that will be a seriously long time from now if and when all 'text's decay or something. and also, games these days dont 'really' have any literic (is that a word?) quality. save for some historic games which i dont know the names of for now.

actually, now that i come to think of it, i think it might be possible. games with unique countries of origin, say china, may have some cultures unique to china symbolised in the game, accents and the like. it still isn't alot to study about, unless you go down to the coding and talk about the author's styles in programming or something.

It might happen. Since computers are becoming more and more popular, advanced etc etc, I think it's only a matter of time before people start to properly recognise some games as groundbreaking. I don't know about actually studying them though. I suppose if a particular person has a highly unique and stylised way, people might think about it a bit, but I don't think you'd have classes or anything like that about them. Consider that we still look at texts from Greek and Roman times over 2000 years ago.

classing a computer game as a form of literature would be wrong....a form of new media, maybe, but not literature.

Games being studied at university or even school as they advance is highly likely - as a source of genuine historic value though? maybe, but they would have to be some seriously epic games - which I don't think suits the modern "9 second attention span" society. But all in all, yes, I can see that happening.

However, a computer game as literature? No. A film isn't literature, its a form of media - and is studied that way. The only time when films are offered up as part of a literature course is when they are accurate remakes of popular classic novels - jane austin, charles dickens, william shakespeare etc etc.

A film is a film, a book is a book, a computer game is a computer game.

Now seeing computer games being studied on a media course, that I can see - but seeing them on a literature course, I strongly doubt it. Not unless of course we see a popular computer game re-enactment of "Pride and Prejudice" or "A Tale of Two Cities"....but the chances of a game of that type being popular are very slim. People want computer games as a form of escapism, not as a chance to pair up Mr Darcy with his destined lover. Surely not.

Or am I wrong?

The Final Fantasy series would be the closest you could come to have a game like a book. Beyond that, there is no comparisome. Books have so much more depth to them than a game could. Books can take you places you never imagined.

What Grom said......

But I see Vi's point in this sense: They tell stories, sometimes. But if these games are to be studied in future for the story content then I must apologize to all in advance whom I may offend with my next statement but.....

None of these games tell stories that would pass the test of a good literary editor's review. Too many plot holes, red herrings, and the like to be deemed
really good works of fiction.

The civ games were very good in the historical sense. I really started to love history after playing civ 2. As for them being a new form of Literature, i would have to disagree, at this moment in time though. It could change in the future though for some school subjects, in the sense that not by studying video games and how they are created, but for subjects like history, civ would be a great game to send people to play to learn about people like Magellan, Copernicus (i know, sp) etc. and the history of these nations.

very true, I was thinking of the Civ games when I wrote my last post. I too learned a great deal from them....they might be referenced, but I think the game is far too long to teach people with - but I could be wrong, a "young hippy down with the kids" () style teacher could make use of saved games that are historically accurate to battles. If they could be bothered that is

Age of Empires (1) actually had a learning campaign which was intended to teach the younger or less knowledgable players about ancient history as much as it was a game tutorial, in fact the whole game was designed with both principles in mind.

Wrong Final one game is close to literature and only one

Torment

IF anyone has ever played Torment and read as much of it as they can all the way through you can see it's on par with MANY MANY books in it's story telling AND in it's ability to make us question. I still ask myself "What can change the nature of a man?"

Final Fantasy never did that.
-~-~-~-~
You have called down the Thunder. Now reap the Whirlwind.
Warning! In the intrest of safety it is advisable to keep Heltak away from Fire and Flames!
He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Edited by - Heltak on 8/27/2004 10:52:57 AM

I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. Final Fantasy VII has one of the most epic storylines i can think of, and was really compelling.

but the only game that made me question my own beliefs (except maybe questioning my beliefs when i bought rise of the robots) is either torment or System Shock 2 (questioning nature of man and Benefits of Technology)

but thats just me. and im a nut at times
-:-
Vi