Haute Jouer

I always find it frustrating that gaming is still not widely accepted as a 'higher art'. As a medium, it already has its auteurs, its classics and its avant garde, so... why not? Just because it's newer? Just because there's not a bunch of French guys that have decided so for us, and have not elevated it socially?

It's not that it's new, either, I don't think. Machinima have their own festival, for chrissakes, and they're even newer. OK, 'we' have E3 and all, but still... that's a trade-show, innit? The thousands of people that offer us their creative awesomeness - or just their creativity, sometimes, I must say - are completely ignored, when one sees the product and reacts with no more than a 'meh'.

'Games are for kids'. That's what people say. And think. And that goes as far as them not thinking twice of the fact that art needs to be made, in fact, for these kids' enjoyment. A-doooh! In fact, the stupidest thing I ever heard on the subject, when a debate about 'are videogames an artform?' was going on in a greek web forum about comics (the 9th art, as they - constantly - say), was that 'OK, I'll give you that gaming is an art-form, then, if you insist, but it's actually an applied art'. Yeahbuhwhat?! - Priceless!

There's a lot of discussion going on about the subject and, to be frank, I wish I followed it more, and took part in it more, actually (hey, I do have a BA now in a similar 'social science', my word should count for something!). Explaining how hard it is for the thing to be made, in case someone does pay attention to the poor sods' drama, saying farewell to another-one-down-the-drain due to 'popularity issues', or just generally proclaiming that it is, in fact, an art, don't really seem to be enough any day of the week.

I'm telling you, though: it's just a matter of time, I know it. There'll soon come a day when people out there realize what it's all about, and give the medium the necessary recognition. It's just around the corner.