Here’s a story that’s going to make you want to avoid all news coverage for a month: the government is admitting video games are art. Except, you know, not.
If you look at the guidelines, you realize what the problem is. Basically, yes, you can get a federal grant to make a video game. But notice what the guidelines are asking for: material that supports the arts, teaches about the arts, or is a work of art itself.
People are focusing waaaaay too much on the last clause and not enough on the first two. What the government is actually saying is that they’ll pay for that dreaded genre “edutainment”. They’re not going to give any money to AAA console games; we’re talking Facebook games that teach you about classical music.
Granted, we’re inching towards games as an accepted artistic medium, but this isn’t quite the leap everybody thought.
[ via the edutainers at Kotaku ]