By strive, I mean thrive. Oops
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The question of \u201cgames and art\u201d is really about jostling for position within a <\/p>\n

hirearchy of cultural categories.
\n<Egglet> I think art is anything that has less than four explosions per minute.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am a former art student, and \u201cartist.\u201d
\n<HENRYJENKINS> absolutely art can and should be accessible. that was selde\u2019s point. art isn\u2019t just
\n what happens in museums. it is what happens when everyday people are encouraged to play with the <\/p>\n

materials of their culture
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So I\u2019m not getting down on the category or art.
\n<DoctorJ> Ah, so on some level art MUST be participatory, right?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But \u201cart\u201d for me really means the institutions and audiences that engage in the
\n culture of the \u201chigh art\u201d world.<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> seldes was arguing well before his time that comics, jazz, cinema, were art and we
\n don\u2019t question that conclusion today
\n<Mckee> Thats actualy a pretty good definition of art that encompasses all mediums
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Visual art as it is today is largely as it was several centuries ago, which is home
\n furnishings for rich people.<\/p>\n

* ScottJonSiegel has joined #gamesandart
\n<rex_m> the danger of defs of art that attempt to be inclusive is that they widen the category out so
\n much it takes in everything and becomes meaningless
\n<HENRYJENKINS> eric, i don\u2019t think we should accept the art world\u2019s judgements at face value.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But most people that use the category \u201cart\u201d in questions of \u201cgames and art\u201d are <\/p>\n

really talking about culture that can produce meaningful experiences.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> WHich is an important question.
\n<Mckee> True, but we can look to Installation, Performance, and conceptual art to get a better
\n representation.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But my beef with the whole topic of this discussion, is:<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> that\u2019s what art means in art school but if we accept that definition, then most of us
\n have little or no exposure to art.
\n<eel_rich> Art is about the artist\u2019s process and inward journey. After that, the finished product,
\n and who can say what the response will be?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Why posit \u201cart\u201d as the category of meaningful experiences.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> ?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It is such an overdetermined and misunderstood category.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> yet for that reason, there is cultural power behind the category.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> There are better models for what kinds of meaningful cultural ecosystems popular
\n culture can take.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Of course it is a misunderstood category. Art cannot be measured.
\n<AJ_Flowers> So what you\u2019re asking is, why do we have to define something as \u2018art\u2019 before we say it\u2019s
\n allowed to be meaningful?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And that is where I agree with Henry\u2019s point of departure in his investiagation of
\n popular arts.<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> i would argue that claiming for games the status of art offers some protection for the
\n creative integrity of game designers
\n<eel_rich> Cannot. Agreed.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I would say, as a game designer who is looking to shore up the cultural category of
\n games –<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Claiming games as art also suggests the need for reflection and discourse about them.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That the category of art does as much damage as good.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i don\u2019t think calling games art is the only meaningful defense of the medium. clearly i
\n see it also as political speech, as an educational platform, etc.
\n<JesperJuul> That something is \u201cart\u201d signals that it has cultural acceptance, and since we all love <\/p>\n

games (I assume) we strive for cultural acceptance.
\n<rex_m> so calling games arts validates connoissieurship about them?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> but why cede the category of art when it clearly has a value within our culture.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Because it is like the term \u201cserious games.\u201d
\n<HENRYJENKINS> in some contexts, rex.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> Much of art is not \u201cculturally acceptable\u201d to the mainstream.
\n<Mads> What we all want is not to be geeks, but to be art appreciaters\u2026is that it?
\n* sonu has joined #gamesandart
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It somehow tries to eschew the pleasure of games, their popular roots.
\n<JesperJuul> So to say that games are art means a) that they are on par with other \u201cfine\u201d cultural <\/p>\n

forms and b) that what we are doing personally is really important.
\n<Mckee> There is pleasure art isn\u2019t there?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i have no problem with being a geek. geek is one subcultural identity. but i think much
\n of what geeks like is art.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That is usually what journalists mean when they ask me the questions.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Well, Henry, I feel like we are chasing each other around in a circle.
\n<Tulsi> there is \u201cfine\u201d art and there is \u201cnon fine\u201d art also
\n<HENRYJENKINS> that\u2019s why i see seldes\u2019 term, lively art, as valuable. it allows us to acknowledge
\n that the popular arts operate according to different aesthetics and in different institutions than
\n high art<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> I understand the objection to the pretentiousness of art, but I think there is a necessity
\n to elevate the conversation beyond speaking of \u201cjust games.\u201d
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I just feel like, first, that the category of \u201chigh art\u201d is ALREADY today a
\n problematic and somewhat dead category.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> What if we were to define \u201cart\u201d as \u201cany craft\u201d?<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It\u2019s not pretentiousness.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Pretentiousness is great!
\n* joshleejosh has joined #gamesandart
\n<HENRYJENKINS> keep in mind that i see comics as art, cinema as art. the question is whether we see
\n Shigeru Miyamoto as important an artist as Alfred Hitchcock? My answer is yes.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I\u2019m really talking about strategic deployment of cultural categories.
\n<JesperJuul> \u201cHigh art\u201d does sound like \u201cboring\u201d a lot of the time – there is a lot of energy in the
\n feeling of being a \u201cgeek\u201d as Henry says, and being not-art.
\n<Mckee> Yes the idea of high art really ended in the 60\u2019s
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> OK, Henry.<\/p>\n

<Mckee> I would agree with that.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Why do you see those popular media as art.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Or, in what sense are they \u201cart\u201d for you?
\n* SantiSiri has joined #gamesandart
\n<Eptin> I think that part of what makes high art \u201cthe other persons\u201d art is the inaccessability; that <\/p>\n

is to say, that only the artist and a few others truly appreciate multiple depths on that particular
\n piece of art
\n<Mckee> Didn;t most art foms, that have been elevated start as popular media?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> because they provoke strong emotions, because they encourage the imagination and
\n playfulness, because they teach us to see the world in enw ways<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> new ways
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So that is the \u201cmeaningful experience\u201d angle on what \u201cart\u201d means.
\n<Eptin> Good point, Mckee
\n<HENRYJENKINS> because they address core concerns
\n<rex_m> heh \u2014 some would say that is what _separates_ them from the high art tradition!<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> See the world in \u201cnew ways\u201d is what I meant by focus and perspective at the beginning.
\n<SantiSiri> Hello Everybody (sorry I\u2019m late)
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, I agree that games need to speak more about the human condition.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> as long as we don\u2019t reduce meaningfulness to a literal level. purely abstract works can
\n be meaningful.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (abstractly or otherwise)
\n<WhiteRbbt> it seems to me that art is often valued on the depth of the intellectual experience it
\n provides, and games appear \u2014 to many people \u2014 to be shallow in this respect. maybe because there
\n aren\u2019t enough experts dissecting these games and telling us philistines why they\u2019re important
\n<Mckee> I think thats why its important to elevate games to and art status.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> White Rabbit, I think you\u2019re on to something. We don\u2019t take matters seriously without
\n criticism.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> so far, for me, games have come closest to arts when they haven\u2019t been driven towards
\n photorealism. but then i suppose i have a bias towards the fantastic and the expressive in media.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> can you have art without good critics? is that like a tree falling in a forest\u2026<\/p>\n

<rex_m> part of Seldes\u2019s project was to take apart the idea that art had to be \u2019sublime\u2019
\n<Mckee> Photorealism comes with alot of restrictive baggage.
\n<AJ_Flowers> There are some games that are quite visually realistic but still very artistically
\n executed, though.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> I think when games are overly focused on photorealism, they lose focus in other areas<\/p>\n

<Mads> But what exactly is \u201cintellectual level\u201d – is it the amount of information you need in your
\n head and the amount of thought requirred to put together an experience inside?
\n<rex_m> but the idea that playing games gives someone that jolt of sublimity seems to be reintroducing
\n it
\n<Eptin> Photorealistic games seem to be the action-special-effects-laden movies of our time<\/p>\n

<rex_m> in a concealed form
\n<DoctorJ> Photorealism takes us back to Renaissance painting in a post-Impressionist era.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> in other arts, realism is an aesthetic choice. if it were so in games, i could admire
\n game realists. when it is a technical imperative, it can be a straight jacket.
\n<Mckee> Exactly<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> OK, let me try and make a connection here between the discussion of the definition of
\n \u201cart\u201d and the photorealism issue.
\n* sonu has quit IRC (Broken pipe )
\n<AJ_Flowers> Well, then again, I am unsure even how to tackle the topic of \u2018photorealism\u2019 because it
\n depends on the experience you\u2019re trying to convey as being like real.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i often argue that high art is defined by the desire for emotional restraint, popular <\/p>\n

art by the desire for emotional intensity
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Where does consumer demand fit into this?
\n<SantiSiri> Have you heard about the \u201cImmersive Fallacy\u201d spoken by Frank Lantz in this year\u2019s GDC rant?
\n<Eptin> Has anybody heard of the film-makers pact called \u201cDogme 1″? It is to create films with no
\n articifial lighting or additional music. It thereby focuses soley on the story<\/p>\n

<Egglet> Most games are the action-special-effects-laden movies of our time. Whether they\u2019re
\n photorealistic or cel-shaded.
\n<DoctorJ> However, I think we\u2019ve veered off the question of art and started speaking of artistic
\n representation.
\n* DrKL has joined #gamesandart
\n<Dugan> Yeah Santi I remember that<\/p>\n

<Dugan> that idea is key actually
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> What happened in the art world in the 20th century, among other things, is that art
\n gave up its role as a literally representational medium.
\n<DoctorJ> Is the ART the experience of playing the game and reflecting on it or how the subject is
\n handled?<\/p>\n

<Mckee> both
\n<AJ_Flowers> Eptin: this seems like a judgement call saying only the story has meaning and value but
\n the music does not
\n<WhiteRbbt> \u201cintellectual level\u201d \u2014 i don\u2019t know \u2014 games often appear to engage participants on a
\n strictly visceral level. play doesn\u2019t seem to be as closely tied to personal reflection of the <\/p>\n

experience as, say, reading a book does
\n<HENRYJENKINS> Dr J, I am not sure how you seperate the two
\n<DoctorJ> You can\u2019t. It\u2019s organic.
\n<SantiSiri> Photorealism has nothing to do with the core beauty of games as art\u2026 Games are About
\n INTERACTIVITY in its core, NOT about visuals<\/p>\n

<AJ_Flowers> Sometimes the way things come together creates that sublime moment, particularly with
\n music.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The trend towards thinking of computer graphics as on a quest for increasing realism
\n is related to a naive understanding of \u201cart\u201d as based on the Renaissance window of pictorial
\n representation.<\/p>\n

<Eptin> It\u2019s not necessarily my view; mainly it\u2019s a venture taken on by Danish filmmakers as of late
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i think games more often achieve art through shaping our emotional experiences and
\n through play but i would love to see them reflect a bit more deeply on their content.
\n<SantiSiri> we should talk about Realistic Interactions NOT realistic visuals
\n<Egglet> HL2 was pretty well received for a game that was mostly visual.<\/p>\n

<rex_m> yes I mean, art 101 here \u2014 there\u2019s nothing \u2018realistic\u2019 about realism.
\n<Dugan> realistic interactions are problematic too
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So a discussion of games that tries to bring them into the realms of \u201cart\u201d for me is
\n a parallel naive track.
\n<Mckee> Agreed Eric. Could games be more baroque?<\/p>\n

<Dugan> character AI seems to depend on suggesting things to the user that aren\u2019t actually being
\n simulated
\n<AJ_Flowers> Realistic interactions are great, much harder to get than realistic visuals though,
\n particularly realistic interactions with a story.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I\u2019m not disagreeing that the approach Henry takes to defining art is an important one.<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> a baroque games is a game with complex rules?
\n* sonu has joined #gamesandart
\n<Dugan> even in Facade where the AI is complex much of hte experience is crafted by idiom
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But most people\u2019s associations with art – particularly game developers – is quite
\n flat-footed.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Santi, you\u2019re right. If we focus too much on realistic interactions, we can become obsessed
\n with the physics of the transaction as opposed to the motivation of the transaction.
\n<Dugan> I don\u2019t think its in the rules, but the approach to content creation
\n<ThomasRobertson> Eric, what do you mean by \u2018flat footed\u2019 here?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> check out Angela Ndlianis on games as a baroque art. it goes much furtherthan just <\/p>\n

complex rules.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> In the 20th Century, most media and art forms spoke about their own status as
\n constructed images and experiences.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Painting became about paint, among other things.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> After Duchamp, it is difficult to hang onto pre-20th Century ideas about art.<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> Abstraction
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I\u2019m not saying Henry is, but
\n<eel_rich> That\u2019s a pretty broad generalization there, cowboy.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> a discourse about \u201cgames as art\u201d tends to go in that direction.
\n<Mckee> Isn\u2019t that what you and henry are kinda doing in a sense?<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So in that sense, \u201cart\u201d as a cultural category becomes an impedement.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Not because art in the philosophical sense is a wrong way to think about game design
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But because people\u2019s associations with the concept of art are so old-fashioned.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> that\u2019s why i am trying to seperate our notion of art from our notion of realism. games
\n may be an expressive art like dance or architecture which has nothing to do with reproducing the <\/p>\n

real world
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, and I will give up this line of ranting for the sake of the conversation.
\n<Mads> indeed, but a lot of games are not
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Apologies for making my point too strongly.
\n<rex_m> henry: yes.<\/p>\n

<Mckee> I think the art market is more to blame for art for art\u2019s sake than artists.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> nope \u2014 Eric, you are making an important point. to call for games as art is precisely
\n to challenge the category of art as it is widely understood
\n<DoctorJ> I thought the art market was about art for money\u2019s sake.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The art market has been around since the notion of \u201chigh art\u201d formed in the early <\/p>\n

Renaissance.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i simply think we should build on the way other popular media have been defined as art.
\n<rex_m> dude Romanticism as a whole is guilty for that one.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, I more or less agree.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But that\u2019s a subtle meme to get out there.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> There is so much art\u2026. Highbrow to lowbrow. It\u2019s all happening at once. Art is
\n actually in pretty good shape I think.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> the danger though is that the narrow definition of art will get imposed on games. that
\n games will become pretentious and lifeless. that the only games regarded as art are done so because
\n they are novelistic or painterly. etc.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> YES!
\n<Eptin> I think the point about architecture and dance as art is an important one. They resemble
\n nothing of what the layman thinks of when he hears \u201cart\u201d.
\n<rex_m> I think that most people _still_ don\u2019t think of hip hop or The Sopranos as art.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Exactly, \u201cart\u201d games are art because they are recognizable as such<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Another beef with the category is that it often means games imitating \u201cart\u201d forms.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> or for that matter, cinematic or literary
\n<rex_m> only professors who have been disabused of these pretensions think that
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am a modernist, in a sense
\n<JesperJuul> I think there was a big \u201cgames as art\u201d moment with the interactive CD-ROM games of the <\/p>\n

mid-1990\u2019s.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> if games are to be an art, it has to be on their own terms, because they do what games
\n do well.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That I feel there are forms games can take that are more game-centric
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That owe more to the essential nature of games.<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> ok, games imitate other arts due to its infancy\u2026 Just like movies imitated theater
\n<HENRYJENKINS> that\u2019s why I always raise Miyamoto. What makes him an artist is what makes him a great
\n game designer. it is hard to read him through standards from other arts.
\n<JesperJuul> Where games tried to be many things that they weren\u2019t in order to be more highbrow.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Jesper, good reference.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> Games are art because a game designer is an artist. Just like in filmmaking, we say that
\n the director is the artist.
\n<Eptin> Good point, SantiSiri
\n<DoctorJ> Eric, I don\u2019t know of anyone who is trying to design games AS ART. ART is recognizing a
\n vision once it\u2019s been expressed.<\/p>\n

<Mads> Myst?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> it\u2019s also hard to read Miyamoto as a game designer in the traditional sense
\n<AJ_Flowers> Myst is what came to mind for me too, heh
\n<Egglet> Misappropriation of the word aside, isn\u2019t the concept just made irrelevant by your
\n definition. When people rightly establish that art is not just something that looks like a painting <\/p>\n

but also basically anything and everything you want to apply it to, what are you saying when you say
\n games are or aren\u2019t art? Not a lot, it seems.
\n<JesperJuul> Yes, Myst\u2026
\n<DoctorJ> MYST isn\u2019t a game. It\u2019s a semi-interactive explorative experience.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Actually, many developers talk about wanting to make their work more like \u201cart\u201d<\/p>\n

<AJ_Flowers> But I like Myst anyway.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> myst was reviewed in the nYT book review, praised by literary critics. it is the game
\n most loved by people who hate games.
\n<saraid> What would it take for Myst to be a game?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> but it IS a game<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I\u2019m going to a workshop on game design this weekend in Austin, and the idea of games
\n as art has been all over the pre-workshop email list.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> what they were responding to was its literariness \u2014 that and it\u2019s Rembrandt lighting
\n and texture
\n<eel_rich> How can it not be art? Games are full of art.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> And most hated by people who love games. <grin>
\n<SantiSiri> lets confess something: everyone wants to be an artist\u2026 It feels so damn good
\n<rex_m> I think they were responding to the low learning curve
\n<ScottJonSiegel> do we have to debate the definition of game as well?<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> so meaningful
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am a reformed artist.
\n<rex_m> the same way people respond to the impressioninsts, e.g.
\n<Mckee> Workshop on game design in austin this weekend?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I do not hunger after the category of art or being an artist.<\/p>\n

<AJ_Flowers> I kind of see Myst as influential, however, there are a lot of games that did things
\n AFTER it that reminded me of it. And that\u2019s not really damaging.
\n<eel_rich> As am I.
\n<DoctorJ> Sorry, I was being provocative. Didn\u2019t mean to disrupt about MYST.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> and i am a reformed art hater. nothing like a convert\u2026<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am much more comfortable as a designer.
\n<JesperJuul> I am a reformed literature student.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> well, designer\u2019s just a modest term
\n<ScottJonSiegel> at least as I see it
\n<Ubu> A broad definition of art is not as bad as broad definition of games I think. Art will not get <\/p>\n

meaningless by saying that cooking is art or building houses are art.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i got tired of the art students kicking sand in my face and insisting that what they
\n liked was art and what i liked was crap
\n<Egglet> You can only be an artist in the same way you can be a thinker. To be one all you have to do
\n is say you are one. It has no palpable effect on anything though.<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> eric, what defines a difference between DESIGN and ART?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I got tired of the conventions and neuroses of the art world.
\n<joshleejosh> \u201cDesign\u201d is another broad and vaguely defined term that gets tossed around pretty
\n loosely. :)
\n<Mckee> Oh thats just us being insecure.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> There are many ways to frame such complex terms, but\u2026
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\n<saraid> I think design is a subset of art.
\n<WhiteRbbt> design doesn\u2019t necessarily have cultural significance?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I would say that as someone that has inhabited both categories.<\/p>\n

<JesperJuul> Henry, so there is a question of having our personal tastes be accepted?
\n<Egglet> Everything is a subset of art. That\u2019s the problem.
\n<saraid> Design has, if anything, more cultural significance.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Being an artist is more about expressing ideas, or expressing aspects of the artist\u2019s
\n self\u2026<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> while design is more about problem solving.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> These are not hard and fast categories.
\n<rex_m> yeah. Ever tried writing a fugue?
\n<DoctorJ> So, design is a methodology and art is a statement?
\n<Mckee> good point Eric.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Clearly no to both, Dr J
\n<WhiteRbbt> saraid: i disagree. as a programmer, i design programs for a living, but i don\u2019t count
\n that design as art
\n<joshleejosh> But look at what Target has done with the word \u201cdesign.\u201d Those Michael Graves potholders
\n aren\u2019t just problem solving.<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> but couldn\u2019t methodology be directed into statement?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> but isn\u2019t it dangerous to think of games as design, then, if it means that designers
\n don\u2019t aspire towards expression
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\n<saraid> I consider my code to be artful.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> White Rabbit: You mean you\u2019ve never spoken about \u201celegant code?\u201d
\n<SantiSiri> what do games resolve then? from a design perspective
\n<Mads> So, Art as an acceptance of games. Isn\u2019t that almost exactly why we\u2019re having this chat?,
\n finding some excuse or way to get games accepted?
\n* sonu has quit IRC (Remote closed the connection )<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> can\u2019t we reason that methodology is a process by which reason and meaning can reach
\n an audience?
\n<WhiteRbbt> sure i have. i just don\u2019t attach cultural significance to the code i design.
\n<Egglet> There is an aspect to design in games, obviously. Because games are incredibly difficult to
\n make. And until they aren\u2019t it will always be a more complex combination of the two than anything <\/p>\n

else.
\n* sonu has joined #gamesandart
\n<HENRYJENKINS> for me, it\u2019s more than just about acceptance. it is about creative freedom on the one
\n hand and artistic responsibility on the other
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\n<Egglet> You have to wring this \u2018art\u2019 out of an inherently logical and structured process.<\/p>\n

<saraid> WhiteRbbt: the cultural significance is the weight of culture on your creation.
\n<DoctorJ> Henry, how can defining games as art or speaking of them as art help us with such things as
\n the Limbaugh decision?
\n<AJ_Flowers> And also, granting to games the political protection that a form of art is granted, I\u2019d
\n say<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I guess as long as we talk about \u201cart\u201d in a vague and broad sense, as \u201cmeaningful\u201d or
\n \u201celegant\u201d cultural expressions, then certainly there is art in everything, potentially.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> limbaugh\u2019s core argument is that games are not protected by the first ammendment
\n because they do not express meaning.
\n<eel_rich> I have no interest in cultural significance. I just want to make games with more <\/p>\n

disgusting aliens. Artfully, of course. ; )
\n<HENRYJENKINS> he can make this claim because most people do not regard them as art or for that matter
\n meaningful on other levels
\n<DoctorJ> So, if there was more dialogue and criticism about games as art, it would undermine that
\n decision?<\/p>\n

<saraid> Disgusting aliens are culturally significant. =P
\n<Ubu> art benefits by including as much as posible but games benifit by drawing a line (somewhere).
\n Games can therefore be included in the art definition but not the other way around
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That\u2019s why I prefer to think of it in terms of the sociological or demographical or
\n economic or institutional manifestations of \u201cart\u201d<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> many reformers feel that even if they are wrong about games causing violence, they can
\n subtract games from our culture without loss.
\n<AJ_Flowers> I recall that discussion in Michgian vividly, heh
\n<Mckee> Games express tons of meaning. Unfotunately, right now, it tends to be very base.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> that because the games industry is not asserting a positive value for games. they are <\/p>\n

simply arguing that games aren\u2019t as bad as you think they are
\n<eel_rich> McKee, yes.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> It also seems like \u201cgames as entertainment\u201d conflicts with \u201cgames as art\u201d
\n<AJ_Flowers> The one about \u2018if I\u2019m wrong more kids will play outside, if you are wrong MEN DIE\u2019
\n<Egglet> Popular games are base because that\u2019s what sells, of course.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, here I totally agree with you that games should be considered on par with
\n other forms of media, art, entertainment, and expression.
\n<eel_rich> Scoot, it shouldn\u2019t.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> the first ammendment doesn\u2019t require profound meaning. most media start out with base
\n meanings.<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> One thing I wonder a lot is if game designers are worried or feel the need to protect
\n their rights for freedom of speech.. if games are art, and have cultural relevance.. it should be
\n because they can speak about powerful things\u2026 Yet Not many games talk about social changes,
\n patriot act or whatever
\n<JesperJuul> How about the flip side to the discussion: What would we lose if games were more widely <\/p>\n

sconsidered \u201cart\u201d? Street cred?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> eel: exactly
\n<eel_rich> Scoot = Scott
\n<HENRYJENKINS> at some point in the history of cinema, people were arguing they were just chases and
\n pies in the face.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> Like I say. Eventually those base impulses will be burnt into insignificance and that\u2019s when
\n people will start demanding less obvious things. The usual process.
\n<SantiSiri> Do we see games speaking about social issues? Speaking \u201cfor the people\u201d?
\n<Egglet> Decades.
\n<SantiSiri> or is it just plain entertainment?<\/p>\n

<saraid> I don\u2019t see why art can\u2019t be entertaining. I think Shakespeare is wildly entertaining.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> One difference between games and cinema is that games are ancient.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> sjs, no art and entertainment are not in conflict. not if your definition of art
\n includes the idea of stimulating the emotions.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Thousands of years old.<\/p>\n

<saraid> The comedies, anyways.
\n<eel_rich> JPE, for me, Santi. Usually.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That is one thing that complicates these categorical discussions and comparisons.
\n<Dugan> and play is much older than that
\n<HENRYJENKINS> again it is because our inherited notions of high art come with a degree of emotional <\/p>\n

distance that these categories are so often placed in opposition
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Eric: I think cinema is the wrong comparative term there.
\n<JesperJuul> \u201cHigh art\u201d also has a retrospective quality to it.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Jesper, you study games qua games.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Do you think that considering them as art affects their scholarship?<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> the theatre, and even simply fiction can be viewed as the ancestors of cinema
\n<HENRYJENKINS> games as games are ancient. games as a mode of expression through digital media are
\n new. we are back in a category confusion here.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Unlike Henry, you are not coming at games from a training in another field.
\n<DoctorJ> Scott: There are two reasons why cinema has relevance. One, it has been transformed by <\/p>\n

technological shifts. Two, it is driven by the bottom line and built by studio efforts.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i am certain that the expressive potentials of games are well established but we are
\n still learning how to play games through this medium.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Henry, that is a great point.
\n<DoctorJ> Scott: Maybe even a third\u2013cinema didn\u2019t get much respect until recently.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The main thing about trying to define games, art, or design, is that
\n<JesperJuul> I think the outsider status of games makes them interesting – how can we discuss the
\n potential of games _without_ trying to frame them as \u201calmost as good as movies\u201d?
\n<SantiSiri> Let us remember something very important:
\n<eel_rich> Game development is closer to the evolution of cartoons than of films I think.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The definintion depends on the frame we consider them, which depends on the point we
\n want to make:
\n<SantiSiri> Cinema got to wait 40 or even 50 years till they got mature technology such as color and
\n sound film
\n<JesperJuul> So trying to use the \u201cart\u201d category forces us to make comparisons that may not be helpful <\/p>\n

in describing what games are best at doing.
\n<Egglet> And we are still using a mouse and keyboard to interact.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> defending a medium to congress, or solving a game design problem, or doing
\n comparative scholarship
\n<SantiSiri> As an art storngly dependent on technology, games are facing that same need of <\/p>\n

technological maturity
\n<HENRYJENKINS> I am not saying games are almost as good as movies. Take this back to my claim that
\n Miyamoto is as significant an artist as Hitchcock.
\n<Egglet> Game evolution will come in how we interact with them, not visual stimulus.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That\u2019s why the question \u201cart games art\u201d can\u2019t be answered without better defining the <\/p>\n

question.
\n<JesperJuul> Or perhaps: What type of answer would we like?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> OK, so should we narrow the definition of games to \u201cdigital games\u201d?
\n<eel_rich> 42
\n<saraid> A binary one.<\/p>\n

<Leedar> heh
\n<JesperJuul> OK: 011011
\n<WhiteRbbt> are we asking \u201care games art\u201d or are we asking \u201cwhy aren\u2019t games considered art\u201d? is there
\n a single person here who disagrees that games are art?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> as a medium, games has as great or greater potential than cinema. yet it is fair to say <\/p>\n

that artists are still learning core properties of their medium and may not have yet fully achieved
\n its potential
\n<eel_rich> lol
\n<Egglet> I think games are about 6 art, personally.
\n<Dugan> I\u2019m playing Cost Of Life right now and I\u2019d have to say that the game is art – its art because <\/p>\n

I\u2019m FEELING it, thats a quality beyond words, this coming from a guy whose undergrad is in English
\n<Faith> most social questions cannot be answered without defining the question to specify the answer
\n we want given
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Thank you Faith.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I feel like someone got my point.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Just that a comment like Dugan\u2019s illustrates what I mean.
\n<Mads> indeed
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> We can say that art = good.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But I don\u2019t think that furthers the dicussion.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Not that Dugan\u2019s comment isn\u2019t great<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> art as a category is good. not all art is good.
\n<Eptin> Also, we can further define the question:
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> becuase it demonstrates the depths of game experience.
\n<eel_rich> \u201cgood\u201d is subjective
\n<SantiSiri> good point henry, finally someone said it<\/p>\n

<Faith> and \u2018good\u2019 is still an incredably subjective measure
\n<Mads> art is good is just a bend of art is sublime\u2026
\n<Eptin> Not just \u201cAre games art?\u201d but also \u201cAre games currently art, or will they be art later?\u201d
\n<Mads> it\u2019s the same thing
\n<Dugan> well, to further things, lets talk about the simulation gap<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> \u201care games good art?\u201d
\n<saraid> I would much rather say \u201cgames can be art\u201d.
\n<Mckee> You have to seperate out the determination of taste somehow.
\n<SantiSiri> is art defined by the process of making games or by the final product?
\n<Mads> which is the renaisance definition, and we\u2019re back at the beginning\u2026:P<\/p>\n

<Dugan> simulation\u2019s edge on passive media is thee embodiment of feedback loops and dynamics
\n<DoctorJ> Saraid: I agree. Games CAN be art.
\n<AJ_Flowers> Well whether or not you think any particular piece of art is good may also be a matter of
\n your aesthetic
\n<Egglet> I think I\u2019d be a pretty good twist if it turned out that art was games all along wearing a <\/p>\n

Scooby Doo style mask.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> no \u2014 games are an art form. some games achieve the potential of that art form better
\n than others.
\n<JesperJuul> We could also try to discuss specific games: Myst is clearly a pretentious game that
\n aspires to be \u201cart\u201d. I think Galaga is a much better game, that does not aspire to be \u201cart\u201d. How do <\/p>\n

we deal with the question then?
\n<saraid> Point, Henry.
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\n<ScottJonSiegel> I like Jesper\u2019s direction.
\n<Eptin> Feedback loops? talk to DXarts about that, they know it\u2019s art.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Jesper, are you saying the game aspires, or its author?
\n<joshleejosh> Perception counts for more than aspiration.
\n<WhiteRbbt> Henry: what do those more-artful games do that the less-artful ones dnot\u2019?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> Myst is a pretentious game because it aspires to an artifical notion of what art is
\n that is imposed on games from the outside<\/p>\n

<Dugan> the gap between a dynamic and its representation is profound, and its within this gap that the
\n play can be coaxed into an emotionally (in the art = good sense) and cognitively (in the
\n sociologicla sense) significant experience
\n<SantiSiri> Art lies in the intention of the author
\n<Egglet> Has anyone played Pathologic?<\/p>\n

<JesperJuul> The authors – \u201cthe intentional fallacy\u201d speaking.
\n<Faith> and is aspiring to be art thus pretentious
\n<Egglet> Long shot but it might just work.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry: and Galaga?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> you can\u2019t evaluate something without understanding the aesthetic context in which it <\/p>\n

operates
\n<SantiSiri> great art, is defined by its authors: Beethoven, Shakespaere, Kubrick
\n<SantiSiri> the intention matters
\n<Dugan> auteurism is another important sub-topic
\n<eel_rich> Games are art if the designer and crew create it with artistic sensibilities in mind (in <\/p>\n

practice!) rather than commercial ones\u2026. There\u2019s going to be a trade off though.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i don\u2019t know galaga well enough to speak definitely but my bet is that it acheives art
\n by being true to its medium and by making sense to the community that it is addressing
\n<Faith> I\u2019m fairly sure some of those didn\u2019t define as art but as \u2018what will get me paid this week\u2019
\n<Mckee> Intention is key.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> Galaga is definitely those things.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Galaga was a further exploration of the \u201cSpace Invaders\u201d style of games, or the
\n shooter genre
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\n<SantiSiri> galaga is beautiful design<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Actually, intention is a fairly outmoded way of defining cultural categories these
\n decades.
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\n<ScottJonSiegel> Galaga is evolved design
\n<Mckee> Is it?<\/p>\n

<Dugan> I\u2019m finding in the development that I do that the real quality develops through collaborative
\n sharing of the creativity
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> YES.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> in some cases, as Eric\u2019s games demonstrate, simplicity and clarity may trump pretension.
\n<WhiteRbbt> Faith: games that aren\u2019t done for play\u2019s sake, but rather for money\u2019s sake, aren\u2019t art?<\/p>\n

<Mckee> How so?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Damn! I\u2019m trying so hard to be pretentious!
\n<HENRYJENKINS> all art is produced in an economic context. being made for money doesn\u2019t disqualify
\n something as art.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> At its core, it\u2019s capitalizing on a successful template for game design<\/p>\n

<Faith> I wasn\u2019t saying that – I was responding to the suggestion that whether they were art or not
\n depended on the intension of the author
\n<saraid> Not all art, but most art. Paradise Lost wasn\u2019t written to be sold.
\n<JesperJuul> I saw someone playing Galaga today and I was struck by the beauty (I would use that word)
\n of the movements of the aliens, and by how it manages to generate memorable and unique play sessions <\/p>\n

in the very tight space that is the arcade format.
\n<Leedar> Art is in the eye of the beholder. :-]
\n<Faith> Or the historian ;-)
\n<HENRYJENKINS> my sense is that most artists\/designers work with a mix of economic and aesthetic
\n motives.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> Art is more about the artist\u2019s inward journey. The way an artist thinks and gets lost in
\n the art he or she is creating. Beyond that, it is out of the artist\u2019s control, and the artist
\n usually doesn\u2019t care about it anyway.
\n<WhiteRbbt> Or the pretentious academic :)
\n<Egglet> The arcade format isn\u2019t all that restrictive.<\/p>\n

<Faith> have to keep us fed somehow
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> This group has proposed easily 50 definitions of art so far.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Perhaps one question is:
\n<eel_rich> lol
\n<JesperJuul> So to push a traditional idea of \u201cart\u201d, Galaga is an amazing work within the restrictions <\/p>\n

it faces. (The arcade format being very restrictive in the time it can allow the player to play.)
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> What is at stake in defining games as art or in comparing the two.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> I can\u2019t speak to Milton but much religious art was shaped by a system of economic
\n patronage. researchers looking at the contracts discovered that Mary\u2019s dress was a particular shade
\n of blue because this was an expensive pigment and the patrons wanted to see their money on the <\/p>\n

canvas. they also stipulated when the paintings had to be completed \u2014 i.e. a ship date
\n<SantiSiri> good question Eric
\n<Egglet> Government funding.
\n<Egglet> That\u2019s about it.
\n<Dugan> what is at stake? call me a souless husk but I think it boils down to marketing<\/p>\n

<Dugan> and thats my god honest opinion
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Eric: Nothing? Everything?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Part of it is legislation of culture.
\n<eel_rich> lol good one
\n<saraid> Context of Paradise Lost was Milton\u2019s government getting demolished.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry has taken part in those debates.
\n<saraid> I don\u2019t think he had funding.
\n<Dugan> much of this function\u2019s aim, overall, is to help build momentum for a market for \u201cart games\u201d
\n<ScottJonSiegel> we\u2019re playing the same game that\u2019s been played with every new medium of expression
\n<HENRYJENKINS> actually, dugan, it is also about giving designers greater clout in dealing with <\/p>\n

marketing.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Another is the growth of the game industry.
\n<DoctorJ> Dugan: Freedom of expression is definitely at stake.
\n<AJ_Flowers> It can be fun to watch a skilled player execute a good session of a well-programmed game
\n and that in and of itself is a kind of performance art<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> Even your question is a broad one.
\n<ThomasRobertson> Eric, I think that part of it may be simple realm of possiblity.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> cinema for example produces prestige films which don\u2019t make as much as blockbusters but
\n generate other rewards for the studios.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Expanding how games are funded, who plays them, and how they are considered within <\/p>\n

cultural history.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> there is no such thing as a prestige game.
\n<Dugan> true, I believe marketing starts with design, so if you set out to make \u201cart\u201d you should have
\n specific audience needs in mind
\n<SantiSiri> Maturing games as a medium<\/p>\n

<ThomasRobertson> I know that in some discussions it has been suggested that art is that which is
\n aesthetic. So, if games are art, then that is a claim that games can be aesthetic.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> By questioning game\u2019s role as art, we also question the freedom of expression within
\n games
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I wish that there were the equivalent of film grants, festivals, and investors in <\/p>\n

games.
\n<SantiSiri> to let games communicate powerful ideas
\n<Egglet> Or maybe you just don\u2019t hear about them because there is no audience for it.
\n<WhiteRbbt> *ahem* macarthur grant *ahem*
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The fact that film is considered fine art means that people with money will fund <\/p>\n

films they know will probably make no money.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That in pat allows for the independent cinema industry since the 70s.
\n<SantiSiri> that\u2019s true
\n<Mads> ahah!, that\u2019s useful
\n<Faith> Changing the perception – games still suffer from the \u2018games are for children\u2019 (and \u2018art is <\/p>\n

either for adults or otherwise good for you TM\u2019)
\n<JesperJuul> Yet, there is already a hierarchy of game taste. It often begins with various Japanese
\n games on top and ends with First Person Shooters and matching tile games at the bottom.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I have spoken to many of those people about investing in games.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> the french government has started to embrace games as part of the national culture.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> They don\u2019t play games.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Canada too.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> and they are starting to fund them as part of their creative industries policy.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> of course, the french also think jerry lewis is an artist so that may not be much of an
\n indicator<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> movies, in their origins where an superficial entertainment focused on fancy visual FX,
\n just like games today
\n<Mckee> Eric: That will change in time.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So that is one concrete set of concerns that might result from considering games as
\n art or not.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> The Republic of China is also investing heavily in game development.
\n<Dugan> what about casual games as a way to wedge open the market, thereby creating more niches for
\n art?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But is is not about abstract philosphical discussions defining art.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> In that case, art is a cultural category defined by money and institutions.<\/p>\n

<Dugan> so Eric
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But I guess the two overlap\u2026
\n<SantiSiri> casual games as haikus, beautiful small games
\n<HENRYJENKINS> China\u2019s investment is more complicated \u2014 they are interested in games as a political
\n and educational tool more than as a form of art<\/p>\n

<Dugan> I\u2019m very interested in funding from the indepedent film community
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> If the investors and goverment officials didn\u2019t think that games were art, which is
\n meaningful beauty, or whatever\u2026
\n<Dugan> how receptive is that sector?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> they wouldn\u2019t invest in the first place.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> Art has always been used as a persuader. Propaganda for example. Advertising. Religion.
\n<Eptin> better defining games as art will further our enjoyment of them
\n<DoctorJ> Henry: I was speaking of RoC, not PRoC. They are certainly building plenty of incubators.
\n<JesperJuul> So \u201cgames as art\u201d _and_ government funding will likely come from some hierarchy of game
\n genres. The governments will usually not put money into games they are assured are not like the <\/p>\n

violent games they heard about.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i don\u2019t mean to say art can\u2019t also be propaganda or education, only that the discourse
\n is different.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Eptin, better defining games will do that.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> You can leave art out of it.<\/p>\n

<Mckee> Agreed.
\n<Egglet> Since we\u2019ve already, inexplicably, discussed Galaga in the context of art, what about
\n Fahrenheit. In a way it is a good representative for the French view of gaming. Visibly striving to
\n be art.
\n<JesperJuul> (Sorry: I mean that governments will usually _only_ put money into games they are assured <\/p>\n

are not like the violent games they heard about.)
\n<Mads> so we risk that, once we define games as art, what we will get is a myrriad of high quality
\n japanese shmups?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> isn\u2019t part of the solution simply pushing the medium forward through design?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> in many parts of the world, governments are funding games to build up digital <\/p>\n

industries, which is again different from funding them as part of their arts policy
\n<eel_rich> Samorost.
\n<Eptin> It was more of a response to the comparison of \u201cCasual games as haikus\u201d
\n<ScottJonSiegel> and isn\u2019t part of the solution merely a time game?
\n<ThomasRobertson> So, here\u2019s a question that I think we\u2019ve touched briefly on above: what are the <\/p>\n

consequences and advantages of defining games as not-art?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Games will become more and more accepted as younger generations grow into adulthood.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Henry, it\u2019s important to note that governments have many interests in games that
\n do not overlap with the \u201cgames as art\u201d question.
\n<Egglet> I don\u2019t think casual games are haikus at all.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> http:\/\/www.samorost.net\/samorost1\/
\n<Dugan> has anyone played the \u201cSuper Columbine Massacre RPG!\u201d?
\n<Mckee> So, should a developer apply for an NEA grant?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I think I\u2019m responding more to the US independent film investor situation, in which
\n the glamor of the industry and the idea of funding significant culture are the main moticators.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (motivators)
\n<SantiSiri> casual are to big games, what poetry can be to novels
\n<Dugan> so there is potential there?
\n<eel_rich> Casual games are \u201cfast food\u201d games.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I agree with Eel.<\/p>\n

<Mads> but\u2026what is significant culture when it comes to games?, games that are like myst?, or the
\n japanese games Jesper speaks of?
\n<WhiteRbbt> novels are read by geeks in their basement, and poetry is read by middle-aged moms?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Unfortunately.
\n<joshleejosh> Casual games:\u201dBig\u201d games::Short stories:Novels, not Poetry:Novels<\/p>\n

<Mads> or what?
\n<SantiSiri> well, yes, most of casual games are quite lame
\n<Egglet> Poetry implies that you are creating a short experience that can be just as powerful as
\n something drawn out.
\n<Eptin> Not all things that are quick are not-beneficial<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> different versions of big macs
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But fast food can be DELICIOUS!
\n<AJ_Flowers> Casual games are however accessible to people who don\u2019t understand \u2018big\u2019 games
\n<SantiSiri> (big macs = tetris bejeweled, etc=
\n<eel_rich> lol True.<\/p>\n

<Dugan> I like the short story analogy
\n<Mckee> most console games are quite lame\u2026
\n<saraid> But is fast food culinary art?
\n<saraid> =P
\n<eel_rich> aha!<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Great analogy.
\n<Dugan> since providing a good content spine is essential to presenting the $20 value for a casual
\n game conversion
\n<Eptin> Why is a cup of tea (same amount of time as fast food) so highly rated in comparison? Casual
\n games have simply not matured yet<\/p>\n

<AJ_Flowers> Though a lot of people don\u2019t understand that casual games are games. Like a parent who
\n plays 4 hours of solitare a lot but finds his son\u2019s 4-hour WoW habit harmful
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For the high cultur chef, fast food is not art.
\n<Dugan> I find the crunchwrap makes for excellent munching
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For the cultural historian, absolutely.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For the consumer who has had a sublime Big Mac experience, why not?
\n<JesperJuul> Well, is food art? What ideas does it express?
\n<joshleejosh> I guarantee you that the team that came up with the Chalupa poured months of design work
\n into it. :)
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It depends on why and how you ask the question.<\/p>\n

<Eptin> After all, doesn\u2019t Galaga take up the same amount of time as any modern day Casual Game?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> and for a cultural studies type, the question is to understand the criteria by which we
\n judge a Big Mac as opposed to a Whopper
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, always the meta-question\u2026
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Eptin: good point<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> or as opposed to beef orange
\n<ScottJonSiegel> have casual games replaced arcade games, in a sense?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> as opposed to clockwork orange
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\n<Eptin> Someone said the arcade format was restrictive because of its time constraints<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> In terms of the \u201cpick up and play\u201d appeal
\n<Eptin> Casual games have the same constraints
\n<HENRYJENKINS> whether games are an art is not a yes and no question. it depends on whose asking from
\n what framework in what context for what purpose
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> YES!!!!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n

<Eptin> If Casual Games are too large, they are no longer casual
\n<Mckee> hehe
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Thanks, Henry, for stating that so well.
\n<DoctorJ> So, let\u2019s skip beyond the abstract question and move to examples. Henry: What games have you
\n played that you MOST consider art. Then, let\u2019s let Eric reply.<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> they come midway between solitaire card games and the arcade
\n<eel_rich> Games are art because they are made up of graphics, sound design, animation, writing,
\n architecture, music, acting, all of which are \u201carts.\u201d Many would say that programming is an art,
\n and there is a common notion that design is an art. So, art + art + art + art = art. ; )
\n<Egglet> Is the core of the issue not that rather than sitting around wondering whether games are not <\/p>\n

art or are art or are 63% art, the only way you can actually answer the question is to locate and
\n hold up the Kubricks and Shakespeares and so forth as examples rather than wait for someone 40 years
\n from now to look back and say \u201cHey this was pretty good but nobody cared!\u201d
\n<Mads> finally something concrete ;D
\n<Egglet> I\u2019m not sure Galaga is it.<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> art, marketing, industry, design.. are just lenses to perceive the same thing, games..
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i have already suggest Miyamoto. Super Mario Brothers remains the work that got me
\n excited, really excited, about games as a medium
\n<JesperJuul> Casual games don\u2019t have to end in three minutes so someone can put in the next quarter.
\n That\u2019s the difference. There is no economic pressure towards making the play sessions be very short.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> Actually, I think what I said was silly but hey, go for it!
\n<ScottJonSiegel> but there\u2019s economic pressure to extend a play experience.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> for me, it explored unique possibilities of games \u2014 the idea of spatial exploration,
\n of expressive architecture, of an immersive microworld, of imaginative desgin
\n<Egglet> Miyamoto does not exactly need holding up. And the problem with Miyamoto is that while his <\/p>\n

design and structure are impeccable, he doesn\u2019t say a whole lot.
\n<Egglet> Nor does he care to.
\n<DoctorJ> Henry: How specifically did SMB affect you and influence you?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> beyond the first hour of Diner Dash, I feel economic pressure to pay PlayFirst a
\n tenner<\/p>\n

<Eptin> No economic pressure for casual games, but they often resemble each other (in amount of time
\n to consume them)
\n<AJ_Flowers> \u2019say\u2019 a whole lot meaning the game has no deep message?
\n<eel_rich> What he does say is airy and nebulous, I love that guy. (Miyamoto) ; )
\n<HENRYJENKINS> It taught me a way of feeling, a way of moving through digital worlds that i have never <\/p>\n

experienced before.
\n<SantiSiri> miyamoto is our Chaplin
\n<Egglet> Meaning that he fails the definitions of art thrown around here except in the basic sense of
\n I am playing game gosh isn\u2019t it exciting.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> it isn\u2019t about making a comment about our reality \u2014 it\u2019s about teaching us what it <\/p>\n

would be like to inhabit a different reality.
\n<Egglet> Mario is the train coming at the screen.
\n<SantiSiri> even the moustache of mario looks like Chaplin\u00b4s vagabond
\n<HENRYJENKINS> miyamoto is our Winsor McCay.
\n<eel_rich> lol<\/p>\n

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\n<eel_rich> yeah
\n<AJ_Flowers> That\u2019s a good comparison
\n<saraid> Heh
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For me, perhaps the most \u201cbeautifu\u201d game is Go. But it defies many of the categories <\/p>\n

of art that we have discussed this evening. There is no author. It is a folk game, rather than a
\n designed experience. And it\u2019 status as art comes more from the ways it has existed within culture,
\n and built up cultures and rituals around it, than from the rules of the game itself.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> in that case, comics achieved some of their greatest work within the first decade of
\n their existence.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> and games may have done the same.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Sorry, Henry – didn\u2019t mean to step on your discussion of Miamoto.
\n<Egglet> In some senses they have. People are working backwards all over the place
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Eric: but of course, that\u2019s only one lense of looking at it, right?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I thought that had ended.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> no -go for it, eric<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, SJS.
\n<Dugan> I don\u2019t think that\u2019s true, elegance is interesting from a design perspective, but art and
\n design are different in subtle ways
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Okay. Good.
\n<joshleejosh> If we\u2019re talking about the contexts in which art \u201chappens,\u201d then folk art is just as <\/p>\n

interesting as \u201chigh\u201d art.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I\u2019m not sure I think of games I like as art.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> absolutely
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Go is a good example of that.
\n<Egglet> Doom 3 is worse than Doom because rather than single-mindedly setting out to create the most <\/p>\n

powerful experience games are now hampered with needing to be legitimate.
\n<SantiSiri> do most people regard comics as art?
\n<joshleejosh> after a while, does all art just become material history?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> comics artists do
\n<Dugan> I think Alan Moore\u2019s work is art<\/p>\n

<ScottJonSiegel> some more than others
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> How about you, Jesper? What game would you consider art?
\n<SantiSiri> just like game designers regard games as art..
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I mean, \u201cart\u201d?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> so do comics readers. so do the french, who keep poping randomly into this conversation<\/p>\n

<Eptin> Material history? You mean no effect on the current culture (looking backward through history
\n here)
\n<ScottJonSiegel> true. the french truly love their B.D.
\n<Eptin> ?
\n<ScottJonSiegel> OOH!let\u2019s go there!<\/p>\n

<Faith> I suspect it depends on the comic – it again splits into the \u2018casual\u2019 comic and the epic
\n<saraid> No.
\n<ScottJonSiegel> Bandes Dessinees are HUGE in France
\n<SantiSiri> lucky luke, asterix
\n<ScottJonSiegel> in a way that comic books are not in the US<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Speaking of DOOM, Egglet, the main rationale for the content was that they had gotten a lot
\n of complaints from gamers about killing the DOGS in Wolfenstein. They tried to figure out what
\n people wouldn\u2019t criticize killing and came up with demons. People still criticized.
\n<SantiSiri> manga in japan\u2026 anyone?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> many of us regard Jack Kirby to be a great popular artist, too, SJS<\/p>\n

<JesperJuul> Eric, in a personal perspective there are some games that I pick up and say to myself
\n \u201cyes, that\u2019s the stuff\u201d – I had this experience recently with New Super Mario Bros or, say, Super
\n Monkey Ball. That is not \u201cart\u201d, but art in a very craftsmanlike way.
\n<eel_rich> I like lowbrow, It\u2019s a movement. It started in the 60\u2019s and is still going strong.
\n Here;s an older example by Robert Williams. Is it art. Yes! http:\/\/www.digital-eel.com\/blog\/images<\/p>\n

\/enchilada_xl.jpg I want to make a game that looks like this.
\n<DoctorJ> For me, Wolfenstein 3D was art because it was the first game that put a gun in my hand and
\n made me look a 2D guy in the face while I pulled the trigger.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So Jesper, you also seem to want to resist the cultural category of art\/
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But why?<\/p>\n

<Egglet> To be perfectly honest it\u2019d have been better if they hadn\u2019t made Doom at all, if the legacy
\n of it is anything to go by. But at least it\u2019s a lesson learnt. An obstacle passed.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (I share this instinct)
\n* sonu has quit IRC (Connection timed out )
\n<Dugan> Facade, Planescape: Torment, the Columbine RPG, Ian\u2019s airport security game in a slapstick <\/p>\n

kind of way, all register as art to me
\n* ScottJonSiegel has quit IRC
\n<eel_rich> Doom is art. Gorgeous. Moody. Strange. It looks like dog poop now but it was arty in
\n its way I think.
\n<JesperJuul> Eric, I used to study literature and show off quoting T.S. Eliot\u2019s The Wasteland (\u201dApril
\n is the cruelest month\u201d). In a way I find it very refreshing not trying to pose as an \u201ceducated <\/p>\n

person\u201d.
\n<Faith> Planescape: Torment definately – but that had a very cinemagraphic feel in how the story
\n played out
\n<AJ_Flowers> It seems unfair to say a certain work shouldn\u2019t exist because it spawned bad imitators.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I\u2019ve got some bad news for you, Jesper.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> Planescape as art?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> You\u2019re not fooling anyone.
\n<WhiteRbbt> how related are the ideas of games being \u201cart\u201d and games being \u201cfun\u201d?
\n<AJ_Flowers> ( and some good imitators )
\n<JesperJuul> Games are a way out of pretentiousness.<\/p>\n

<BillFolsom> Go Jesper!
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Damn!
\n<JesperJuul> A man can only hope.
\n<Mads> :D
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And I thought I was entering a pretentious field.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Jesper: Just because you\u2019re like a patient etherized upon a table. ;-)
\n<HENRYJENKINS> so the reason so many gamers resist a discourse about games is art is that they want to
\n remain primatives.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> but isn\u2019t that just another artistic pose?
\n<saraid> You are. It\u2019s just that there are the pretentious ones and the less pretentious ones.<\/p>\n

<Mckee> Coming from the \u201cArt\u201d world I feel that games tend to have the same level of pretentiousness.
\n<Egglet> Whoa now hang on. That\u2019s a horrible generalisation.
\n<Faith> bit surely that is one of the points of placing games in the \u2018art\u2019 sphere – it gives us leave
\n to be pretentious about them ;-)
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It\u2019s because people have very idiosyncratic and personal ideas about what \u201cart\u201d <\/p>\n

means, Henry, both positive and negative.
\n<Iconoclast> What about art and immersion?
\n<Egglet> A lot of people resist talking about games as art because they feel there are a whole
\n boatload of more pertinent issues.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i am just responding to this fantasy of escaping art, escaping pretension.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That is why I try and stay away from the term.
\n<Mckee> They just pwn it more.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, just so you know – I embrace pretentiousness.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So I don\u2019t fall into that camp.
\n<DoctorJ> I think people who think there are a whole boatload of more pertinent issues are like my <\/p>\n

pretentious friends who don\u2019t \u201cread fiction.\u201d
\n<Mads> isn\u2019t that a little dangerous?
\n<Mads> Eric, I mean
\n<HENRYJENKINS> but the reason i like this question is that it forces us to re-examine our assumptions
\n about what we mean by art and also to re-examine our assumptions about the cultural status of games.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> I\u2019m not saying games as art is not a legitimate question. But it isn\u2019t really one that is
\n going to directly impact the quality or content of games. It\u2019s a question for people who study
\n games, not people who play games.
\n<AJ_Flowers> I suppose in a way it can be liberating to not \u2018have to be art,\u2019 if, for example, you
\n just want to make a game about blowing things up and don\u2019t feel like you should be held to artistic <\/p>\n

standards.
\n<saraid> Immersion happens in a lot of artistic forms, true.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, which question?
\n<JesperJuul> The \u201cI don\u2019t care whether my music is art\u201d is just as well-defined a pose of course.
\n (Sometimes means: \u201cPlease say it\u2019s art. Pleeaase\u201d.)<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> are games art?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Ah.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes.
\n<Eptin> Good point Egglet. Defining games as art will have little initial impact on the gamer
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Of course.<\/p>\n

<JesperJuul> That question.
\n<Egglet> People will make games and they will put their souls into them. Before the commercial
\n industry got going they were doing it much more honestly than now.
\n<SantiSiri> games and music\u2026 united by the word play
\n<HENRYJENKINS> Egglet \u2014 no. I think the discourse of art impacts consumers when we have critics who <\/p>\n

can help people develop an appreciation of innovation and experimentation within games
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\n<saraid> And theater, Santi.
\n<Dugan> hah, Santi, you\u2019ve hit on something significant
\n<SantiSiri> right saraid<\/p>\n

<Egglet> You can only develop an appreciation of innovation when you know what is not innovative.
\n<Dugan> I think play is the universal medium
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And games were always commerical, just like all forms of mass media culture.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> i think that having cinema studies classes helped to create the market for independent
\n cinema by exposing people to a broader range of what cinema can do<\/p>\n

<SantiSiri> the pure proof that games are Art Patrick :)
\n<Egglet> And until everyone plays enough games, that won\u2019t happen. The cycle.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Dr J, I need to go soon.
\n<DoctorJ> Henry: Well, since that was our goal at CGW in the old days and we lost out to the PC GAMER
\n mentality, where can this criticism REACH the consumer?<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> me too
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> How do we wrap this up?
\n<JesperJuul> We vote.
\n<DoctorJ> What IS the forum for criticism?
\n<SantiSiri> play, such a beautiful word\u2026 and not as bastarded as art<\/p>\n

<Egglet> Until there is enough experience to form cliche, how do people know what is cliche at all?
\n<Mads> lol
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> We vote on, \u201cAre games art?\u201d
\n<ThomasRobertson> Jesper, that\u2019s a great suggestion. A vote will surely solve the debate for all time.
\n<Leedar> lol<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> right now, blogs are probably doing the best job. I\u2019ve said before that the folks at
\n Penny Arcade are doing the best criticism to date of games as a medium
\n<HENRYJENKINS> Can I put in a write in vote for Mickey Mouse?
\n<SantiSiri> fuck yeah! GAMES ARE ART.. they where meant to be played with the soul, just like we play
\n music<\/p>\n

<Dugan> recently Jerry suggested that Television has been displaced as a dominant medium
\n<Faith> although then we get back to the \u2018are online cartoons art\u2019 ;-)
\n<DoctorJ> I\u2019ll be Diebold. The votes are in and games are art.
\n<Dugan> I vote YES
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I vote NO NO NO NO YES NO NO NO SOMETIMES NO.<\/p>\n

<saraid> I vote for Zimmerman.
\n<SantiSiri> hahaha
\n<Dugan> Eric, you\u2019ve voted for Pat Buchannan
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> My chad is hanging.
\n<DoctorJ> Thank you, Henry and Eric. This was a stimulating free-for-all and I hope there are no <\/p>\n

bruises.
\n<HENRYJENKINS> this balot is just too confusing.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Excuse me!
\n<Egglet> Games are pwonkenfojel.
\n<AJ_Flowers> The way the PA guys write also influence at least my personal play\/purchase decisions way <\/p>\n

more than any magazine review, because the critique is stronger
\n<JesperJuul> I think that the amount of academic criticism coming out is helping establish games as
\n something at least worthy of discussion.
\n<SantiSiri> good point jesper
\n<DoctorJ> This concludes the \u201cformal\u201d discussion.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Discussions like this one\u2026
\n<WhiteRbbt> why are discussions like this one important? (real question \u2014 i\u2019m not trying to be an ass)
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Wow. I was waiting for a formal discsussion.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Did it happen?
\n<ThomasRobertson> Eric, you blinked.<\/p>\n

<HENRYJENKINS> for a formal discussion, it was certainly informal.
\n<AJ_Flowers> Oh wow, has it been an hour already?
\n<Faith> and there is a strong incentive to study games in academia because then we get to play games
\n at work
\n<Egglet> PA write incisively but they don\u2019t represent anything but they don\u2019t forward any particularly <\/p>\n

unique view. They are very much commenting on their own flow down the river rather than resisting it
\n with regard to WoW and such.
\n<SantiSiri> was this discussion art?
\n<JesperJuul> But are we just discussing the inevitable? Is this discussion just a symptom of an
\n unstoppable tendency of games becoming more and more high brow and in the end, \u201cobviously art\u201d?<\/p>\n

<Egglet> That sentence sort of exploded. I\u2019m too tired to think.
\n<DoctorJ> The \u201c\u201d were supposed to indicate that I wasn\u2019t serious. ;-)
\n<Leedar> heh
\n<Mads> most likely
\n<saraid> This discussion was important because it helps the people who are trying to support games <\/p>\n

understand what the hell they\u2019re talking about.
\n<Mckee> I think so jesper.
\n<Mads> the votes show games are art, don\u2019t they?
\n<HENRYJENKINS> see ya, folks.
\n<Dugan> incidentally, South Park is now on in the EST time zone<\/p>\n

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\n<eel_rich> Later Henry.
\n<JesperJuul> We, the people, declare games to be art.
\n<ThomasRobertson> Thanks for coming by Henry, Eric, Jesper.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I thought this discussion mattered because it gives Manifesto games some marketing <\/p>\n

content.
\n<Leedar> :-]
\n<AJ_Flowers> Heh
\n<eel_rich> Well there\u2019s that.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And we ALL are putting our stamp of approval on Manifesto, implicity.<\/p>\n

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\n<Egglet> A lot of games are not art. Some games are art. I reckon about the fastest way to make more
\n games art is to point out the ones that are art.
\n<JesperJuul> Are games art
\n<DoctorJ> It would have, but Henry said Penny Arcade did better criticism. <grin><\/p>\n

<JesperJuul> garfunkel?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Hello, fellow pawns.
\n<saraid> Heh.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Jesper, you never said your big joke!
\n<joshleejosh> carney?<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> You missed it!
\n<SantiSiri> Gentlemen, it was a real honour.. let me invite everyone for the after-chat at
\n GAMESAREART.COM !
\n<DoctorJ> Ees gud revolutionary deescussion for Manifesto.
\n<Dugan> I\u2019ll be fielding a comment<\/p>\n

* DrKL has left #gamesandart
\n<JesperJuul> Art games art?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Arf.
\n<AJ_Flowers> Thanks to everyone for the discussion
\n<eel_rich> Games are art because the designer is the artist. As I said afore, like in filmmaking: the <\/p>\n

director is the artist. The vision=holder, the shaper, the ultimate crud filter.
\n<Egglet> No I invite everyone to disagree at GAMESAREACTUALLYNOTARTATALL.COM.
\n<JesperJuul> Arrrr games arrrrt?
\n<Dugan> sometimes its best not to take oneself too seriously
\n<DoctorJ> Thank you for your tacit approval, Eric.<\/p>\n

<Faith> only pirated games arrrrr
\n<Mads> *lol*
\n<AJ_Flowers> (Although I wasn\u2019t sure if it was over I\u2019m saying that now since some people are leaving!)
\n<eel_rich> arrr
\n<JesperJuul> Puzzle Pirates is definitely arrrrt.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> I think the only real constant is that games are art unless they were designed by the
\n programmer in which case god help us all.
\n<SantiSiri> hahaha kind regards from argentina to all! cheers
\n* saraid wonders if \/me works.
\n<JesperJuul> Cheers!<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> later Santi
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Good night.
\n<Dugan> so Eric, you never answered my question about indie film financeers being interested in game
\n projects, I\u2019d appreciate your take from your experience
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Great talk!<\/p>\n

<saraid> Good night!
\n<DoctorJ> Egglet: No, games are art unless they were designed by the MARKETING department.
\n<Mads> Cheers for this
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Is that Patrick Dugan?
\n<saraid> Marketing isn\u2019t art?<\/p>\n

<Dugan> yes sir
\n<JesperJuul> Games are art if they have been selected by a curator.
\n<saraid> Who else would it be?
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The one I inadvertently dissed?
\n<eel_rich> Marketers will says its art.<\/p>\n

<Dugan> haha
\n<Egglet> I\u2019d agree but you clearly haven\u2019t played enough freeware.
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (sorry about that!)
\n<Faith> and the possibility always exists for them to be used to make art after they have been released
\n* SantiSiri has quit IRC (\u201dQuit\u201d )<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> We can talk about that offline\u2026
\n<Dugan> hey we\u2019re in the same business
\n<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> THe investor question I mean.
\n<Egglet> After your fifty seventh inexplicably awful platfomer you might rethink your opinion.
\n<eel_rich> I have an \u201cs\u201d problemsss.<\/p>\n

<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I have to go finish my laundry and pack for a trip\u2026
\n* Lady_Stereo has quit IRC
\n<JesperJuul> Good discussion, though we had some issues with the turntaking.
\n<Faith> SIMs may or may not be art but it has been used to create art
\n* ircleuser has joined #gamesandart
\n<saraid> It\u2019s IRC.<\/p>\n

<Dugan> sure, you\u2019re eric@gamelab right?
\n* Avrim has quit IRC
\n* ircleuser has quit IRC (Client Quit )
\n* Cornellian has left #gamesandart
\n<DoctorJ> Egglet: I can\u2019t play freeware. I have to review stuff you can BUY on Manifesto. <grin>
\n<saraid> Turn-taking doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> IRC is not the best place for large scale discussion.
\n<Mckee> There was turn taking?
\n<Mads> actually being in a chat with the people who wrote the curriculum for a course I\u2019m doing rocks
\n ;D so yeah\u2026\u2019twas great, if a little\u2026confusing\u2026
\n* ERIC_ZIMMERMAN has quit IRC<\/p>\n

* eel_rich tries to trip a few as they leave.
\n<Egglet> I can\u2019t believe I used the term freeware I HATE THAT TERM.
\n<JesperJuul> Yes, turn _taking_. Not much giving.
\n<saraid> My brain rebelled several times while reading.
\n<JesperJuul> What cours is that?<\/p>\n

<ThomasRobertson> Heh.
\n<JesperJuul> +e
\n<Mads> Computergame Theory at \u00c5rhus University
\n<AJ_Flowers> I do a lot of chat room, very used to it, but I am happy that it was an open discussion
\n where students and hangers on were allowed to hang out :)<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> It was a \u201creal-time\u201d chat like an RTS.
\n<JesperJuul> OK
\n<Dugan> hey Jesper, I\u2019m getting into the casual games biz, I\u2019d appreciate it if you\u2019d give me feedback
\n on some beta designs later on
\n<Egglet> An RTS based around tank rushes.<\/p>\n

<Iconoclast> confusing, yeah\u2026
\n<JesperJuul> Sure, would be fun – just mail me.
\n* Frosty13 has quit IRC
\n<Faith> especially at 2:30am
\n<Dugan> sweet<\/p>\n

<Dugan> trying to blur the lines between Jerry Bruckhiemer and Stanley Kubrick
\n<DoctorJ> I liked it better than the old AOL auditoriums. If you didn\u2019t like it, it\u2019s my fault.
\n<Dugan> its been fun
\n<Mckee> I thought it was nice.
\n<JesperJuul> That\u2019s what\u2019s so cool about being in the US – you get to stay up late.<\/p>\n

<eel_rich> Rocked.
\n<saraid> w00t for west coast.
\n<Egglet> If anyone wants to discuss games in a non-art setting I have a place where that happens
\n pretty regularly. Although when I say discuss games I mean discuss games not discuss the
\n implications of Galaga on the world at large.<\/p>\n

<Mckee> Thanks for \u201corganizing\u201d it.
\n<eel_rich> Yeah, thanks guys.
\n<DoctorJ> We prefer the term, \u201cfacilitators.\u201d
\n* Dugan has left #gamesandart
\n<saraid> Agreed. Thanks all. That was surprisingly invigorating.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Or was that \u201cinstigators?\u201d
\n<Mckee> oh picky picky
\n<Iconoclast> Thanks a lot, it was great.
\n<eel_rich> Implementers.
\n<Faith> g\u2019night all<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Eel: Implementers sounds too constructive for anarchists. ;-)
\n* Faith has quit IRC (\u201dChatzilla 0.9.75 [Firefox 1.5.0.7\/2006090918]\u201d )
\n* saraid has quit IRC (\u201d*trips*\u201d )
\n<Mckee> \u201cdesigners\u201d ?
\n<eel_rich> lol
\n<Egglet> It was okay but pretty much turned out how I thought it would. Half what the hell is art and <\/p>\n

half are games it and then no time left to discuss anything specific.
\n<DoctorJ> Thomas: Did you ever see those ships I build with your generator?
\n<eel_rich> We\u2019ll have to do this again.
\n<AJ_Flowers> You seem pretty opinionated about games in general, Egg, hate FPS, hate MMOs, what do you
\n like?<\/p>\n

<Mckee> I hope so.
\n<ThomasRobertson> DoctorJ, which one?
\n<Egglet> I don\u2019t think opinionated is the right word.
\n* Radens has quit IRC
\n<Egglet> It implies extremes. I\u2019m just very vigorously logical.<\/p>\n

* ElHombreGris has quit IRC (\u201d-=SysReset =-\u201d )
\n<Ubu> Thanks from Sweden. I have to get back to bed
\n<DoctorJ> The ship generator on 18giants.com that I used to make the new race for Space Empires IV.
\n* Eptin has quit IRC
\n<DoctorJ> So long UBu.
\n<WhiteRbbt> hej d\u00c3\u00a5<\/p>\n

<AJ_Flowers> But you didn\u2019t answer the question, what do you like?
\n<Egglet> I suppose I personally don\u2019t really personally enjoy RTS games but I don\u2019t rail against the
\n genre because of it. I just try to play Medieval and then shed a tear.
\n<DoctorJ> It\u2019s available for download on the manifestogames.com site.
\n<Egglet> Everything.<\/p>\n

<Egglet> In the sense of genres, anyway.
\n<Egglet> Specifically, good games.
\n<eel_rich> Hokay, dinner time here on the west coast. Take care folks. Fazzinatin\u2019 chat. (Smart
\n people, way smarter than me!) Nice to meet y\u2019all.
\n<Egglet> In the sense of interesting content.<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> AJ: I like games that make me think. FPS and RTS tend to make me click.
\n<AJ_Flowers> Ah, so more about the creme of the crop of any given genre.
\n* Retrieving #gamesandart modes\u2026
\n<DoctorJ> So long, Eel
\n* eel_rich exits stage left.
\n* eel_rich has left #gamesandart<\/p>\n

<AJ_Flowers> I\u2019m not a big FPS player either (because i\u2019m not good at them, frankly)
\n<JesperJuul> OK, thanks all. Thanks for organizing!
\n<Egglet> Right. I argue about the idea of people becoming more choosy over time because I\u2019ve basically
\n artificially accelerated myself to that point over 20 years of near-dysfunctional game devouring.
\n<Mckee> Good night from Texas.<\/p>\n

* BillFolsom has quit IRC
\n* Pangolin_ has left #gamesandart
\n<ThomasRobertson> G\u2019night folks who are leaving!
\n<AJ_Flowers> Thank you Jesper
\n<joshleejosh> Thanks Jesper (and all) for the discussion!
\n* Mckee has left #gamesandart<\/p>\n

<DoctorJ> Bye Jesper!
\nEnd of #gamesandart buffer Wed Nov 01 22:18:04 2006<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For posterity, here is the transcript from our Games as Art discussion on IRC yesterday. To convey the mood of the event, I have not done any editing. A good discussion IMO, but reading the transcript I can see that I could have done more turn-taking\u2026 * Now talking in #gamesandart <eel_rich> I have a … Continue reading “Games as Art Discussion Transcript”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games","category-meta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}