In your face, Ebert! The National Endowment for the Arts has recently altered their guidelines for new grant applications to include video games among their media categories like Television and Radio. That means indie game designers can apply for grants to fund their desperate attempts at porting Minecraft to the iPhone. Videogamer.com has the story. Read our comments for more.
The discussion about video games and art is vastly more important than what it looks like from the outside. The art world enjoys certain protections against the censor and the moral minority that crusades endlessly to destroy all creativity and expression. You know the type. Also, there is a perception in our society that video games are for children, which draws the crusaders out to condemn more mature games with hysterical cries of corrupting the youth. Elevating video games from the Fisher Price ghetto gives us the strength to fight off these foaming savages.
If video gaming is going to grow into the conductive medium that binds us all together, it must also mature as a concept. The opinions of gamers and the strides made by the industry are meaningless without the approval of society as a whole. This recognition is one step closer to gaining that necessary approval.
Next stop? Video games that teach you how to run a company better than any current CEO, and pick stocks to make Wall Street jealous. We’ve got the art, now let’s get the money.
The video game industry is already tremendously mature, it’s one of the largest grossing entertainment industries ever outstripping movies and music alike. I still disagree with Ebert when he says that video games are not art — there’s no reason to assume that “art” needs to be static and non-interactive. A writer would argue that people do interact with text and an architect would argue that a building doesn’t need to remain static and unchangeable forever to retain artistic integrity.
Recognition by the government that video games happen to drive social order and change minds.