Video: Ian Bogost Talks Gaming With Stephen Colbert
Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Video Games author and Persuasive Games co-founder Ian Bogost took to the stage on last night's Colbert Report to, well, make us all look a little bit smarter.
He debunks the hausfrau notion that there's only one type of video game, when in fact they are legion: games to distract casually, games to dive into with escapist richness, and of course Dr. Bogost's milieu, which is games that persuade, either consciously or subconsciously, to reflect upon the real world:
"Everybody thinks that what video games are about is leisure, wasting time, just for kids. But if we think of games as a medium, something that can express ideas in the same way that film and television and books can, then we've got a good start..."
As a very simple example Bogost points to the way eating fast food in GTA makes you fat: it's not the point of the game, but it mirrors a real-world situation and and makes a comment on it. How a player interprets that message is subjective, lending further credence to the games-as-art debate, no matter how much Roger Ebert shakes his jowls in protest.
For more in-depth examples, check out Persuasive Games
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany, Videos on 8 August 2007
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: colbert report, ian bogost, persuasive games, steven colbert
Ebert's views on the True Nature of Art aren't exactly deep, but Persuasive Games portfolio and GTA's food system haven't done much to further the idea of meaningful games either.
It's probably more telling that these two are the prime examples; games still inhabit a world where game developers look to South Park when they want to want to add critical depth.
Haha Colbert is such a nerd. "Will I be prepared?" I love him :D