In 2009, Dr. Ian Bogost wrote an article, The Proceduralist Style, as part of his series Persuasive Games on Gamasutra.com (website about “the art and business of making games”). Bogost is a videogame designer and professor in digital media.  He begins his article with the question “Are games art?” I thought this was interesting because although I play some video games, I don’t really see the appeal of the gamer lifestyle. I would have never thought there could be art in videogames. In his article, he compares the art of videogames to the art expressionism movement. His focus is on the process intensive games where players ought to reflect on themes of the games.

I thought that was kind of profound and lofty, but I guess you could compare the process to watching a movie like Inception. You experience the movie/game and are taken away to an alternate realm. You’re processing the situations and try to figure out how the movie/game is designed to run at the same time as considering what you would do if you were in that situation. Once the experience is over, you might ponder about it or tell a friend. Bogost’s article makes me reflect on why I would play a video game. Honestly, I only play games once in a blue moon to get away (take a brain break) and zone out for an hour or two. I play the Lego Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean, Puzzle Fighter, Mario Party, and Pixel Junk Shooters. These aren’t games that really make me want to think subjectively, but after reading Bogost’s article I can see that games are more than a means to tune out.

Comparatively, an excerpt from Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken (2011) shares a similar idea that videogames can be more than what mainstream society has made it out to be. She finds that approximately half a billion people in our world plays videogames. She describes these gamers as people who are fulfilling human needs that they cannot attain in reality. I thought that was so strange. These people want more out of life, so they play games?! I did enjoy and appreciate that McGonigal writes about Lydians who historically played games to take their minds off of an 18-year hunger issue. So she doesn’t write of games to be an art that can be subjectively experienced, but a vehicle that can help make the real world a better place. Just as games can take one’s mind off a pressing issue, they can be used to improve society and the way things work.

I would have never thought that videogames had more to them than time consumption, graphics, and noise. I’m not gonna take a break from my homework to play a game write now in hopes that I have an epiphany about life, but I am interested to see what gaming can bring to our society and its future.