Video games are the only art you can be bad at enjoying

[Dirty Hipsters]

You can be pretty bad at listening to music, like those people who listen to a song and then have no idea what the hell it's about.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

I find the child,classical music argument rather insulting. When I was 10 I saw the Phantom of the Opera and loved it. While not being classical music, I'm sure we can agree this isn't the normal child thing to do. When I was 12, and with little grasp of the German language, I saw the Magic Flute and completely understood it and I loved that as well. You can't bunch up people based on age, just the same as you can't bunch up gamers based on some immature little twat that doesn't know the difference between reality and fiction.

 

[UnendingLight]

You are right to a point, and the reasoning for this is that video games are one of the only interactive media.

Unlike music, art, movies, etc, you must be actively involved in a video game to view the intrinsic entertainment within it.

For other media, it is simply using one of your senses to perceive the piece. With video games, you must both perceive and respond, creating art in and of itself depending on how you respond. It is also what makes video games so unique as an art.

That being said, everyone can enjoy a video game to some extent. Some are able to perceive more from it because they have the ability to, just like some people can see things others didn't in a movie or book. Ever wonder why that lady 2 rows down always knows who the killer is 30 minutes before you do? She is better at watching movies.

The thing with video games is, there is also the input side of the equation that no other media has. While differences in perception are generally mild, input variations lead to drastic differences in enjoyment, which is why video games are technically (I say again: technically) something you can be less than satisfactory at enjoying.

 

[chimeracreator]

As mentioned above, it's possible to fail to read a book. I tried to read Dune before and failed. Some games also provide access to cheat codes or have hacks that ensure that no level of incompetence can prevent you from beating the game. It's also possible to go onto youtube and WATCH most games be completed by someone else which provides you with a version of the experience that is no more limited than if I were to watch a French film without subtitles.

It's also true that not all games provide this content limitation. Even most MMOs allow you to experience everything no matter how bad you are so long as you pay and spend enough time working your way through it, much like a barely literate man stumbling his way through a War and Peace.

 

[Ninmecu]

Actually, I'm pretty bad at watching movies. What with my A.D.D. and all.

I to know the sting of a.d.d.

I don't have A.D.D. I just have this thing where I was raised with Video Games as my primary form of entertainment and if I'm not taking an active part in w/e the hell I'm supposed to be "entertained" by I can't really give it any worthwhile attention sadly. Anyway, yeah you can be bad at video games but ultimately, the ones that are truly good forms of art you'll be able to enjoy regardless. Shadow of the Collosus for example is a game me and my brother played on and off together, each taking turns in the fights against each colossus whilst taking turns and trying to navigate the rather large mountains separating us from Colossus killing and girlfriend reviving...

 

[Flutterguy]

I watched the entire MK:9 storymode on youtube, I enjoyed the narrative and really don't give a damn if I play it I own Blazblue I am not spending 60$ on it. I don't think this invalids your point but it is indeed a loophole, even the worst most incompetent gamers can still experience all that a game has to offer without ever touching a controller.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Video games are the only art form that you can actually be bad at trying to enjoy them. You can't be bad at listening to music or looking at a painting which will prevent you from enjoying all the content available from those art forms. But you can be bad at playing video games.

I mean have you ever had to prove your skill in watching a movie or play to keep watching? Have you had to dance good just to keep listening to a song? Nope. But you have to constantly prove yourself in games to get the rest of the content.

How does this make you feel?

It took an immense amount of effort to sit through the Saw movies. Staring at a screen when a woman is thrown into a pit of used needles is very difficult for me.

I get what you mean but I also feel a film can be "hard to watch".

 

[FalloutJack]

Video games are the only art form that you can actually be bad at trying to enjoy them. You can't be bad at listening to music or looking at a painting which will prevent you from enjoying all the content available from those art forms. But you can be bad at playing video games.

I mean have you ever had to prove your skill in watching a movie or play to keep watching? Have you had to dance good just to keep listening to a song? Nope. But you have to constantly prove yourself in games to get the rest of the content.

How does this make you feel?

Some people don't like music or art. I would call that fairly bad at appreciating them.

 

[Dashartha]

Video games are the only art form that you can actually be bad at trying to enjoy them. You can't be bad at listening to music or looking at a painting which will prevent you from enjoying all the content available from those art forms. But you can be bad at playing video games.

You can absolutely be bad at enjoying other forms of art. If you're functionally illiterate, you can't enjoy literature. Or if you've grown up on a steady literary diet of pulp, the great, flawed masterpieces are completely inaccessible. Do you need to prove your enjoyment? Not really, but you'll be left out of a lot of discourse, and you won't understand a lot of referential humor...
You can be bad at listening to music. If you like music, if you are good at listening to music, you can appreciate styles that you don't particularly enjoy. My wife (professional musician) hates hardcore, most metal, post-rock etc. but she can appreciate The Mars Volta, for example, from a technical/professional standpoint, and so will tolerate and possibly enjoy small exposures to the styles that she hates. Again, are you forced to prove that you are good at enjoying music? No. But that doesn't mean that you can't privately be bad at enjoying it.
I have a good friend that I can categorically say is horrible at movies. She watches a lot of movies, and they're all crap. We tried to get her to watch 12 Angry Men, and she thought it was the worst movie she had ever seen. And then she made us sit through Taken (for the second time). Again, the same argument is true. You don't need to prove that you are good at enjoying the art form, but yadyadayada...
Salaam

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Heh, never thought of it that way

I'm horrible at hardcore fighting games.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Many people find reading books difficult, and understanding all the underlying literary themes, I am sure there have been many people who read Animal Farm, and thought it was a book about a farmyard, not getting the symbolism of it, or tried to read Lord of the Rings, but found it was too long, or Shakespeare too difficult to understand.

People can be "bad at enjoying" a lot of art, whether they don't have to knowlegde to look for literary themes, don't have the tastes to find certain music enjoyable, or don't have the hand-eye coordination to complete a video game.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

I disagree. You're bad at viewing paintings to some, if you couldn't see the message it 'conveyed'. You're bad at listening to music based on who you choose to listen to.

 

[coolkirb]

what about cooking? or Sewing? or playing football? Honestly if you want to say games are an art Im fine with that but that means you better be prepared to accept alot of other stuff as art as well.

 

[UnendingLight]

Another big reason as to why video games are so different from other media, is because we actually HAVE a strict system to determine whether you are using them right.

In every single game, there is some point, to get enough money, kill enough people, not die, do something in a certain time, beat a boss, defuse that, save her, beat this guy in a race, run away from this, do a kick flip here, find this treasure, etc etc etc etc!

Movies, books, art, are all things without such definitions of completion. You either finished the movie or you didn't. You may have not understood it at all, but you watched the whole thing, game over. Unlike video games, if you don't see what's coming in a movie you don't have to worry about the movie suddenly cutting off with the words "You lose" fading into and then out of the picture. You saw the entire thing regardless. How you interpret it is entirely up to you.

 

[Gralian]

To be honest, I don't think skill has any sort of bearing on how much fun you can have at something. Sure, it's SLIGHTLY Needed, but...I utterly SUCK at TF2, but I have the time of my life on it.

I love this so much that i just had to quote it. This kind of reaction is where rainbows come from. So rare is it to find people who are able to claim some form of enjoyment without the validation of skill. I think people tend to forget that at the end of the day, it's about fun, not accomplishment. (And i'm someone who grinds mercilessly for achievement points)
There are times where i'll play the game in a way that it was never really intended, like messing around in sandbox games for hours without really going anywhere with it or progressing the story, or play Starcraft 2 online and get devastated 9 times out of 10, but still have a blast while doing so. I can appreciate the game for what it is while being 'bad' at it or otherwise.

I disagree. You're bad at viewing paintings to some, if you couldn't see the message it 'conveyed'.

This. You can be "bad" at appreciating art in all its forms. I don't think any of us can claim to have the film analytic talent of Roger Ebert, or be able to fully understand all forms of artwork from classical to modernist, or be able to understand every aspect of musical appreciation without being an expert. Some people, for example, can talk about individual instruments playing in a song that i can't even recognise when i'm listening to the exact same thing. But that doesn't mean i can't still enjoy a good movie, a pretty painting, or catchy music.

 

[Tim Mazzola]

You can be "bad at" enjoying any art, actually. Not knowing what to look for exactly detracts from the enjoyment. A musician or a director probably gets a lot more enjoyment out of their medium simply because they know the theory behind it, and can appreciate the hard work that went into creating it.

 

[Mouse One]

I find the child,classical music argument rather insulting. When I was 10 I saw the Phantom of the Opera and loved it. While not being classical music, I'm sure we can agree this isn't the normal child thing to do. When I was 12, and with little grasp of the German language, I saw the Magic Flute and completely understood it and I loved that as well. You can't bunch up people based on age, just the same as you can't bunch up gamers based on some immature little twat that doesn't know the difference between reality and fiction.

Hey, when my wife was 6 or 7, she named her teddy Beethoven Bear. Grew up to be a classical musician. For my part, I was listening to Wagner when I was 12: but in my defense, it's not uncommon for pre-teen boys to go through a pretentious phase. I wouldn't have the attention to get through the Ring these days.

In all seriousness, I'd say a child is more likely than an adult to like classical music, as they don't have preconceptions. In a sense, it's like learning a language, and kids are better at that-- much like older people who never played videogames don't get them.

At their best, videogames INCLUDE the player as part of the performance. And when that happens, a player is a bit like a musician playing off written music-- they didn't compose the piece, it has a definite direction it should go in, but the musician's ability will factor into how well they play it, not to mention whether they can even get through it.

 

[Alade]

Actually films are even more difficult than games, because you have to observe and analyze the piece of art in front of you while watching and trying to enjoy it.

 

[Xanadu84]

Perhaps you've never talked to a real music, movie, or art snob

I think there is an equivocal fallacy here. There is a difference between being bad at appreciating a game, and being bad at utilizing the strategies that emerge in a game to best reach a win state. When you talk about appreciating the artistic merit of a game, you are really only concerned with the ability to appreciate the artistic merit, regardless of your skills at reaching a, "Win state". The 2 abilities are only very loosely connected.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Yes, no one can be bad at enjoying music. Especially not people with hearing problems.

Certainly legally blind people are just as good at enjoying all visual arts as other people.

Right.