My entry {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/FOcl1tNvVi_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”My entry ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/AVsmoFXgWY”}}}

Is it an auto win if I pretentiously correct your spelling? Its ‘quoi’ fnar fnar

braid is art because art is whatever one takes the time to define as art

fnar fnar *snort*

Braid evokes the deep dark emotions of our everyday lives that are callously bottled up in our souls. Braid allows us to physically discover our true self through the medium of video gaming and is thus why it is art.

*flings scarf end back around his neck*

(I have no PC so don’t count this as an entry)

The slobbering masses of entertainment software (or “video game”) users have for years craved the perceived legitimacy of the label “art.” Braid is merely their latest worthless reach toward this cultural cachet. What these simpletons fail to realize is that the medium is fundamentally incapable of the evolutionary leap they see as necessary.

Art’s surest marker is the pure portrayal and preservation of the artist’s vision through the limitations of his medium. Allowing some drooling, unshaven dolt staring at a tube to interact with (and therefore affect) the piece dirties it beyond the ability to clean. Picasso himself could not overcome this essential barrier were he alive today.

This is a joke, right? Ha ha, bravo! The title of your little website is quite apt, seeing how you label this insulting punishment called Braid as an “award” to be had. Nevertheless, I will partake in this discussion for the sake of argument.

No, Braid is not art, as videogames are not, will not and can not be art. Arguing otherwise is merely an affirmation of our materialistic culture’s obsession with manufactured virtues. The notion that a sacred expression of a sentiment can be manifested by a mixing and matching, tweaking and calculating of preexisting elements is fundamentally flawed. If I were to drink that whole bottle of wine and regurgitate over a blank canvas, that would be a worthier example of artistic merit than this Godless collection of pixels.

Art is not a superficial aesthetic pleasure, it is not the tools or craftsmanship of a designer. It is our drive, our raison d’être, and as such it is naïve to believe that it can transcend the boundary of expression. Thus, it is fair to conclude that “art” itself is not art.

yo dog, i herd you like art, so i put art in your braid so you can contemplate while you evaluate.

Arguing that games can’t be art is nothing more than a waste of time in a life which is slowly ceasing to be with every passing second. It is without point. It is pointless.

The truth of the matter is that anyone who can’t see that games are art is a goddamn idiot who simply holds on to archaic ideas of ‘art’ because they have a stake in it, and classing games alongside those things somehow will devalue their chosen art, and by association the people themselves.

Art by its entire definition is something without definition. By lumping a painting by Monet and Dali together you do them both a great injustice and I would never dream of doing such a thing. They are great because of themselves, not through some association with each other under the label of ‘art’. Sure, this assocation does confer certain qualities onto each piece, but the ‘core’ is unaffected. There is no fault in freely calling each game ‘art’ if one doesn’t confer negative connotations through association.

There is certainly terrible art, and yet despite it being completely fecal, it does nothing to ruin the quality of other more praise-worthy art. I would have no problem calling normal games art, even if its crap art. To not even consider Braid as art despite even the most simple undeniable beauty of hearing the World 2 music in reverse in my eyes is an ignorance. A tragedy.

A sin.

*Bows* *Curtains*

Maybe I didn’t read properly…but HOW much wine are we talking here? Is it a BOX of wine? A bottle? Which flavor? Actually I don’t really care about the flavor…just the volume.

Thanks,
Jax

@JaXboxChick: My plan is to send a single, full bottle of red wine (preferably a French Bordeaux).

As postage would kill me to anywhere outside the UK, I will use one of those gift companies to send it. I’ll determine the choice nearer the time and if possible, offer said choice to the winner.

Also, I’m actively looking for a beret to add to the prize :)

@JaXboxChick: Oh hey look its somebody from SG Pink.

Having reclined in my antique wingback for several hours contemplating what it is that makes Braid worthy of being tagged as art I have only been able to come up with 2 possible ways to link the polar opposite entities that are videogames and art.

First of all the idea that the player does not have to engage in the story, this not only ensures that the creator is able to fully devote themselves to a more traditional and accepted form of art (writing), though its inclusion is unnecessary to the game and therefore cannot be considered to count towards the game’s artistic credentials.

Secondly there is the hand drawn characters and backgrounds in the game, these too fit the more common definition of art and much like the writing do not directly affect the game itself. With this in mind I must conclude that this attribute also cannot be considered to be a factor in the game’s effort to be thought of as art.

Overall it must be concluded I feel that while Braid certainly has artistic qualities within it, the qualities presented are not relevant specifically to the game and would stand up as art equally outside its confines. By attempting to merge these classic forms of art with an emerging contemporary but making no effort to tie the forms together the creator has done nothing but narrow the audience his individually fine works may have otherwise had.

All done, who took my cane?

Braid is about as artistic as the glowing purple neon light sitting in the corner of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Just because a group of pompous fools are pretending a frivolous novelty is art doesn’t mean it actually is art. You unrefined troglodytes need to spend some more time admiring the masters of art and less time trying to justify your video game addiction by pretending it’s art appreciation.

@PenKaizen: Oh hey…if you listened to my show you’d know I’m everywhere that free wine and games are offered.

I know it’s bad form to advertise another website in your podcast…or so I’ve been told. But heck, if someone is giving out free wine I think the world should know. So we’re mentioning Negative Gamer and this contest on our show this week. I hope that’s ok. I also hope it doesn’t add more entries to the contest. I really want to win.

I’ll work on something this week.

We must first consider the semantical statement ‘Braid is
Art’, both within the framework it is found, and also I think the
attempt must be made to try (though it will obviously fail, v.i.) to
understand without context, to understand how Braid might be Art a
priori, before socio-cultural considerations. Our hysterical realism
(though not maximalist)
perspective allows us this freedom.

Prima facie, the premiss is simple. Braid is an artifact of the kind
related to others we would call ‘Art’. Note in the original statement
‘Art’ is capitalised, implying that the text is being final and
objective, or believes themselves to be, thus betraying their own
imperialistic intent. So do we consider Braid to belong to the
Wittgensteinian family concept of art objects? Such an inquiry is
never going to have a final answer, but this does not leave us
bereft of an answer completely. So we cannot avoid being somewhat
vague? There are few places that we cannot! (Brief moment of silence
for thinkers, those Nietzschean supermen, those gods, who create
such certainty from the very air!)

****
Jonathan Blow: “Current games are moving in this general direction of
emotional significance. All the important gamers have been satisfied.”

Socrates:”Games are scripted and unscripted. The theatrical intimacy
and Mise-en-sc̬ne have been excised Рthere is no direct line communication with the
author that even that low brow comic manages”

Exeunt.
****

Without context the task is more arduous, but the agony (and ecstasy!)
of choice is eliminated. There is no angle of view to use, this is
‘Braid is Art’ qua ‘Braid is Art’. What is art? The essential
characteristics of all items. Art
is always an artefact, and so too is Braid. But upon what sufficient properties to judge one an item of art? We can prove that Braid
has sufficient properties to be Art if the subset of shared properties
of some set of Art objects is held by Braid (As all items in a set of
Art objects must all share the sufficient conditions of Art. Here we
disregard the Wittgenstein view of family concepts for an Aristotelean
one) Here we reach our limit, as we need previously proven pieces to judge
Braid as art. This is the schema of a understanding without ambience of
‘Braid is Art’. It is a statement that places braid among other items,
previously understood as art.

****
flow
****

Our medium is the internet. We must understand the McLuhan message of this
medium; we are permitted to assume this point of view based around the
properties and constrictions of the internet. The is a high
correlation between those on the internet and those who enjoy games
such as Braid (though the data may be influenced by the supra
availability of Braid on the internet.) So we can assume a general
positive disposition towards the game. This positive disposition is
the requirement to be placed among those objects of art, so we may say
that here, on the internet fora, Braid is Art indeed.

2/5

ಠ_ರು

IN THE CAUSE OF GAMING

I still believe that the ideal of games as art forms the origin and source, the strength, and, fundamentally, the significance of everything ever worthy of the name of gaming.

I know that the sense of games as art, once grasped, carries with it in its very nature the discipline of an ideal at whatever cost to self-interest or the established order.

It is itself a standard and an ideal.

And, I maintain that only earnest artistic integrity, both of instinct and of intelligence, can make any forward movement of this nature in game development of lasting value.

Nothing to my mind could be worse imposition than to have some individual, even temporarily, deliberately fix the outward forms of his concept of beauty and gameplay upon the future of free people or even of a growing gaming community.

But I still believe as firmly as ever that without artist integrity and this consequent individuality manifesting itself in multifarious forms, there can be no great games, no great gamers, no great civilization, no worthy life.

I dread to see the types noble artists have worked with so long and patiently drifting toward speculative developers, cheapened or befouled by senseless features, robbed of quality and distinction, dead forms, or grinning originalities for the sake of originality, an endless string of hacked carcasses, to encumber democratic gaming consoles and PCs for a decade or more.

This is a good idea Wardrox. Lets make a pretentious game even more ironic, in a sort of Alanis Morrisette way.

Braid is fart.

I realise that staff can’t genuinely compete but fuck it, here’s my attempt…

To imply that something, anything is ‘art’ is to imply that ‘art’ exists as a real phenomenon. Art is not a real quality present within objects, a primary quality if you will. It is a secondary quality, something which only exists in the mind of the individual perceiving the object. Art is therefore a meaningless term in that there is no possible meaning which can be attached to the term. There is no unifying quality present in all art-objects that we are capable of perceiving regardless of the mind which perceives. Art is in essence then not a quality of objects but an attitude, a mindset present in the viewer where an arbitrary set of criteria are required in order to label an object as art. Braid is only art insofar as the individual perceiving it has chosen a set of artistic criteria which include the actual qualities braid possesses.

The arbitrary nature of those qualities is a result of our ultimately godless and meaningless existence. We are not progressing anywhere and our state at the point of death is as devoid of meaning as our state before we even began to exist. If we are not moving towards any ultimate goal we have no criteria with which to measure the values of our progression in any direction. The effects of art objects are without meaning since the psychic state of an individual before and after the effects of the art object are realised are equal and worthless in the same breath.

Even if one can say they are affected by Braid in a manner which is artistic, they have simply chosen to believe that ‘artistic’ is a compliment and applied it to an experience which they enjoyed. They are still ultimately a meaningless object in a meaningless universe being affected by other meaningless objects.

We must also consider the nature of determinism and our inability to escape the path our own meaningless lives have been set on before we were even born. If there is no God then we are merely a collection of matter and energy being affected by the physical laws which constrain us from birth. Art as a concept implies intent, something which no one can ever truly claim to possess. There is no other way the world could exist than the present state in which it exists. The inevitability of Braids existence robs it of it’s value and denies it’s ability to be labelled as ‘Art’.

Braid est le genre de jeu que l’un joue à la musique de Beethoven ou à Brahms pendant que buvant á un coup des bons vins des collines de Bordeaux. C’est un voyage dans l’une possède la psyché. Un regarder comment une personne croit qu’ils sont finalement la droite et jamais dans l’erreur. Il a beaucoup d’interprétations qui peut être exploré ou peut être regardé simplement sur.

Braid est l’art

I’m so pretentious I entered in French

fnar fnar

*flips scarf over right shoulder and raises nose to the air*

I recently went to a gallery where I saw a camera that had HIV positive blood used as a filter, as in running between two sheets of transparent material in a pinhole camera. Arguably, if that camera is art, so is my penis… what were we talking about again?

http://imgur.com/RN5I.jpg

@crackerpac: That actually took me a moment to get, very nice :)

Braid is art because I’ve only got one leg.

filming my entry this weekend.

Also filming my entry this weekend.

video games aren’t art

http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/drp223/1209063067465.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qhplkHO6tgc/SW2kcuEsqGI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/tgVDMqjwCaM/s400/immanuel_kant.jpg
Can’t get more pretentious than Immanuel Kant.

I’ve strained my brain to come up with entry pretentious enough, but to be honest nothing can top the most pretentious doucebag in existence: Jonathan Blow himself.

So… I’m going to link to a lecture he did in Montreal in 2008, with accompanying slides no less! Use them to follow along while you listen to him say some of the most cherished games of our time are shit, yet dodges questions about his shit game, a game whose “deep meaning” was discovered within a week yet he pretends there’s more to it that we just “don’t get”.

Braid is art because it take all types of art and melds all forms of art into one. Music; Painting & Drawing with the hand drawing with hand draw craters and the old style 8 bet gameplay reflects on how game cane from the nes to the 360.

Frank and I have added our entry

If reviews are anything to go on for this game being art let us look at the soulja boy review. Within the review he talks about drinking or smoking while playing this game to get the full enjoyment. He probably meant something on the lines of pinot grisio and a nice Montecristo classic. To paraphrase Mr. boy “Tim wears a suit which shows the high class nature of the game”. Obviously soulja boy is reliably source and not bias because he is a fan of halo. An even better argument is that he compares it to Mario who is also art because the story in Mario is as deep and interesting as Dante’s inferno. Mario when he fights Bowers is the highest echelon in games as art. it captures the essence of what makes a good story inner battle between good and evil (it’s very meta in a way). Soulja boy goes on to talk about the time controlling mechanic in detail almost comparing it to the original prince of Persia sands of time on the x box.
This with its complex stories could almost be considered art. He moves on to the fact that unlike Prince of Persia you never run out of the “time potion” meaning that Braid is far superior as art because he never runs out of sand or time libido. Finally he compares it to Citizen Cane, The God Father, and Apocalypse Now. Also he mentions something about “woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo woooooooooooooooooooo”. I have yet to find the meaning of this phrase but it is probably something about high art and culture I cannot understand because I am not with the times because I am so pretentious. Also I am one of the most bias people on the face of the earth even more bias than the entire NG cast and Jim sterling combined.

I probably have no chance at winning because I wrote that in 20 minutes. Amazingly the NG cast gave me the idea to write about the Soulja boy review.

the more pretentious version of the soulja boy review is here

To answer the question if Braid, or in fact any game, is art one must refer to the very definition of the word. Art, roughly translated from latin as “craft” or “skill”, is the use of the human creative ability through a mediun to express oneself.
Games are a human creation that express someting, like our hate of alliens races or the desire tho explode things. Every game is art, including Braid. The question we shoud be asking is if Braid has artistic importance when compared to other games.
Blow’s game do sens to have artistic merit at firt because of its aesthetics and metaphors, but, when compared to other videogames. One of these videogames is Tetris.
Tetris, while just a puzzle game at first, uses its elements to transmit many social critcs. In it you play as a worker in the storage secion of a factory, and your mission is organise the product in the most compact way possible. Ihe endlessness of the game (witch only ends when the box pile gets big enoth to crumble under its own weight, killing every one in the factory) represents the futility of work, while its incrasing speed represents the exploitation of the proletarian, and those are not the only hiden meanings hiden in the game.
Many other games have equaly deep meanings. Doom is about racism and how it damage people, Pong is a critc of haman competitive nature, Arkanoid represent the desire for mindless destruction inherent of the human being. Braid has some artistic merit, but near these masterpieces it loses importance and becomes irrelevant to the study of art.

Braid can’t possibly be art because I have yet to play it while drinking lovely red wine. Only when I am playing the game and am liquored up can Braid possibly transcend from game to art.

Braid is art because it has little men chasing women. Duh. Also he has a cute tie.
Thus it is obvious you must conclude I am right because this is a contest to win Braid for PC so people who want it have almost for sure NOT PLAYED IT so they really shouldn’t have a very good opinion. Which is why this is a perfect contest because I own a PS3 so I obviously know exactly how good a game is going to be before it comes out. It should also be noted that I know better than anyone who has 1. played it already and/or 2. is a game journalist/reviewer. Also my birthday is on march 30th and I want a present, and that would be artsy.

most pretentious