从最早的“太空入侵者”和“乒乓”开始，电子游戏已经有了长足的发展。今天，游戏者插入电源便可进入完全真实的虚拟世界，充满了赏心悦目和极具挑战性的影像。但是，这能算作真正的艺术吗？

　　2006年，罗杰·艾伯特坚持电子游戏永远也不能被认作艺术，从而引发了大量有关此议题的公共辩论。从那时起，这位着名影评人就缓和了他的立场，现在更公开承认道电子游戏可以被认为是艺术，尽管他不是很能理解其中所蕴含的艺术形式。

　　“电子游戏显然能成为艺术”游戏设计师Jonathan Blow说。“这个问题已不再存在着争议，其实也从来没有过真正的争议。”

　　Blow创造了独立艺术游戏“时空幻境”，他声辩说，有关此问题的已获知争论实际上都归结为个人意见分歧和一个流行观点的全面改变。

　　“绝不可能要所有的电子游戏都成为艺术品，”Harvey说。“这没有必要。”对于它们中的大多数，我们已有一个极佳的分类：游戏。也许我们的社会需要重新评定游戏的价值。游戏不应当必须被认作为艺术才能获得文化上的重视。

　　但Samyn和Harvey坚持到电子游戏正越来越多地发展成为一种具艺术表现力的真实媒介。

　　“我们相信电子游戏会变成新世纪的艺术媒体，”Samyn说。“不是因为它们作为游戏的本源，而是得益于以新形式来表现、观众参与、甚至于讲故事的非凡能力。我们认为，这种形式比线性媒体比如平面媒体，电视或者电影，甚至于艺术形式比如绘画、雕塑或者博物馆展览，都更适合我们多元化的当代社会。”

　　创作者和设计师

　　Samyn和Harvey强调说电子游戏是一种需要更多艺术创作者的媒体（而不仅仅是设计师）。另一方面，Jonathan Blow强调平衡。

　　“我所希望的是游戏能有趣，”Blow 说，“大多数按照‘好游戏设计规则’设计出来的主流游戏，对于已经玩过很多游戏的人来说，是没什么乐趣的，所以我不玩那些游戏。许多在艺术效果上费尽心机，但是设计规则很差劲的游戏，也没有什么乐趣，所以那些游戏我也不玩。但是有些游戏的确很棒。”

　　最后，也许最好来看一下另一个艺术与游戏的融合。在1964年，马塞尔·杜尚委托超现实主义画家萨尔瓦多·达利为美国国际象棋协会制作了一副象棋。也许你并不喜欢模仿手指、牙齿和食盐瓶而制的棋子，但是现在这套棋在亚特兰大的高等艺术博物馆里展出。如果保安移开防护玻璃，你还可以用它下象棋。

　　目光投向现代艺术

　　正如故事中的故事游戏公司的设计师Michael Samyn和Auriea Harvey想要指出的那样，游戏的境况和现代艺术非常相似。

　　“现代主义艺术家对车、椅子、鞋子、书籍、玩具甚至是空气进行创作。”Samyn说，“所以我们应毫不怀疑一个艺术家可以对电子游戏进行艺术创作，但是，要记住的至关重要的事是，面包不是艺术品，只有当艺术家为了使用它进行创作时，它才变成艺术品。”

　　因此，2005年的“旺达与巨像”通常被视为主流艺术游戏的典型，而“疯狂橄榄球2005”却被认为只是一个游戏而已，但这并不是因为它有什么问题。

　　译文：

　　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.