Art of Video Games. January 24, 2023

 

There is an ongoing debate as to whether or not video games are art, and I say it is a matter of perspective. When you think about it, anything that requires the use of your right brain, or you put effort into making can be art. There are some people, such as Roger Ebert, probably the most famous of all movie critics, alongside Gene Siskel, think they will never be art. While I like a lot of movies Ebert liked, I can't say I agree with him. After all, when movies were first invented, they were not seen as art.

That said, last night I finished the main storyline of Red Dead Redemption 2, and every time I play it with high honor, it almost brings me to tears when Arthur Morgan goes on his last ride. Depending on if I finished the last money lending side missions, the things people say about Arthur always touch me, like when Jimmy Brooks says, "You saved my life, you're a good man," or when Mary Linton says, "There's a good man inside you, but he is wrestling with a giant," or if I play the last two side missions I mentioned, when they say things like, "Thank you, feller, there ain't enough kindness in this world, that's for sure," or "Why you're a good man, I just wish you did this before he worked himself into the grave." But the part that really almost makes me cry is when Mary-Beth Gaskill, says, "Maybe, it's a sign, Arthur, try, try to do the good thing," and the "That's the Way It Is," song goes, "Shine Light Into Darkness." 

On an unrelated note, it will be three years ago next week when a valedictorian in my high school graduating class succumbed to liver failure, and I referred to Arthur's last ride to write a Facebook statis in her honor, and she will always be missed, and it is reminder that like Edith Downs said, "All we can do now is decide the kind of people we want to be for the time we have left." After I wrote that, even people who did not know her liked and said it was very sweet, and I am hoping one day my books will have the same impact on their readers.