Gamasutra Comments Of The Week: Museums, McGonigal and Making It

[Every Friday, Gamasutra community manager Kyle Orland shares some of the most interesting and thought-provoking comments running on Gamasutra's news, features and blog posts, granting the winning commenter a prize from his box o' gaming swag.] Our latest Comment of the Week come from Chuan Lim, who responded to news of a pending Smithsonian exhibit on video game art with a long analysis (excerpted below) of how such an exhibit could better handle the subject. Just as you wouldn't represent the history of American folk music without the presence of Robert Johnson and slap in Lil Wayne as being a 'more up to date' version. Just because he happens to come from the same neck of the woods, and use the same 12-bar song structure, and the fact that there are only two existing photos of him in existence and it doesn't present well. I'd urge the Smithsonian to make the extra efforts to rise beyond a rote understanding of "Wolfenstein / Doom = 3D gaming" and delve into the details. For that's where fount of ideas comes from. If anything, the public and other games creators might benefit from such an endeavour. All ears, eyes + mind. Also of interest, exhibit curator Chris Melissinos also weighed in on our comment thread, defending his exhibit and the process that led to its creation. For his winning comment, Lim will receive the pictured Etrian Odyssey: Forests of Eternity art book, a truly deserving prize for a connoisseur of gaming visuals. Honorable Mentions Responding to a report on a DICE presentation by gaming evangelist Jane Mcgonigal, commenter Dale Craig sees an analogy to another oft-maligned pastime: I teach at a college and these assertions about the value of playing games sound almost exactly like those made by the physical education staff concerning the continuing support of Football, Basketball, etc. In the era of budget cuts the P.E. coaches argue that such team sports, and even individual sports like track and field, have an inherent value. What is usually said is that sports teaches individual responsibility, how to work hard for a goal, discipline, etc. Although colleges don't have competitive Gaming, they do have competitive sports. If we reject the reasons given by Ms. McGonigal to encourage playing games, should we also reject college sports? Responding to a blogger asking for help breaking into the industry, commenter Daniel Silber suggests the author change his perspective on the job hunt. You want to work in that the game industry. That is YOUR desire. Your whole post only asks for help achieving YOUR goal, but you haven't mentioned a word on how you would help a company achieve theirs. If you want to 'break in' to this industry, you are going to migrate your focus from what you want to get towards what you can give. Look at your portfolio then look at any popular game -- is your work as good or better? If not, work at it until it IS better. If not, teach yourself to program -- and make the games yourself. There are loads and loads of free tutorials online. Make yourself valuable. Jumping of a piece on "Designing Games Beyond Humanness," commenter Edward DiNola recalls a time when a game totally avoided playing to traditional stereotypes. The arrival of games which force us to ignore our basest instincts is definitely exciting, and it's always engrossing to see a person play them. One of the most common themes these titles seem to have is a reversal of expectation. I can remember a friend who spent the afternoon working his way through Flower, and watching his expression change from whimsy to solemnity as later levels supplanted a carefree world with corruption. This, of course, made the final level of the game a truly triumphant experience for him. The game demands an emotional sacrifice, and though part of the mind tries to push against it, when the player forces themselves to continue playing, they are rewarded greatly - it is an excellent representation of sacrifice and resurrection. Of course, by rewarding the player so heavily after they push themselves towards what looks to be defeat, the game reinforces the idea of not fearing failure, something which, while potentially disastrous to an individual, is undeniably essential to the long term survival of the human race. And finally, as part of a wide-ranging discussion on working with video game pirates, Prash Nelson-Smythe gave a bit of a cheeky response: Great article. Thanks. I never would have paid for it. But thanks to your quality free content I'm now aware of your company's products...