Why I don't consider video game columns art

The text of the editor-in-chief of Look At Me, stating that games cannot be considered art, was sharply condemned on social networks

A column by Look At Me editor-in-chief Anton Mukhataev that games are not art due to the lack of maturity of the community of their fans caused a strong reaction among netizens.

Anton Mukhataev, photo from personal page on Facebook

Anton Mukhutaev's text is divided into three parts, in each of which he, using various arguments, tries to explain that video games cannot be considered art, because the community of their fans and creators does not yet behave like adults.

As examples, Anton cites specific examples of advertising by the company Wargaming.net (promotions in World of Tanks in honor of the day the siege of Leningrad was lifted) as a demonstration of cases where developers avoid social responsibility. And also “interactive cinema” Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit (two projects from the same studio), in which the creators “deprive the games of their essence” and “turn them into some kind of borderline form of entertainment.”

The central theme of the column was the suggestion that players must learn to respond calmly to criticism.

The attention from society suggests that video games are being taken seriously, which is what gamers have always wanted. But by their response, they show that they have not yet matured: they do not listen to criticism calmly, they cannot silence the marginalized, they are afraid of any discourse other than their own, and most importantly, of responsibility. Anton Mukhataev, chief editor of Look At Me

Many social media users reacted very negatively to the column.

Funny sketch from the editor-in-chief of lookatme.ru about games and art http://t.co/kLrYKccgqu

— Vladimir Osenin (@osenin) October 21, 2014

Luk Eti Mi kamvhorts on the theme of games, fully justifying its name http://t.co/WdOQk7AgtY

— Max Zareckiy (6/10) (@shaikhulud) October 21, 2014

Look at me and wonderzine - what are they all about? On one I found out why Mukhataev does not consider games to be art, on the other there is a review of vibrators.

— Oleg Zaytsev (@old_katarn) October 21, 2014

The author was immediately attributed a “soviet” way of thinking and was asked not to teach the life of game developers.

Here the hellish symbiosis of soviet and hipster speaks shrilly from under the bunk of the cultural context http://t.co/6mMk5tBVcB

— Greyman (@Sitael88) October 21, 2014

Special attention was paid to the fact that Mukhataev was published on the website “Sputnik and Pogrom”.

And in his free time from criticizing the socially irresponsible gaming industry, Anton Mukhataev likes to write for one portal http://t.co/AOjRi4H75I

— Vytautas Mickus (@MrZulin) October 21, 2014

We also went through the author’s specific arguments.

I repeat, games are not art, because they will never reach the level of this shovel. http://t.co/eJnssfivfZ That shovel is art!

— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) October 21, 2014

Many users noted that an aggressive reaction to a column is material proof of its correctness, so it is better not to react to such “stuffing”.

Wrote a column about how to communicate with people who despise video games pic.twitter.com/iH5EsbU62z

— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) October 21, 2014

LOL. Some dude wrote in an article that “games are not art, because gamers are not mature, they are driven and aggressive”... and gamers are driven and aggressive.

— Roise (@Roise_Flint) October 21, 2014

Players are once again being infuriated by attacks on games, they say, this is not art, for no-lifers, for rapists of women, but the players are being fooled again(

— Alexey Tyurenkov (@SolidPumba) October 21, 2014

There were also those who supported the author.

What's wrong with the article about "games are not art"? It seems that everything is correct in saying that communion does not correspond

— Dan Leshchenko (@dozensnake) October 21, 2014

Mukhataev himself, meanwhile, does not hide at all that he likes to troll readers with his materials.

The last time, Russian gamers in a similar way took up arms against the Evening Urgant program, whose report on the IgroMir exhibition showed them in the most unflattering light.

Why don't I consider this signature to be art?
Vadim Elistratov,
TJournal

#Article #Look_at_me #Anton_Mukhataev #games_as_art #games_not_art