About a year ago, film critic Roger Ebert stated on his blog that "video games can never be art." During a conversation with video game producer Kelli Santiago, Ebert said:
"No one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets." To which I could have added painters, composers, and so on, but my point is clear.
Former attorney Jack Thompson, an anti-video game activist, refers to video games as "murder simulators," and blames them for three shooting deaths in Alabama committed by a 14 year-old boy in 2005.
The video game industry gave him a cranial menu that popped up in the blink of an eye, in that police station. And that menu offered him the split-second decision to kill the officers, shoot them in the head, flee in a police car, just as the game itself trained them to do.
The societal value of video games is still up to interpretation, and Gee's article adds to the debate. The above video clip is from "Portal," a game released by Valve in 2007. As demonstrated by the clip, the beginning of the game consists of a series of tests where the player has to perform tasks in order to move on to the next level. Each test is a lesson that teaches a particular skill or game mechanic, and builds upon previous lessons. As the player progresses further in the game, the lessons stop and he/she must apply skills and use knowledge of game mechanics in order to succeed.
According to Gee, "good video games incorporate good learning principles." In order to see if Gee is correct in his statement, we must verify whether or not "Portal" was indeed good and had good learning principles.
Here is a list of awards "Portal" has won (from Wikipedia):
- At the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards, Portal won Game of the Year, along with the Innovation Award and Best Game Design.[107]
- IGN.com honored Portal with several awards, for Best Puzzle Game for PC[108] and Xbox 360,[109] Most Innovative Design for PC,[110] and Best End Credit Song (for "Still Alive") for Xbox 360,[111] along with overall honors for Best Puzzle Game[112] and Most Innovative Design.[113]
- In its Best of 2007, GameSpot honored The Orange Box with 4 awards in recognition of Portal, giving out honors for Best Puzzle Game,[114] Best New Character(s) (for GLaDOS),[115]Funniest Game,[116] and Best Original Game Mechanic (for the portal gun).[117]
- Portal was awarded Game of the Year (PC), Best Narrative (PC), and Best Innovation (PC and console) honors by 1UP.com in its 2007 editorial awards.[118]
- GamePro honored the game for Most Memorable Villain (for GLaDOS) in its Editors' Choice 2007 Awards.[119]
- Portal was awarded the Game of the Year award in 2007 by Joystiq,[120] Good Game,[121] and Shacknews.[122]
- The Most Original Game award by X-Play.[123]
- In Official Xbox Magazine's 2007 Game of the Year Awards, Portal won Best New Character (for GLaDOS), Best Original Song (for "Still Alive"), and Innovation of the Year.[124]
- In GameSpy's 2007 Game of the Year awards, Portal was recognized as Best Puzzle Game,[125] Best Character (for GLaDOS), and Best Sidekick (for the Weighted Companion Cube).[125]
- A.V. Club called it the Best Game of 2007.[126]
- The Web comic Penny Arcade awarded Portal Best Soundtrack, Best Writing, and Best New Game Mechanic in its satirical 2007 We're Right Awards.[127]
- Eurogamer gave Portal first place in its Top 50 Games of 2007 rankings.[128]
- IGN.com also placed GLaDOS, (from Portal) as the #1 Video Game Villain on its Top-100 Villains List.[129]
- Gamesradar named it the best game of all time.[130]
Wired considered Portal to be one of the most influential games of the first decade of the 21st century, believing it to be the prime example of quality over quantity for video games.
As for good learning principles, I was originally going to launch into an in-depth discussion and analysis of "Portal" and Gee's learning principles, as well as fit it within the framework for Bloom's Taxonomy. However, while I was doing research before launching headfirst into what I am sure would have been a fantastic essay, I stumbled upon this:
I will save you the trouble of reading the entire article. The author cites "Portal" as an excellent example of how new media can be used to engage players "in the difficult process of learning new skills and making difficult conceptual leaps." (Schiller 2008) Players are scaffolded as new knowledge is introduced and supports are removed once proficiency is successfully demonstrated. Eventually, the players become completely independent from the instructional structure and left to strategize and apply knowledge on their own.
Good learning principles? Check.
Also, the article is totally about librarians, written by a librarian. Knowing my audience is an important pedagogical skill. WHAT UP KRISTIN.
P.S. Before I start getting suspicious sidelong glances during class, below is the ending theme song to "Portal," which is referenced by the title of this post:
P.S. Before I start getting suspicious sidelong glances during class, below is the ending theme song to "Portal," which is referenced by the title of this post:
Mmmmmm....Cake....
ReplyDeleteI am so glad someone brought up Portal. Portal is an excellent game for students to learn higher order cognitive skills. I will also add the Legend of Zelda series, starting with a "Link to the Past" as games that have high educational value. Have you played Boom Blox for the Wii? It is a problem solving game designed by Stephen Spielberg. I love the multiplayer nature that forces players to work together to solve problems. One other suggestion I have is the Professor Layton series for the Nintendo DS. In this game you have to solve a bunch of different word, math, and visual problems in order to get clues to solve a crime.
As far as Ebert, my honest opinion, I don't he understands the value in video games or realize the cultural impact. The production budgets for video games are approaching that of major blockbuster movies. I would consider some recently published games as works of art; Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Batman Arkham Asylum, and Infamous 2. To call video games which require an advance knowledge of graphic design and story telling not art is a very shallow comment.
Even mediocre video games are works of art. There is as much animation in them as a disney movie, and people that aren't exposed just don't understand. I personally can't handle even watching that first clip...all that shaking motion makes me dizzy, but I could never play games like that. If there were two joysticks, I would just get stuck in the corner and then spin my head around. But I can appreciate the level of artistry and detail. On another note, there was much written back about the effects of video shooting games and the Columbine High School Massacre.
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