You know, I've heard those accusations slung around quite often about me. If I had a dollar for every time someone on an RPG website tried to describe me as "anti-intellectual"... well, I'd probably have several hundred dollars.
Only by now, anyone who reads this blog should know that I'm not anti-intellectual. Likewise, I'm not "Anti-art". I had one of the Swine say this a while back too, claiming that I "hate art". No, I adore art. I listen to classical music almost daily (and other great music; Jazz and Folk and Rock are as much "art" as Classical), visiting the Louvre and the British Museum are two of my fondest memories, in short, my "art appreciation" is quite high.
The mistake the Swine make is in thinking that if I'm not allowing them to say RPGs are "intellectual" or "art" then it must be that I hate these things. Far from it. Its because I value these things, the REAL version of these things, that I don't allow people to mangle them up with nonsense.
I LOVE art, and intellect, and RPGs. What I hate is Pseudo-artists, Pseudo-intellectuals, and Pseudo-RPGs.
READ MY LIPS, FUCKFACE: it doesn't matter HOW MUCH, or HOW LONG you think about RPGs, it still doesn't make them, OR YOU, "intellectual". After all, one can know a fuckload of a lot about Toy Trains, and it doesn't make you an intellectual, it just makes you the fucking Rain Man.
At best, it makes you a "trivialist".
And as for art, sitting around talking about your suffering while pretending to be a vampire is not "art". And don't give me this bullshit about "anything is art", because if anything is art, then NOTHING is. So either yes, everything is art and now, Congratulations Asswipe, art means NOTHING anymore; or "art" DOES mean something, and that's why you're trying to CO-OPT it to give yourself airs of importance far beyond what your capacity or value as an organism actually merits.
WHICH IS IT, BUCKY?
I'm not the one who hates Intellect or Art; obviously, it is these Swine who hate intellect and art, they are the ones who are trying to destroy the terms. They hate both Intellect and Art because they know, deep down inside, that they are worthless lazy parasites without so much as an intellectual or artistic bone in their bodies, and that as long as these words actually MEAN something, they will always be judged, and found wanting. But if they can get these words to become meaningless, then whoever is the best Do-Nothing Poseur gets to win, and guess what is the one thing the Swine are actually good at being?
So no, I will preserve those terms, because I love them. And I'll continue to bitchslap those of you who seek to subvert these terms, because you hate them.
And I love RPGs too, which is why I won't let you use those wonderful GAMES, any more than I will let you use language, as a reckless means to attempt to give yourselves unmerited importance at the cost of destroying things of real value.
RPGPundit
(Originally Posted November 27, 2009)
I concur.
ReplyDeleteBut they MUST become artists of the RPG "medium!" Otherwise they'll become the only alternative, the obese virgin smelly neck-bearded geek in a Star Trek T-Shirt! Regular people that play some games weekly don't exist. You must pick your Archetype!
ReplyDeleteSince an RPG is an act of communication, there's nothing preventing it being an object of art. A chair may be an object of art or may be not, regardless of how comfortable it is to sit in. Likewise with RPGs: one can be an object of art, but this in itself does not necessarily make it interesting and exciting to play. I thought this pretty obvious.
ReplyDeleteYou thought wrong and you are wrong.
DeleteAnd here is the fake artist, arrived to defend his utter inadequacy.
Delete@Matt: I am positively smitten by your elaborate argumentation.
Delete@RPGPundit: I am not a fake artist, as I clearly do not claim to be an artist. Nor am I defending anything here. Once again you are talking with voices in your head.
RPGs may CONTAIN art, and they may be the PRODUCTS of the intellectual minds who create them (the lines are slightly blurred because of the inevitable overlap at work here)...
ReplyDeleteBut they don't HAVE TO BE art in order to be WONDERFUL either, nor should we disparage the VERY REAL work that goes into them!
I think the final product can be called art, and maybe you can get away calling some sessions art - MAYBE some sessions, but this is dangerous. When you start calling sessions art, you strive for them to be art in every session, and this leads to pretentious and turning a game into work. It's just a game so play, and leave the art to artist.
ReplyDelete