PeePantz said:
Over the past year or two, I've noticed a big shift around these parts (I firmly believe Extra Credits have created a new wave of sheep) concerning "moving the medium forward". I've noticed the word "toy" being thrown out as if was on par with a rapist. Well, last time I checked video games are essentially that; a toy. Something to play with for entertainment.
I thoroughly enjoy my toys and I strongly believe that the medium should only move forward with technology. Sure, new ideas and creativity are going to happen, but I really could give two shits about whether or not a video game is tasteful or insightful. I don't care if certain companies give my "toys" a bad name. If I'm against something, *gasp*, I just won't play it. I'll condone it and enjoy its right to be made because I'm not a consumer fascist.
Escapees, agree? Disagree? Discuss.
Also, due to the Escapist being my primary and almost sole source of gaming news, are the views here about games moving forward and being an interactive art medium, parallel with the gaming world on whole?
So does that mean all books should be texts and we should do away with all fiction? Books were originally for the extended storage of knowledge, to pass along things that may over time be forgotten. To keep a history and teach the new generations. Writing wasn't created to entertain, therefore it should only be non-fiction.
Radio was originally designed to be wireless telegraph, also not entertainment. Therefore the only programs on radio should be news, no more talk radio or music.
I could keep going, but I think you get the idea. While I think you're taking it to the extreme, I also won't say you're completely wrong. I do believe that games should entertain and don't all need to be "art". Mortal Kombat has no artistic quality whatsoever, but I love it. I also love Red Dead Redemption and LA Noire, both of which are very much the artistic that people mean when they talk about games being art. I've also heard good things about Heavy Rain, but haven't played that one yet myself.
Then there's plenty of games like God of War that are both mindless fun and gore, but also have an interesting story. Demon's Souls is another one, good gameplay, decent, if subdued, story, and difficulty to make me want to throw my controller at times (but not unfair, I've always earned every smack I took). I like DS for its gameplay, world design, and atmosphere. But it also has a story of how man's lust for power was his downfall. Is one required to enjoy the other? Not really, but the sum is greater than its parts. I would have enjoyed either aspect without the other, but together they created something I enjoyed even more.
Hell, the first movies were just literally moving pictures of common sights. Cars, trains, people dancing, just to showcase the technology. Look at Hollywood now. Dramas, comedies, action flicks, horror, romances. If the medium had never developed or become more artistic, either we'd still be watching movies of trains rolling down the tracks or it would have died out completely long ago due to stagnation.
Not every movie has to be Schindler's List and not every game has to be Bulletstorm.