11 Dec
2006
11 Dec
'06
10:36 p.m.
On Mon, Dec 11, 2006 at 02:42:30PM -0500, Rob wrote:
On Monday 11 December 2006 13:51, Cesare Marilungo
wrote:
A person's skill at an art can ONLY be measured
subjectively. "His bread is always chewy, but tender and
flavorful." "He makes me cry with his reading of Rachmaninov
every time." And on the videogame front.... what? "She can
play blindfolded?" "She can do a little dance while she frags
people?" On games like DDR you can add a little flair to your
performance because it's meant to be a performance. On games
that people play competitively, like first person shooters....
I'm not so sure what the artistic component would be.
Ok sure, first person shooters are more like Tennis than Rachmaninov,
but I have heard exactly such subjective arguments in the LAN room
over a can of softdrink, about the finesse and style of a particular
player who is a genius at the art of the first person shooter. I have
heard players say that they like the style of one player over another
even though the other is more skillful and wins more often. I've heard
the same thing from people watching football. I beleive that there is
artistry in good football playing just as much as there is artistry in
good piano playing and good first person shooter playing and good break
making.
I definately believe that there is virutosity in many games, and that it
can parallel that of musical virtuosity, whilst being quite different. I
am not only talking about first person shooters!
Also, what about games that people don't play competitively? What about
games like Simcity where people play creatively? Or games with a high
degree of customisation like Animal Crossing? In that case, the game
player is most definately an artist by any measure of the word.
Best,
Chris.
-------------------
chris(a)mccormick.cx
http://mccormick.cx