Now, Ive got a broad definition of "entertain" (and here you can substitute in any number of words that all mean roughly the same thing: captivate, intrigue, command attention) but I think most people do too. Art and Entertainment are not in opposition. Because unlike Jess, I think that its something that the game industry, and especially online games, need now more than ever.įirst off, let me dispose of the false dichotomy that plagues all these debates. Nonetheless, Im here to make the case for art. And this may be the shortest rebuttal in history, because I agree with the premise that the first obligation of an online game is to be fun. Why nobody cares who is writing the Great American Novel. I think its the problem with poetry today. I find pretentious, overly craft-driven, self-referential, obscure, tangled, and weighty books to be garbage. These days, you can read about Art (with a capital A, of course) and substitute in this phrase: "pretentious, incomprehensible, shallow, manipulative, boring crap." Why sign up to defend something that has that rep? After all, the publics image of art is religious icons dipped in excrement, its tediously boring French films, its dumping cases of type on a page and calling it poetry. You see, its sort of fashionable to put down being artsy, these days. Many might say (well, why ignore it: they did say) that Jess article meant, well, me.īut when Jess asked if Id write a rebuttal, I had to think about it, and ask other peoples opinions. Ive spent time in the ivory towers of creative writing programs, Ive waited nervously in anterooms for my turn to play piano in front of a critical groups of music profs, Ive worried over the right shade of gray to use in a still life of well-polished bones and bottles, and Ive even done poster artwork for theater productions. Theres no hiding it, no denying it I mean, Jesus, Im quoting Henry James.
Now, I wouldnt know to draw the parallel unless I was an artsy type myself. And Jessica Mulligan, in her Biting the Hand column of a few weeks ago entitled "Just Give Me a Game, Please," made the case that the first obligation of an online game is to be fun. Henry James wrote, in "The Art of Fiction," that the first obligation of a story is to be interesting. Read on, and if you want to know more about Raphs work and interests, his personal Web site can be found at. Now I have this vision of him dressed in robes and saying to a junior designer, "When you can snatch the game mechanic from my hand, time for you to leave."Īnd he makes a pretty darn good case for art in this column. He's not rude or even (generally) loud about it he's more like an Aikido master, melding with the opponent and redirecting his energy to more useful purposes. Raph is also not shy about making his opinion known, as I discovered when we were working at OSI together a couple years ago. He was a senior game designer on Origin Systems Ultima Online and is currently the Creative Director on Verants Star Wars: Galaxies. If you dont know who Raph is, youve been obviously been in a coma for the past five years. Hence this guest column, The Case For Art, written by Raph Koster. And that means occasionally giving up the podium (as tough as that can be for a limelight hound like me). As well as being my own vehicle for using Three Stooges Fu on the insanities of the online and computer game industries, I also consider BTH an industry forum. When discussing change, however, it is important to know all of the issues, and it is important that those directly experienced with them speak up and take a stand. To which I say, "Good." One of the purposes of this column is to get people talking about the issues because thats one way change happens, and Lordy, do we need some change in this industry.
As one might imagine, the column Just Give Me A Game, Please caused something of a stir.
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