Games are art!

Lately I've been spending some time reading on a nice little website whose main purpose is to promote the idea that games are art. This is actually the site where I got the link to that talk on the state of the industry I posted just over two months ago. At the time it was a blossoming site. Just a bud. And since then its community has grown rather respectably. The forums, though not as active as I'd like them to be, are a nice place to just talk about the issues at hand, and to debate over possible solutions to the situation.

The news, articles and links found on this site have really opened my eyes. The GDC transcript I originally read was a monster kickstart, but since then I've been quite concerned with the overall health of the gaming industry. Just today I finally got around to reading a very well written article by Greg Costikyan on the industry as a whole, what's wrong with it, and what he proposes as a solution. Again I encourage anyone who feels concerned about the future of video games to read his article at the very least. It inspired me to take action. I'm going to do what I can to help protect this medium that I love. Unfortunately, the main thing I can do right now is spread awareness, which is what this post is all about.

If you want more info on the issue, gamesareart.com is a really nice starting point. It's gonna be MY launch point for a while unless a better one pops up. And even then, the forums alone will keep me coming back for sure. Good stuff!

Update Oct 26th, 2006: Reading that last sentence was funny, as I haven't posted on gamesareart.com in a long time. Anyway I want to post a link to this issue of the Escapist which is on the issue of games and art.