Radosh.net

So I'm working on a thumbsucker about videogames pegged to Halo 3 and loosely inspired by these posts. It deals with the issue of games as art (while dodging the actual Are Games Art? question) and will appear in a very mainstream publication read primarily by people who are not gamers.

So obviously I was interested in Lev Grossman's recent Time magazine article about Halo and, especially, the reaction from gamers.

Holy cats! What I read as a fairly straightforward essay by a guy who obviously likes videogames is being shredded to bits. One of the most polite responses (and, OK, one of the funniest) is: "I am seriously offended the way you present the article in Time magazine about the Halo community. I hope you do realize you've made a big mistake and would consider retracting the article."

And then there are the less polite responses. Yes, several people seem to have actually read and understood the article, but for the most part it's a bloodbath.

Now, I won't be using any of the charged (and misunderstood) language Grossman does, so I may be spared some of this. But a lot of the reaction to Grossman seems to be based simply on the assertion that he's not a serious enough gamer to be writing about the topic -- and he's far more serious than I am. I think I have something interesting to say, even as a casual gamer (in the sense of time devoted to gaming, not types of games played). But I'm beginning to realize that that's not gonna count for a whole lot.

Stay tuned for my funeral.

Posted by Daniel Radosh

4:35 PM