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@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://mccormick.cx
