Sure, we could continue having the “are games art?” debate from now until doomsday. But NYU’s Frank Lantz has a different take on the role of games — video or otherwise — in our culture as human beings. Rather than drawing parallels in order to artificially place games within familiar contexts we can understand, Frank probes the depths of the human psyche to reveal the unique role that games play in our existence; a role that goes far beyond the ideas of ‘art’ and ‘entertainment.’
“Aesthetic activities are things you do when your work is done. Playing games — like telling stories, making pictures and singing songs — is something we do when the harvest is in; when the hunt is over and the wolves have been chased away and the dishes are washed. But the status of games relative to work is much less clear, much more complicated and ambiguous.
Stories are about remembering and explaining. Pictures are about looking and interpreting. Games are about doing; Games are about solving problems and accomplishing goals.”
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