Hey Giantbomb, please help me with my Speech on video games!

Hey guys. So I'm taking public address here at my college and have been having a lot of fun crafting different speeches. Currently I'm working on a persuasive speech on why video games are art. Now I know this is a tired topic among the gaming community and I would really prefer if we didn't get into a debate about the topic here. Instead I could really use your help!

Currently the way I have my speech organized, the conclusion really needs a peer testimony. Something that is emotional, connects with people, and drives my point home. So here is my question: Do you know of any good personal stories of how someone was deeply affected by a video game? Or maybe a personal story you would be willing to share? I just need that emotional connection to show that games can have that affect on people.

Thank you for your help!

I'm not too sure whether this is the sort of thing you're looking for, but I connected on such a level with Clementine in The Walking Dead more than I have any character in more traditional forms of media.

She was just a block of cell shaded pixels, yet to me, she wasn't. She was the last vestige of hope and promise left in a world gone to pot and I cared more about her fate than I have for actual people in my life. I’m not afraid to say I was wiping my eyes at the end of the last episode, when that last little bit of innocence left in her was finally snatched away in heart breaking fashion.

I hope that helps, but even if it doesn't, you have my backing duder, for whatever the backing of a stranger off the internet is worth.

@gatehouse: No thank you this does help. One of my last main points includes The Walking Dead so I should be able to tie this in nicely. Thanks duder for your help and support.

GUYS!! GUYS!! I can't do my math homeworkkkkkk!! LOLZZL WTF ... It's about video games as ART!!

But really, this is about the fourth post in a week where someone is getting people to proof read their homework about video. My advice is ask people who DON'T know about games. Why preach to the converted? If the speech is meant to persuade why ask people who DON'T need persuasion?

I was truly angry at the end of Red Dead and felt real vindication at real ending of Red Dead. That was a super popular mainstream game that got real emotion out of me.

Video Games? Video Games! - end of speech -

@pandabear: He is literally asking for a peer testimony, nothing to do with proof reading or asking for someone to do his homework. Actually read the thread next time.

Here is another person for The Walking Dead, you connect to the characters so much only to have most of them die in often unfair ways. The breaking of Clems innocence at the end was heartbreaking, the choice of making her shoot or not was a perfect example of an agonizing choice inside of a fictional world, something that other art just can't do.

But they are as much art as action movies and comic books, which is to say not much.

Maybe talk about something about the special feeling of wandering into an unknown castle in Dark Souls? Getting killed in the ass and finally beating it. Or heck, the feeling of getting a chopper gunner and raining hell on the enemies is pretty sick.

Otherwise you're talking about narrative stuff which is far surpassed by pretty much any other medium.

But Braid is definitely art man. And maybe mention some of those games that put you in the shoes of a homeless man or a dad. I hear that's good stuff.

Journey.

The lack of direct communication made my experience with another anonymous human being quite profound. Working together with a stranger with no determinable differences on a shared goal is a pretty great feeling and I've never had it outside of a video game. The full stop, all for nothing ending made my feeling of responsibility and respect for that stranger all the more heartbreaking. The game made me think about the absurdity and frailty life. Personally, I think that's a pretty good qualifier for art but I guess that's the debate. It's up to the individual?

Just rewrote my speech to this, thanks man!

Thank you. I was going to say this, but you said it for me. I already have gotten the perspectives of those who don't play games and have included them accordingly. Now I'm looking for those who know a lot about games, and figured what better place to look then Giantbomb.

As for everyone else, thanks for all your experiences!

Ehhhhhhh... I wouldn't use testimonials. That just seems like you're saying "Video games are art because here are some video game nerds who were touched by video games.

I would focus more on comparing games to movies. There's mass produced movies and games like Twilight/Madden that exist purely to be consumed and forgotten, but there's also a lot of creators who deliberately select each and every detail of what they're making in order to elicit an emotion or express an idea. It's like how Terrence Malick made Martin Sheen to be a likable guy in Badlands even though he does terrible shit throughout the movie compared to, say, Joel from the Last of Us who we all root for even though he's essentially a violent, lying, selfish killer. Both Badlands and The Last of Us have a right to be considered art because there's meaning behind what happens throughout each.

Although to be honest with you, this is a really bad topic for a speech. You're essentially trying to define what art is, and no one has really ever been able to do that ever.

This is the mistake I always see with these college projects. No one does anything from the heart and just takes something "easy" or what they like to do to use it as an excuse to keep doing it.

If you really believe games are art, why do you not have any experiences to use yourself?

@whamola: I hear you. I'm really only using this because I feel it fits into one part of my speech nicely. I do spend a good amount of times comparing it to movies much in the way you just did. It should help establish connections for those who don't play games.

I agree that this is not an easy topic to talk about. My first main point is that the reason talking about this is so hard is because of the ambiguity and subjectivity of art. That being said our culture does have certain commonalities in our definitions of art that I'm using to the best of my ability. I chose this topic because I believe art is something worth talking about even if it is difficult.

Here's an interesting article I read a while ago about how the Mass Effect series helped someone better understand their own mother and to examine and come to terms with their own real-world problems.

http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/11144/article/my-mother-commander-shepard/

Don't know if you'll be able to pull what you need from it. I hope it helps.

The only game I can think of in recent memory that struck a chord with me in the same level as a movie did, had to be The Walking Dead. It wasn't just one episode. It was the build up of all the episodes that come me attached to the characters in the story. It was the way each character felt like a human being that one could meet in real life that at points made me forget I was playing a game. It might sound cliche to pick The walking Dead, but it truly did something for me that no other game before it did for me. It made me cry tears of sadness for the things I had to do and not someone I was watching do.

Didn't art used to mean anything that was created? Now, don't quote me on this, but that's what I heard, somewhere. At any rate, it would be cool to go through the etymology of "Art" and see what you get, and compare experiences from video games to movies. Also, try to explore the interactivity of the medium, and how that is used to create unique experiences. What makes video games different from movies, and how does that make it more special rather than just be an interactive film?

@joshth: Glad I could help there fella, I genuinely think that it’s a really interesting topic. Personally, I don’t think that all videogames are art, but in the same way I don’t think all films, books or music are art. You can’t compare The Great Gatsby to 50 Shades Of Grey, Frank Ocean to One Direction or Journey to Call of Duty.