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This sums up my issue with your column: I think you're misinterpreting Chen. He's not asking that games provide some type of "practical value" or applicable knowledge. He's instead interested in games that have something to say, i.e., that reveal some sort of truth about the real world.
One could argue that, yes, "dumb" games too have something to say about the real world, but most often that message is muddled (see his thoughts in that interview about how a game can have a coherent voice), an afterthought, or a mere echo of their contemporaries. I think Chen would like to see games talk about other things (and specific to his example, something other than killing).
In other words, I don't normally shoot people in the head with a sniper rifle (well, I don't ever), so I simply cannot connect to a game that features shooting people with a sniper rifle as its primary language (i.e., how I interact with the virtual world). But a game about human relationships that features a prolonged and intimate scene of a father bonding with his sons -- that I can relate to. Not to say that one is necessarily better than the other, but I think Chen would say that designers have greater protential to create engaging games when they explore more typical, real-world scenarios."
You're right about shooters. That genre's primary language (the primary way through which players interact with the world) is shooting stuff, as you point out so elegantly.
I just finished reading No Country for Old Men (been on a Cormac McCarthy kick lately), and even with all the shooting and violence in that novel, it comes nowhere close to the amount of shooting in a typical FPS. I'm trying to imagine how McCarthy could weave such a brilliant story if he had to write about shooting guns and killing people every other sentence. It just wouldn't work.
Regarding BioShock, have you read Clint Hocking's piece on ludonarrative dissonance?"
I'd also recommend Braid and X-Com: UFO Defense as important titles that anyone seriously interested in the medium should experience. Metal Gear Solid 2 (after playing the first Solid game) and Shadow of the Colossus are others I'd suggest.
These games just stand head and shoulders over their peers and give you a sense of what the medium is capable of expressing (in ways that other art forms cannot)."
Your logic is flawed still, though, because it completely ignores the entire phenomenon of branding, which is vitally important to any business.
And I'm done."
But the warranty discussion is merely a side point. I've spoken to Brad Wardell (CEO, Stardock) about this -- solutions exists. Server vitualization costs nearly nothing and is scalable.
Mark, no, it's not wrong in a moral sense. But it doesn't make me want to buy from them. I hope the industry takes a more consumer-friendly approach in the future (see the film industry, which continually adds value to home video purchases, much unlike the trajectory I see the games industry on)."
(P.S. One doesn't need to prove a negative -- if the games industry claims that used games hurt them, then it is up to them to prove it. They have yet to do so.)"
But to your point about servers: If I buy a game, I am using the game's servers. But if I sell a game to you, I am no longer using the game's servers -- you are. From the perspective of the publisher, what difference does it make that either you or me own the game? The number of customers it needs to serve remains exactly the same: one.
And, yes, warranties do transfer owners for cars and many other goods. I bought a used iPhone recently and had to send it in for repair. Guess what? The original 1-year hardware warranty transferred to me. No "online pass"-like additional fees applied."
"Isn't the function of many games to be fun?"
And I think this makes clear that your premise (for splitting up "entertainment" and "art") is inherently flawed.
The function of a video game is not "to be fun" -- that's an example of a video game going beyond its function.
The base function of a video game is to execute its code. That's it. Anything beyond that -- like elliciting emotions from the player (including fun!) -- demonstrates how games are art. And I think we can all agree that video games are made to be more than the mere execution of their code."
