Official Off-Topic Thread

[Darien]

What is a videogame that makes it very different from a play with audience participation?

As far as I know, those sorts of plays aren't treated seriously either.

You have a point about the youngness of videogames, and that's very interesting when we compare video games to television.  Television shows have never been treated seriously until very recently, probably only starting with the Sopranos.  (That's not to say that no shows were ever treated seriously before, but only that people began to think that television really was a valid artistic medium.)

[ndchristie]

What is a videogame that makes it very different from a play with audience participation?

As far as I know, those sorts of plays aren't treated seriously either.

so all theatre up until the 1800's has never been taken seriously?  I could have sworn there were a few guys that were pretty well respected prior to that....

it's a very modern thing to exclude the audience.  ever since ancient times the actors have interacted with those in the audience, from the VIP's to the groundlings, until it was bastardized into modern performance where you sit in small seats and say nothing until it's over.

[Darien]

I assumed you were talking about those plays where the audience chooses the ending, which as far as I know, in current times are not respected as artful theatre, just something fun to go see.  It only seems relevant to me to talk about what is respected in plays compared to video games than what once was.

Besides, for the longest time being an actor was considered only a small step above prostitution!  It's also a very modern thing for theatre to be respected.

[ndchristie]

it is a very modern thing too to equate actors with theatre....theatre has always had respected branches and aspects, particularly the playwright. whether or not the actors were respected is an entirely different matter.

if the modern institution is one that rebels against a traditional theatre, it is an institution which should be rallied against and protested.  Last I checked though audience participation has become respected in it's own right as a form of artistic interest.

Spectacles of course never have and never will be respected.  I'm not going to suggest that videogames become a vegas act...

[Darien]

It is not just the actors that were disrepected.  For example, the Globe was built outside of London city limits because theatres were not allowed inside the city, instead they were placed among the brothels.  If that's not a clear indication of how theatre was thought of, I don't know what is.  And, sure, Shakespeare and other playwrights may have garnered respect, but that's not among everyone, just like some people respect video game developers, but largely they were not respected.  Shakespeare was for a long time considered a crude, mediocre playwright.  What is respected changes as culture changes, and even though it's a modern thing to exclude the audience, doesn't mean that things were better back in "traditional" theatre where audience participation was rampant.  Some types of audience participation may be accepted and respected, but not nearly to the extent that the sit down and say nothing type of plays are respected. 

More liberal types of audience participation, such as choose-your-own-murder-mystery plays, are not very respected as a work of art (not necessarily entertainment), and rightly so, I think.

[ndchristie]

anyway, since this debate could go on for ages (theatre lost respect largely as a result of religious involvement in it, and then subsequently the abandonment of theatre by religion - those who appreciated the arts never lost respect for it and it was always a mark of a gentleman to dabble in playwriting.....), I just think that there should be more focus on the literary and artistic potential of the media.  The modern artist should see games as an enticing form of communication and expression in the mandated involvement of the audience and the potential in that for manipulation as it pertains to expression as opposed to an overpriced couch-carnival.

i said a few times I was never speaking of these "choose your own ending" plays and im not sure why you keep insisting on them.  of course they aren't respected!  I'll never argue that they should be.

[Darien]

Where do you say that?  I honestly don't see it, I'm sorry if I missed it. (That last remark also wasn't directed solely at you, I meant as an example of extreme participation).  In any case I think they are interesting at least in comparison to games with multiple endings.

[Feron]

is it odd to be asks if i'm bisexual or if i can lend money by people who have my msn, yet i've never even spoken too....

i guess one of the stranger sides of the internet...

no don't add me to msn, because i wont lend you money!

[Zolthorg]

So are you

[bengo]

This thread is now about hot erotic stories.