I don't know how many of you are familier with Roger Ebert, he was known for holding the view that video games generally were not art, unlike cinema.
As an avid gamer I've been opposed to this view, of course video games are art, they tell stories, are marvels in their paintings of characters, lives and entirely new worlds.
Cyberpunk has made me reconsider this stance somewhat. I'm not saying video games aren't art, I'm just saying they're not really living up to their potential. Are they pushing and challenging our understanding like art is suppose to, or are they simply a copy of a copy of a copy of an idea that once asked profound questions of what it meant to be human.
This isn't about bugs, or missing features, or framerate. And this isn't new, or original from me, these ideas are from other people and have their roots in another era. I'm talking about the idea of science fiction and what the themes of cyberpunk really are.
The idea that in our quest to always improve on what was, on a slow march to ascension and godhood we find ourselves on a path of computers, code and electronics. Where not only we can rebuild our very bodies and one day discard them entirely, but create a new world outside of the world we know, one where we are all powerful, and there are no limitations.
The ideas of the cyberpunk theme I think take place in a transition between now, and that possible future. And they beg many questions:
What is the nature of consciousness? Where, what, and who is our consciousness? Is that voice in our heads that narrates everything even really us at all? Can it be uploaded, spliced and copied, and then is it still us? Do we have a soul, and what happens when we begin to strip away our very humanity?
What is real? Our everyday physical world is simply a model created by a brain based on input from our senses. Is a virtual world any less real, or is it simply one of many possible realities we can create or become apart of?
I think this last one is an important one. And these stories allow us to explore and evolve our understanding, and imagine a future of crafted realities.
It's not that these things aren't mentioned at all. They are there to some degree, but rather then explore them I feel like too often they're mentioned to check them off a list. They are in passing in a line of dialogue, or referenced in an encounter, and there is not as much attempt to delve deeper.
And of course the theme of materialism, capitalism, wealth distribution, and the old faithful of human motivation: Greed. These last things are mostly what I find Cyberpunk about, which isn't bad, but it feels like the lowest hanging fruit of an otherwise profound sub-genre that should get to the very central questions of who we are and what we are doing here.
I want to know what you guys think about this.
As an avid gamer I've been opposed to this view, of course video games are art, they tell stories, are marvels in their paintings of characters, lives and entirely new worlds.
Cyberpunk has made me reconsider this stance somewhat. I'm not saying video games aren't art, I'm just saying they're not really living up to their potential. Are they pushing and challenging our understanding like art is suppose to, or are they simply a copy of a copy of a copy of an idea that once asked profound questions of what it meant to be human.
This isn't about bugs, or missing features, or framerate. And this isn't new, or original from me, these ideas are from other people and have their roots in another era. I'm talking about the idea of science fiction and what the themes of cyberpunk really are.
The idea that in our quest to always improve on what was, on a slow march to ascension and godhood we find ourselves on a path of computers, code and electronics. Where not only we can rebuild our very bodies and one day discard them entirely, but create a new world outside of the world we know, one where we are all powerful, and there are no limitations.
The ideas of the cyberpunk theme I think take place in a transition between now, and that possible future. And they beg many questions:
What is the nature of consciousness? Where, what, and who is our consciousness? Is that voice in our heads that narrates everything even really us at all? Can it be uploaded, spliced and copied, and then is it still us? Do we have a soul, and what happens when we begin to strip away our very humanity?
What is real? Our everyday physical world is simply a model created by a brain based on input from our senses. Is a virtual world any less real, or is it simply one of many possible realities we can create or become apart of?
I think this last one is an important one. And these stories allow us to explore and evolve our understanding, and imagine a future of crafted realities.
It's not that these things aren't mentioned at all. They are there to some degree, but rather then explore them I feel like too often they're mentioned to check them off a list. They are in passing in a line of dialogue, or referenced in an encounter, and there is not as much attempt to delve deeper.
And of course the theme of materialism, capitalism, wealth distribution, and the old faithful of human motivation: Greed. These last things are mostly what I find Cyberpunk about, which isn't bad, but it feels like the lowest hanging fruit of an otherwise profound sub-genre that should get to the very central questions of who we are and what we are doing here.
I want to know what you guys think about this.
