Late last week I had a discussion on whether or not video games could ever become 'Great', leading us to define 'Great' as: A piece of art or literature that can profoundly change your worldview.
Now today was our Social Sciences' last day on the book in a different voice by Carol Gilligan. I have never thought harder about a book, ever. I'm still thinking about it. Never before has a book changed the way I viewed the world.
Will probably have more coherent things to say tomorrow, brain is fried due to lack of sleep.
Posted by Aros (Member # 4873) on :
Les Miserables met this criterion for me.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by T:man: Late last week I had a discussion on whether or not video games could ever become 'Great', leading us to define 'Great' as: A piece of art or literature that can profoundly change your worldview.
If that's the definition of 'great,' then even very small games like Braid have already done this.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Profundity just ain't what it used to be.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
I've mentioned this before but Albert Camus' The Stranger had quite the impact on my mental balance, almost as if it created a place for my catharsis and dry apathy. Meursault was an avatar for my unwillingness to join the world in a proactive manner and the unhappy story that played out helped me in resolving that a bit.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary:
quote:Originally posted by T:man: Late last week I had a discussion on whether or not video games could ever become 'Great', leading us to define 'Great' as: A piece of art or literature that can profoundly change your worldview.
If that's the definition of 'great,' then even very small games like Braid have already done this.
I personally have never played a game that has profoundly changed my worldview.
*continuing to deprive myself of sleep~*
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
"Germinal" by Zola did that to me back in middle school.
I'm sure other things have too, I just can't think of any of them right now.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun did this for me in 7th grade.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
The first game I can recall playing that really gave me a different perspective was Suspended, by Infocom.
Posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer (Member # 10416) on :
I know it's trite to say this, but Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead really did change my life when I first read them.
Les Miserables strongly resonated with me, but it didn't change my worldview so much as affirm it.
Heck, Calvin and Hobbes had as much an impact on me as almost any piece of literature.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
The books The Autobiography of Malcolm X, As Told to Alex Hailey and I Am Legendby Richard Matheson both did this for me.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
The only video game that truly met that criteria for me is Xenogears.
The main character had killed billions of people, and the villain didn't have bad intentions. In fact, at the end the villain realized that he had gone about it all wrong and says "Now I go to meet God unprepared."
The religious overtones got to me, as did the philosophy in the game. Xenosaga also had quite a bit of philosophy, but Xenogears contained the best writing of any Squaresoft game. It was Takahashi's best work. A little known fact, Xenogears' was originally an early concept for FFVII.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I wonder how I'd prepare to meet God.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I wonder how I'd prepare to meet God.
God in Xenogears wasn't a deity, it was more of an existence from another dimension. It was sucked here and trapped in our dimension. It was made of pure energy and was extremely powerful. It was a pretty interesting take on God and religion.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I wonder how I'd prepare to meet God.
Bake a cake?
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Yeah, but if God wants pie instead...well, showing up with cake is going to be problematic.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Be different, be special, show up with an order of the best pickle-chips this side of St. Louis.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
See you in hell, AchillesHeel.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
You obviously have never had pickle-chips, if I'm correct you are already in hell.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
By the standard put forth for a great book, I've never read one. I've read a lot of books that have changed my views about particular things, but never has a change been fundamental. I'd go so far as to say that not only am I essentially the same person I was when I was 5, the way I perceive the world has remained static.
Maybe I'm just deprived. Then again, maybe it's the right way to view the world. Just sayin'.
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: The first game I can recall playing that really gave me a different perspective was Suspended, by Infocom.
I see what you did there.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
Honestly I don't think a game has fundamentally changed me - I'd consider Braid, the Void, Marathon and a few others to be fairly deep but not life changing.
There's a game called Home, which plays sort of like the Sims, except you are an elderly person, moving is sluggish, and the game is rigged so that it is not possible to continuously replenish your sleep-energy, bladder, social exercise and food. One by one, you fail to accomplish your basic needs, and they are replaced by diapers, drugs, IV feed and catheter.
The game ends when you are trapped in bed. (You don't die)
It wasn't life changing exactly, but my grandmother was dying at the time and it drove home a lot of powerful and terrifying understandings.