Fun Snobs?

[The Long Road]

A rather common quip in Zero Punctuation and Extra Credits is that 'Games are Art'. Both have tackled the issue of moving games towards an art form without turning developers into Art Snobs who would be so steeped in the idea that Games are Art, therefore turning out nothing but insufferably pretentious games more at home in the Lourve than in an Xbox.

However, I think there is another side to the debate that has received little to no attention. I know people who won't play Mass Effect because it's "too slow" and "you don't blow enough shit up". They won't play anything slower-paced than Modern Warfare and hadn't even heard of the Elder Scrolls series. They actually thought Heavy Rain was a straight-to-DVD movie.

That got me wondering: are these people Fun Snobs? If someone demands that a game be six hours of non-stop dumb fun with no artistic value to speak of, are they the opposite of an Art Snob?

Escapists, I leave it to you.

 

[lacktheknack]

Why are sides being taken?

Why can't "Duke Nukem" and "The Path" exist in the same universe?

Oh wait. THEY DO.

 

[Lucky Chainsaw]

YES, thank you. There are many positive emotions that games can create that I personally think are more valuable than simple stimulation. Just because it's a game doesn't mean it has to be limited to mindless action.

 

[Madman123456]

i wouldn't call them "Fun Snobs". I play "slower" Games for fun. Regarding "Heavy Rain", well, that "Game" did have quite a lot of "non-game" parts in it, so you couldn't blame one for saying that this isn't a game with many cutscenes, but rather a movie with little game parts =)

 

[VanQ]

I kinda like the way Fun Snob sounds. I definately look for artistic value and a good story in a game, but I don't condemn a game for not having that value if that's not the point. I just finished playing Bulletstorm and had a blast! Why? Because it just wanted to be a dumb as nails game with lots of explosions and swearing. And it did that well, so it's fine in my books. As long as a game doesn't try to be something it isn't, then it has a place in the world.

 

[BreakfastMan]

They might be. Personally I think it is foolish to demand that a game is completely 100% fun all the time. Many of my favorite games I would not call fun (I mean, what exactly would you use to describe something like Silent Hill 2? Fun does not seem like an appropriate descriptor), but many are. I also think it is foolish to demand that all games be high art (I mean, if film can have both The Shining and Pirates of the Caribbean, why can't games have the equivalent too?). There is also the fact that fun and so-called "art" games can, and in many cases are, the same... Now I am wandering off topic. Yes, I think fun snobs exist too. I personally want both "sides" to interact with each other (how else are we going to advance the medium people?), but I doubt that both "sides" will completely disappear, sad to say.

 

[Littaly]

Snob is probably the wrong word since it's kind of the opposite of what those games stand for. Just call them "people with uncomplicated (or bland, depending on how hostile you want to be) taste and short attention span".

 

[dibblywibbles]

no such thing as a fun snob. because having fun is different for everyone. getting immersed in a story is more fun for some people than shooting someone in the face. and why do we constantly put emphasis on the whole games are art bs? I don't care what the medium is, I want to be entertained. that being said, I'm completely the opposite when it comes to fine wine and spirits.

 

[Griphphin]

Being the opposite of an art snob doesn't make you a fun snob in my opinion, it makes you not an art snob. If people don't want to play anything slower than Modern Warfare because they don't find those games fun, it's because the kind of interactive stimulation they prefer in videogames is that of a fast-paced FPS. That doesn't mean that the person cannot appreciate artistic value.

 

[Twilight_guy]

No, they just really short attention spans. If someone can't sit for 10 seconds without blowing something up there their ass has a problem. I mean if someone can't sit through a little dialogue in games how the heck will he/she function in real life?

Other then that, games are art already. What they are not is "high art." If they become high art we might have to worry about artistic non-sense but the majority of will probably art with a statement like, "burn the rope", which is an anti-game game. I'm not worries about ti though, art is evaluated through the eyes of the beholder and people tend to find art boring because they don't understand it. If games are art, gamers will understand it and probably won't find it boring, (although outsiders will).