A while back longtime film critic Roger Ebert ruffled the feathers of the gaming community by proclaiming that games are not art and never would be considered such. Now Ebert is in the spotlight again, thanks to horror master Clive Barker, who recently attended the Hollywood and Games Summit and took the opportunity to issue a rebuttal towards Ebert.

Ebert didn't take Barker's comments lightly and decided to post a response of his own on his website, RogerEbert.com. The film critic clarified his previous assessment of video games. "Anything can be art. Even a can of Campbell's soup. What I should have said is that games could not be high art, as I understand it," he says.

Ebert continues, "How do I know this? How many games have I played? I know it by the definition of the vast majority of games. They tend to involve (1) point and shoot in many variations and plotlines, (2) treasure or scavenger hunts, as in Myst, and (3) player control of the outcome. I don't think these attributes have much to do with art; they have more in common with sports."

The comparison to sports is certainly a valid one. After all, Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel and other "cyberathletes" make their entire living by playing games professionally as a virtual sport of sorts. Successful organizations such as the Global Gaming League, Major League Gaming, World Series of Video Games and others have in some ways validated the video games as sport argument.

But that doesn't mean that games shouldn't be considered art as well. Needless to say, the topic is very subjective, as Ebert admits. "I might suggest that gamers have a prejudiced view of their medium, and particularly what it can be. Games may not be Shakespeare quite yet, but I have the prejudice that they never will be, and some gamers are prejudiced that they will," he says.

One of the aspects of video games that Barker points to is the capability of certain titles to truly move the player. This is something that more and more gamemakers are getting involved with. In fact, BioWare's Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk recently wrote about this very process in a special op-ed column for GameDaily BIZ. Not only would the leaders of BioWare disagree with Ebert, but they think that games "have the potential to be the highest form of art."

Ebert, however, does not think that if something moves a person that it should automatically qualify for art status. "Many experiences that move me in some way or another are not art," he states. "A year ago I lost the ability (temporarily, I hope) to speak. I was deeply moved by the experience. It was not art."
For more of Ebert's comments head on over to his site, linked above. Whether or not you agree with him, it's certainly an interesting read.