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On the ongoing discussion of whether video games are "art", I would bring this clip of Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) as discussion piece A1. Allow me to explain - it's threadtime! 1/
The difficulty with video games is that everyone experiences them slightly differently as the player, there is no shared communal moment. An audience sees the Terminator saying "I'll be back" together but a game is played by one person only and each experience is different. 2/
Nonetheless some parts are always the same - Mario saves Princess Peach at the end, Nathan Drake finds the treasure in the Uncharted series. In this sense, there is still a communal experience between all players of a game. 3/
To understand the clip from RDR2 context is needed: in the game you play as Arthur Morgan, a gunslinger/enforcer for a gang of outlaws in the late 19th century. They're fighting not only the police but also the death of their way of (criminal) life as modernity travels west. 4/
Arthur and his gang can feel that all is coming to an end: the law is closing in, there are no places left to run to and society has moved on, with cities and factories. All they have is a plan to flee the country to Tahiti to be mango farmers. Arthur knows this is bonkers. 5/
The clip above is from near the end of the game. Arthur has escaped yet another lousy situation following a botched bank robbery where two of his gang were killed. The player is meant to ride to a hideout but neither we nor Arthur have any idea whether anyone will be there. 6/
Arthur is beginning to question everything by this point. While at the beginning of the game he believes he had no choice but a life of crime by now he has serious doubts about the gang and its impact on society. 7/
As the player/Arthur rides to the hideout through the amazingly detailed countryside, the scene plays its coup de grâce: the game sounds diminish and suddenly a soul song begins. This is the start of the most affecting 5 minutes of entertainment I've enjoyed this year. 8/
Behind the mic, none other than D'Angelo. He's apparently a huge fan of the game and the song was written specifically for it. Also, I'm contractually obliged to link to D'Angelo's classic 2000 "Untitled (how does it feel)" video, the one he sung naked. 9/
"May I stand unshaken / Amid, amidst a crashing world / Did I hear a thunder? / Did I hear you break?" is a phenomenal opening. Even more so when I played this part, since there was a thunderstorm (in the game). This again reinforces: different experience for each player. 10/
The song follows the player through the whole ride - and it takes its time, there's no rush, the game wants you to let Arthur's internal conflict sink in as he rides through the night back to his gang. 11/
Is it art though? I can watch some 90 year old films (hello, Fritz Lang's "M") and they still work perfectly. I doubt anyone will play this game by 2025. And nonetheless, the game moved me in a way that no film or series has done this year. 12/
Conversely, in 1995, Christo wrapped the Reichstag for 14 days only. You could criticise the piece on its terms but no one ever said that this was not art because it was transient. So why hold video games up to a different standard? 13/
As for RDR2, as you can imagine [spoiler alert], things don't end well at all for Arthur Morgan and the gang... leaving the last words to Arthur himself: "You don't get to live a bad life and have good things happen to you." /END
![As for RDR2, as you can imagine [spoiler alert], things don't end well at all for Arthur Morgan and the gang... leaving the last words to Arthur himself: "You don't get to live a bad life and have good things happen to you." /END](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfATM_fWsAE1aRv.jpg "As for RDR2, as you can imagine [spoiler alert], things don't end well at all for Arthur Morgan and the gang... leaving the last words to Arthur himself: \"You don't get to live a bad life and have good things happen to you.\" /END")
