David Gaider Interview, Part Three

In the third and final installment to their interview with David Gaider, Bitmob quizzes the BioWare writer about his favorite characters and whether or not he thinks video games are art. The usual sampling:

LG: Do you have an opinion on the video-games-as-art topic?

DG: You know, I think it’s kind of a silly question. Because, of course, video games are art.

Is it art that everyone’s going to appreciate? No. What art is there that everyone appreciates?

Video games offer an opportunity for us to have these stories to interact with. Take paintings, for instance. You look at them, and you can appreciate them. But video games, it’s art that somebody can experience. It’s different. It’s not something that everyone will to grasp immediately.

And I also think that it’s a very young medium. In terms of the potential to tell stories, we’re just scratching the surface.

Games have told some wonderful stories. I mean, look at something like Planescape: Torment. Tell me that isn’t art.Sure, somebody might consider some parts to be juvenile. Somebody might look at that and go, “Well, there’s combat, you’re killing things — what’s artistic about that?”

You know, don’t get caught up in the forest for the trees. Like I said, we’re scratching the surface now. Given fewer technological limitations, we can achieve something even greater.