The Truth in Games
The Truth in Games
The Truth in Games
By Frank Lantz
September 26, 2023
Summary
In this reflection, game designer and writer Frank Lantz explores the intersection of objective truth and aesthetic experience in video games. Drawing on Richard Feynman's analogy of appreciating a flower as both a scientist and an artist, Lantz discusses the tension between the scientific perspective, with its quantified data, and the poetic perspective, which values intuitive understanding and direct experience. Lantz argues that games, as an aesthetic form, uniquely incorporate objective truth, akin to science and logic. He delves into the concept of truth in art, quoting poets like Walt Whitman and John Keats, and examines how games, like other art forms, seek to express profound truths through beauty. Lantz highlights the role of aesthetic experience in connecting individuals and emphasizes that games, as conversations between players, designers, and the empirical world, provide a unique blend of objective truth and subjective interpretation. Ultimately, he contends that while games contain objective truths, their ultimate meaning aligns with the elusive, subjective truth sought in art and poetry.
Reference
Lantz, F. (2023, September 26). The Truth in Games. The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-truth-in-games/