{"id":2219,"date":"2010-09-01T03:26:10","date_gmt":"2010-09-01T03:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gamedesignadvance.com\/?p=2219"},"modified":"2012-01-07T00:43:01","modified_gmt":"2012-01-07T00:43:01","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamedesignadvance.com\/?p=2219","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of participating in the Art History of Games conference, put together by Georgia Tech and SCAD. Recently they posted videos of the talks. You can see mine here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the things that really stuck with me about this conference was the intersection of two different talks that spoke to each other in a surprising and powerful way.<\/p>\n

The first talk was the one given by the (non)game designers Tale of Tales. ToT made a presentation <\/a> which boldly and provocatively declared once and for all that Games Are Not Art. Games are games and they are fine as far as that goes, but they have no place engaging with the serious and important problems of art, to elevate the human soul, to struggle towards transcendence, to contemplate great truths, etc. Game technology might do that, but not games.<\/p>\n

ToT\u2019s statement was fine. It was expected, it was somewhat tongue in cheek and playful, but it was also intentionally aggressive and confrontational in a calculated way. It was rhetoric. And I enjoyed it. I consider them \u201cworthy opposition\u201d in the rhetorical sense. Smart people with an honestly different point of view arguing in good faith.<\/p>\n

Then game designer Brenda Brathwaite talked<\/a>. She talked about her design process and her goals, about how she thinks of her own work and how it fits into her life and how she does it and how she feels about it. And it was 100% clear to me and every person in that room that Brenda is a living, breathing, cussing counter-example to ToT\u2019s claim. Regardless of your reaction to the games in her mechanics\/message project, it is undeniable that she is using games to engage with the serious and important problems of art, trying to elevate the human soul, struggling towards transcendence, contemplating great truths etc. Through games. Not through software, not through interactive environments, not through procedural 3D storytelling. Through games. She puts the lie to ToT just by existing and doing her work. I mean, basically, they are saying that she doesn\u2019t exist. But she sure as hell looks like she exists to me.<\/p>\n

Then to top it off, at the end of her talk Brenda reached out to ToT and celebrated them for making the Path, in a very simple and personal and heartfelt way she told them that their work had touched her and she thanked them for it. Brenda\u2019s gesture was respectful, loving, honest, impulsive, direct, and emotional. It was the opposite of calculated. It moved me. And with the authority of physics, it closed the door on that particular argument. Forever.<\/p>\n

I was glad I was there. I remember thinking, this is what history looks like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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