[Originally posted on PopMatters] Last week, Daniel Tovrov wrote a piece for Popmatters on the cult of iconic movie “bad guys”.1 Through the characters of Gordon Gekko of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Tony Montana of Scarface, and Patrick Bateman of American Psycho, Tovrov argues that, even though these figures are cautionary tales about unchecked … Continue reading Playing the Bad Guy Feels Good
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Much of the discourse from proponents of the “video games are art” position is centered on the medium’s interactivity as its distinguishing advantage. Audience participation, as it were, is the reason why games exist. No other mode of storytelling so often depends on the actions, reactions, and experiences of its audience … Continue reading To Play or Pause
[Originally posted on PopMatters] On May 20 of 2010, Pablo Picasso’s painting, Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois (The Pigeon with the Peas)—along with a handful of other paintings—was stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern art. The work of art, now destroyed, no longer exists. For visual art and even literature, there is usually a … Continue reading Video Games and the Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Recently, the University of Queensland conducted a study on the dehumanizing effects of violent video games.1 The study (accepted for publication but not yet edited or published) has already made its way into the news, and the predictable outcries of “I knew it along” or “this study is garbage” have already begun … Continue reading Violence Without Meaning in Games
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