On experiancing "art" (Score 3, Insightful)

I'm a gamer, and a movie fan, and I love reading. Every medium has it's points, all have gotten ahold of the emotional strings at one point or another. (First fiction cry goes to "Where the Red Fern Grows", worst cry goes to "Jurassic Bark")

Here is just a personal anecdote:

The game was Black and White, you're a God, with incarnate consciousnesses, created by some villagers in a desperate cry for help. From there you progress through the game by winning the faith of other peoples. Your choice in actions defines your good/evil alignment. In retrospect, it was a set up, if you didn't go into the game intending to be a certain alignment, you would almost certainly be good, it was natural, you wanted to be kind.

I was at the beginning of a map many levels in, I had many powers and the little angel spoke frequently, the little devil was gone. My tower was ivory and my voice angelic. On this map, the second village was a particularly difficult convertion. I slaved over them, did everything I could to show them my benevolent worth, I aided them in every endeavor, and through hours of painstaking effort I won them over. It was a stunning relief to finally convert them, the worst hurdle overcome. A few moments later the enemy God retaliated, sending a pack of wolves to punish the villagers. I destroyed many of the wolves, but I don't think they were really stoppable. The village turned on me, setting me back to a condition far worse than I had started the map.

I sat there, staring at the screen in disbelief. I was angry beyond reason. At which point, a little evil voice, no animation, just a soft voice of evil said: "Go on boss, do it, do the bad thing." (It sounds cheesy, but it was the kicker for my already trembling hand.)

By the end, I had created an ever-burning pit into which I cast those who denied me. I took the land in a display of brutal rage, right down to destroying my enemy while listening to his pleas for mercy. I was the God of fire and brimstone. I drifted back toward the light after passing beyond that map, but it wasn't the same, I wasn't the same. I was a darker, more vengeful God from there on.

It was an emotional event, it was like stepping into Lucifers shoes, just before the fall. It was a lesson about absolute power and corruption. It was awesome. It's left an impression. It was art.

Lack of complete narrative control doesn't preclude success, much as possessing narrative control doe not ensure it.

In a video game, when they have achieved a level high art, you have to be willing and/or lucky enough, to be led where they are trying to take you. That is certainly true of music, movies, painting, photography, and other artistic mediums I have experienced. (Joshua Bell performed in a busy Metro station, to minimal acclaim, it was not the art that was lacking.)

-- Res