Abstract

The famous film critic Roger Ebert asserts that video games can never be art. It is not merely that no currently existing video game is art. Video games cannot be art. He tries to avoid foolishness by moderating a little, but it is clear he does not want to listen to the sensible voice within himself, represented by Rick Wakeman! Here I respond to his argument that video games are winnable - one can play them and win - whereas art we experience: there is no winning. I reject his argument. There is a mythic or fairytale quality to some video games storylines and I argue that there is no reason for why an enduring myth cannot by its nature arise from trying to make a video game, one for which there is the prospect of winning. Imagine that Theseus and the Minotaur has not yet been conceived, and a new game involves the string solution in the myth. The myth is surely art, no?