The Ghost of RubangB said:
That's a good analogy. They can enjoy whatever they want out of hiking or games, but if they ONLY wanted the view, they'd look at some photos or a film, so I think the people who are the biggest graphics fanatics are being hypocritical when they knock some of the funnest games ever because they don't look good enough. The graphics are part of a whole, and while they may be your favorite part, they absolutely have to be complimenting the part of the experience you enjoy. I only dislike graphics when they get in the way and make it unplayable, and I'd only dislike a hike if it was somehow so ugly it wasn't worth it anymore. Now if 2 games were exactly the same in every single way except for the graphics, I'd prefer the one with better graphics (like say, Okami PS2 vs. Okami Wii), but not every time. I'd still rather play SMB1, 2, or 3 on a NES than play Super Mario All-Stars. But if 2 games are completely different and I can only pick one of them, graphics will have absolutely nothing to do with my decision. I'm one of the "games as high art" type of nerds, and I could care less about counting pixels or colors or particles or whatever. It's either beautiful to me or it's not. I'm just more of an elitist asshole when it comes to games because I can pay $10 to go to a museum and see dozens or hundreds of art pieces, but each game will cost me $30 to $50, so I have to really pick and choose which ones are fun enough carefully. |
Ah I see. I agree completely. I'd like to think most of those who like certain games solely becuase of graphics are kids. Sadly, that isn't the case. And yes, they are typically very hypocritical when knocking great games with less than stellar graphics. I've had a few people laugh at me for suggesting Disgaea as a great purchase.
I can apreciate your argument about games as art, and I agree with you. This may seem irrelevant at the moment but I'll explain. I'm a teacher who majored in both Math and Geography in university. I then went on to do an Education degree, where I focused on the philosophy and nature of teaching both subjects. My interest in particular was integrating Art in both Math and Geography. Geography was fairly easy to include, as many people interpret different landscapes or envionments throught their paintings, words, photos, etc. Math on the other hand was much more difficult to convince others that the two could cross quite nicely. I was a math nerd growing up and absolutely loved doing math problems in my head, playing with a graphic calculator. You really can create some wonderful things by playing with different functions. Many of us as kids express ourselves through cryptography. Obviously, I have a very loose definition of what Art really is, but I include many of these things as Art. We may not all recognize it as Art, but I think it's truely in the eye of the beholder. Anyhow, what I'm getting to, and I apologize for the long explaination, is that I think that graphics can in itself could be considered as art.
Perhaps, I'm reaching. And I know that most who we would call 'graphic whores' may not view this the way that I had just suggested. But I believe that some genuinely believe that graphical achievement is art.
And to be honest, I'm not sure I could offer a valid counter-argument.
Nice sig, by the way. Love 'Young Americans'
