現代電子遊戲是藝術嗎？

周焯華-現代電子遊戲是藝術嗎？-洗米華

譯文： 　　Video games have come a long way since the days of "Space Invaders" and "Pong." Today, gamers plug into fully realized artificial worlds full of aesthetically pleasing and challenging imagery. But is it really art? 　　Roger Ebert ignited a great deal of public debate on the issue in 2006, by insisting that video games could never be considered art. Since that time, the famous film critic has calmed his stance and now openly admits that video games can be considered art, even if they constitute an art form that he doesn't always "get.""Video games obviously can be art," says game designer Jonathan Blow. "There's not any real debate on the matter anymore, and there never really has been."Blow, who created the independent art game "Braid," argues that any perceived debate on the matter actually boils down to differing individual opinion and an overall shift in popular perception. 　　"By no means will all video games ever be works of art," Harvey says. "This is not necessary. We have a perfectly fine category for most of them: games. Maybe our society should re-evaluate games. Games shouldn't have to be considered art to be culturally respected."Yet Samyn and Harvey insist that video games increasingly are developing into a true medium of artistic expression. 　　"We believe video games will become the artistic medium of the new century," says Samyn. "Not due to their origins as games, but thanks to their enormous capacity for new forms of representation, engagement of the audience and even storytelling. Forms that, in our opinion, fit much better with our multifaceted contemporary society than linear media such as print, television or cinema -- or even fine art painting, sculpture or installations." 　　Authors and Designers 　　Samyn and Harvey stress that video games are a medium in need of more artistic authors （as opposed to mere designers）。 Jonathan Blow, on the other hand, urges balance. 　　"What I want is for a game to be interesting," Blow says. "Most mainstream games made following 'good game design practices' are not interesting to someone who has played a lot of games, so I don't play those. Lots of games that try too hard to be art, and follow poor game design practices, also are not interesting, so I don't play those either. But some games are actually good."In closing, perhaps it's best to consider another melding of art and gaming. In 1964, Marcel Duchamp commissioned a chess set from surrealist Salvador Dali for the American Chess Federation. Perhaps game pieces modeled after fingers, teeth and saltshakers aren’t really your thing, but you'll currently find the set displayed in Atlanta's High Museum of Art. 　　If security were to remove the protective glass, you could also play chess with it. 　　Looking to Modern Art 　　As Tale of Tales game designers Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey like to point out, the situation is very similar to that of modern art. 　　"Modernist artists have made works with cars, chairs, shoes, books, toys and even air," says Samyn. "So we shouldn't doubt that an artist can make a work of art with video games. The crucial thing to keep in mind, however, is that a baker is not an artist. A bread only becomes a work of art when an artist has used it for this purpose."So while 2005's "Shadow of the Colossus" is often touted as an example of a mainstream art game, no one is arguing that "Madden NFL 2005" was anything but a video game. 　　Not that there's anything wrong with that. 　　從最早的太空入侵者和乒乓開始，電子遊戲已經有瞭長足的發展。今天，遊戲者插入電源便可進入完全真實的虛擬世界，充滿瞭賞心悅目和極具挑戰性的影像。但是，這能算作真正的藝術嗎？ 　　2006年，羅傑·艾伯特堅持電子遊戲永遠也不能被認作藝術，從而引發瞭大量有關此議題的公共辯論。從那時起，這位著名影評人就緩和瞭他的立場，現在更公開承認道電子遊戲可以被認為是藝術，盡管他不是很能理解其中所蘊含的藝術形式。 　　電子遊戲顯然能成為藝術遊戲設計師Jonathan Blow說。這個問題已不再存在著爭議，其實也從來沒有過真正的爭議。 　　Blow創造瞭獨立藝術遊戲時空幻境，他聲辯說，有關此問題的已獲知爭論實際上都歸結為個人意見分歧和一個流行觀點的全面改變。 　　絕不可能要所有的電子遊戲都成為藝術品，Harvey說。這沒有必要。對於它們中的大多數，我們已有一個極佳的分類：遊戲。也許我們的社會需要重新評定遊戲的價值。遊戲不應當必須被認作為藝術才能獲得文化上的重視。 　　但Samyn和Harvey堅持到電子遊戲正越來越多地發展成為一種具藝術表現力的真實媒介。 　　我們相信電子遊戲會變成新世紀的藝術媒體，Samyn說。不是因為它們作為遊戲的本源，而是得益於以新形式來表現、觀眾參與、甚至於講故事的非凡能力。我們認為，這種形式比線性媒體比如平面媒體，電視或者電影，甚至於藝術形式比如繪畫、雕塑或者博物館展覽，都更適合我們多元化的當代社會。 　　創作者和設計師 　　Samyn和Harvey強調說電子遊戲是一種需要更多藝術創作者的媒體（而不僅僅是設計師）。另一方面，Jonathan Blow強調平衡。 　　我所希望的是遊戲能有趣，Blow 說，大多數按照‘好遊戲設計規則’設計出來的主流遊戲，對於已經玩過很多遊戲的人來說，是沒什麼樂趣的，所以我不玩那些遊戲。許多在藝術效果上費盡心機，但是設計規則很差勁的遊戲，也沒有什麼樂趣，所以那些遊戲我也不玩。但是有些遊戲的確很棒。 　　最後，也許最好來看一下另一個藝術與遊戲的融合。在1964年，馬塞爾·杜尚委托超現實主義畫傢薩爾瓦多·達利為美國國際象棋協會制作瞭一副象棋。也許你並不喜歡模仿手指、牙齒和食鹽瓶而制的棋子，但是現在這套棋在亞特蘭大的高等藝術博物館裡展出。如果保安移開防護玻璃，你還可以用它下象棋。 　　目光投向現代藝術 　　正如故事中的故事遊戲公司的設計師Michael Samyn和Auriea Harvey想要指出的那樣，遊戲的境況和現代藝術非常相似。 　　現代主義藝術傢對車、椅子、鞋子、書籍、玩具甚至是空氣進行創作。Samyn說，所以我們應毫不懷疑一個藝術傢可以對電子遊戲進行藝術創作，但是，要記住的至關重要的事是，面包不是藝術品，隻有當藝術傢為瞭使用它進行創作時，它才變成藝術品。 　　因此，2005年的旺達與巨像通常被視為主流藝術遊戲的典型，而瘋狂橄欖球2005卻被認為隻是一個遊戲而已，但這並不是因為它有什麼問題。 Tags:周焯華,洗米華