Entries in jenova chen (1)

Tuesday
10Nov2009

The Demoscene & Lingering Afterthoughts: The Argument for Interactive Art (Pt. 1)


It's hard for me to believe, but it's been almost 10 years since the days when I spent nearly every waking, non-school hour on IRC. Now, this isn't some hacker story; it has a purpose. Those many years ago, one of my friends happened upon a very unusual tech demo enclosed within a 64 kilobyte file.

 

Actually, let me correct myself; it was 63.5 kilobytes. Yeah, those extra 500 or so bytes seem negligible, but they were pivotal to the purpose of that particular demo.

 

The demonstration in question was, and remains, .the .product.

 

Boy, has the demoscene come a long way.

 

Having found its way into non-passive media, it's left me mulling over the old question but turned on its head. For better or worse, it stirs up that tumultuous debate once more but, this time, with a twist.

 

For all their bluster, people argue that video games can be, should be.. are art. Today, I ask from the other end of the spectrum: Can art become game?

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