Last Online: 2/8/10
Chad Kilgore
Career Summary
Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and English
- Game Design and Development; Graphic Design and Human Interaction; Advanced Animation; Cognitive Psychology of HCI; Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and English
- Software Development Practices; Object-Oriented Analysis and Design; Design and Analysis of Algorithms; Discrete Computational Structures
- Rhetorical Analysis; Technical Communication; Writing for the World Wide Web; American Literature; British Literature
Expressions on Games
In our culture there are seven arts that define and redefine our perceptions of the world. These arts question personal and social borders; secular and theological limits; human and inhuman practices, all to have us later answer these questions for ourselves. Even though these arts are simply composed of paint, stone and notes, beyond their material they echo some truth of reality offering to the audience, long after the experience of observation, a thread woven into their subconscious to emerge in reaction to truth. These arts are: cinema, literature, music, painting, photography, sculpture, and theatre.
However, as society continues to progress in its institution of technology, we neglect to accommodate the integration of the arts with technology, yet the opportunity has presented itself on several accounts. The accommodation of art and technology, results in an recognition from gamers and developers that interactive game software (computer/video game) is art. Whereas all of the prior arts generally present a clear distinction between each other, game software is the union of these prior arts. Games are all arts. That is, an artful game uses the techniques from all the other arts to echo the same truth through an interactive experience.
The debate of whether video games are truly an art form is indeed a needed one. Video games represent the most authentic form of expression in the Information age, where modern technology has become the essential medium for work and play. And this debate is not unique to itself. Cinema, which is now known as the Seventh Art, was originally seen only as a means of mere entertainment. It required the insights and vision of artists to push celluloid past its confines of simple leisure.
Games are art. That is not too say that all games are art. Interactive game software act as any other art form, where some artifacts that are engendered from its techniques are real and truthful art even though other are simply not. Given these techniques might create artistic, or aesthetic (visually, audibly, sensibly) games, but they do not necessarily create artful ones. A similar idea is expressed about art in The Longest Journey:
CORTEZ: What do you see?
APRIL: I see art.
CORTEZ: Art, yes. And beyond that? Beyond art?
APRIL: Truth?
CORTEZ: Truth, exactly! A deeper truth. This painting, this particular work of art, speaks a deeper truth. It has a soul.
APRIL: How can a painting have a soul?
CORTEZ: It has a soul because it has an identity, it has a heart. The memory of this painting will survive beyond this moment, it will linger in your mind, become part of the tapestry of your subconscious. It has a lasting impression on you, and you're not quite sure why.
APRIL: It's just a painting by some kid. It's not as if it's a Picasso, or a Monet.
CORTEZ: Now you're arguing technique. Not every painting by van Gogh or Michelangelo is real art either, although they all demonstrate great technique and craftsmanship. And the scribbled drawings of a five-year old child are rarely technically impressive, but they may still have a soul, they may still be real art.
APRIL: So you're saying "real art" is not defined by the skill of the artist? Then what is art, if just anybody can create something more "real" that artists who've spent their entire lives developing their skills?
CORTEZ: Art is still the work of artists. And skill, craftsmanship, technique - those things are critical to the success of an artist's work. But alone, those things are merely pretense. For something to be real, to be truthful, the artist must transfer - shift - part of him or her self into the work, to transcend the illusion and reach for the truth of art.
My goal is not to define art or video games. My goal is to create genuine art, reaching beyond its digital manifests into some realm of truth.
...Rather pretentious. I know. But I don't mean to be such.
However, as society continues to progress in its institution of technology, we neglect to accommodate the integration of the arts with technology, yet the opportunity has presented itself on several accounts. The accommodation of art and technology, results in an recognition from gamers and developers that interactive game software (computer/video game) is art. Whereas all of the prior arts generally present a clear distinction between each other, game software is the union of these prior arts. Games are all arts. That is, an artful game uses the techniques from all the other arts to echo the same truth through an interactive experience.
The debate of whether video games are truly an art form is indeed a needed one. Video games represent the most authentic form of expression in the Information age, where modern technology has become the essential medium for work and play. And this debate is not unique to itself. Cinema, which is now known as the Seventh Art, was originally seen only as a means of mere entertainment. It required the insights and vision of artists to push celluloid past its confines of simple leisure.
Games are art. That is not too say that all games are art. Interactive game software act as any other art form, where some artifacts that are engendered from its techniques are real and truthful art even though other are simply not. Given these techniques might create artistic, or aesthetic (visually, audibly, sensibly) games, but they do not necessarily create artful ones. A similar idea is expressed about art in The Longest Journey:
CORTEZ: What do you see?
APRIL: I see art.
CORTEZ: Art, yes. And beyond that? Beyond art?
APRIL: Truth?
CORTEZ: Truth, exactly! A deeper truth. This painting, this particular work of art, speaks a deeper truth. It has a soul.
APRIL: How can a painting have a soul?
CORTEZ: It has a soul because it has an identity, it has a heart. The memory of this painting will survive beyond this moment, it will linger in your mind, become part of the tapestry of your subconscious. It has a lasting impression on you, and you're not quite sure why.
APRIL: It's just a painting by some kid. It's not as if it's a Picasso, or a Monet.
CORTEZ: Now you're arguing technique. Not every painting by van Gogh or Michelangelo is real art either, although they all demonstrate great technique and craftsmanship. And the scribbled drawings of a five-year old child are rarely technically impressive, but they may still have a soul, they may still be real art.
APRIL: So you're saying "real art" is not defined by the skill of the artist? Then what is art, if just anybody can create something more "real" that artists who've spent their entire lives developing their skills?
CORTEZ: Art is still the work of artists. And skill, craftsmanship, technique - those things are critical to the success of an artist's work. But alone, those things are merely pretense. For something to be real, to be truthful, the artist must transfer - shift - part of him or her self into the work, to transcend the illusion and reach for the truth of art.
My goal is not to define art or video games. My goal is to create genuine art, reaching beyond its digital manifests into some realm of truth.
...Rather pretentious. I know. But I don't mean to be such.
