This is an add-on to my A Little Rant post. So, Reason magazine's June issue was all about video games; cool, right? I got to their article, "Are Video Games Art?" and I immediately thought, Why yes, of course they are. Well, apparently Roger Ebert, a supposedly "famous movie critic" says otherwise. After seeing a TED Talk that agreed with the "video games are art" side, Ebert responded to the examples in the TED Talk saying: "Video games can never be art. [The examples] do not raise my hopes for a video game that will deserve my attention long enough to play it. They are, I regret to say, pathetic... Art should be defined as the imitation of nature, usually the creation of one artist." Ebert went on to saying how games have winners and rules, so they cannot have any relation to art. "Why are gamers so intensely concerned, anyway, that games be defined as art?" This is where I got really annoyed. I was a little annoyed before, but I just hate this guy so much now. It's not the fact that we want his "blessing" (literally an exact quote) for video games to be art. It's super annoying to have to be compared to paintings and literature, and then to be looked down upon as if the gaming industry has done something wrong. We want to be taken seriously. These "rules and winners" that Ebert's talking about aren't what games are all about. There are actual plots and characters and action sequences. There are real life people with real life jobs working on these games, just like painters and authors are real life people and have real life jobs working on their paintings or books. The gaming industry only has a bad reputation because of people blaming them for the crimes that someone commits. Because of this bad rep, people think that they're cool if they make fun of the industry or that it's somehow okay to bash on millions of people who depend on video games, whether to make a living, to use it as their "personal therapist," or to just leisurely play. News flash: it's not. This Roger Ebert dude made me really annoyed and probably made a bunch of other gamers annoyed, too. I don't think anyone even asked him his opinion on whether or not video games are art (which they are). He just said it. And then he's saying things like, "Why aren't gamers content to play their games and simply enjoy themselves? They have my blessing, not that they care. Do they require validation?" Answer: no. We don't require validation. But when some random guy comes out of nowhere and starts attacking our industry - our lives - we tend to get angry. Video games are art. They take time and effort. You can't look me in the eye and tell me that video games aren't beautiful masterpieces. Video games aren't all about winning and losing. They're about making people happy. It never fails to amaze me the amount of skill and talent and hard work that's put in to make these virtual worlds. These worlds that, sometimes, help people's lives to keep on going. These are people's second homes; video games help people escape this horrible world and let them be who they wanna be. They can have powers; they can do what the wanna do; they can help people; they can be heros. The fact that Ebert called all of that pathetic makes me sick to my stomach. These are people's lives he's bashing; people's source of comfort. It's just really sad to see such ignorant people who know nothing about this industry saying things like that. People depend on these games, and, honestly, Roger Ebert should just stay out of video games and go back to movies because he obviously knows nothing about the gaming industry.
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The UNICEF Tap Project helps provide clean water to kids in need. How it worksThe website makes you leave your phone for at least a minute, and every 10 minutes gives a days worth of clean water. The money to supply the water is given by sponsors. Their sponsors this year are Giorgio Armani Fragrances and MediaVest. They give UNICEF $0.025 for every 10 minutes, which is enough to help someone have clean water. That's such a little amount of money for a huge impact on someone's life. What You can doGo to the project website on your phone (iPhone, iPod, Android, etc; any smartphone) and press "Begin." Leave your phone on a flat surface for at least 10 minutes. You can also donate money to provide even more clean water. If you donate $1, you could give a child 40 days of clean water. That's a lot of days. And it's simple. You can learn more about the project here. |
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