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[Loud Whispers]

Pretty neat that Captain Duck is gonna do the guided tutorial for it too.

:O

Really? That would make it so much sweeter.

[Seraphim342]

This is awesome news.  I would love to see Boatmurdered as part of the display, or some of the other succession/community epics.  The mer-person genocide thing might cast us all in a highly negative light to the average viewer uninitiated in the ways of Armok, though 

When this exhibit goes live, we should go there with hipster glasses, iPods and thrift store clothes to tell people about how we were fans of the work before it went mainstream. 

[thvaz]

It is funny how many people didn't got the point of the exposition. I saw one comment saying DF hasn't any art.

But DF (and other games) do what all the art should be about: they inspire people.

[Seraphim342]

I think video games being art goes without saying, even beyond the obvious visual media.  They tell stories in a way that could barely be scratched at before, where the story they tell becomes your own.  Outside of "choose-your-own-adventure" books, which are pretty much crap, games have the unique quality of making the view not just an observer, but the protagonist, an actual participant.  Further, they give you the ability to explore a fictional world outside of the context of a story.  In DF's case, that capacity for exploration is infinite, limited only by your own imagination and creativity.  In fact, there's no story at all beyond what you create. 

If you look at it objectively, DF might be one of the greatest artistic works ever created by man.  I'm completely serious.   Toady created a masterpiece, and anyone who interacts with it becomes a creator themselves.  New stories are constantly being born, and grow, constantly evolving.  Boatmurdered.  Cacame.  The great mermaid harvest.  The list goes on.  Da Vinci made some excellent paintings.  Tolstoy wrote some amazing books.  ToadyOne made a world. 

*EDIT* Typo >.<

[itisnotlogical]

One thing that always bothered me is how to judge videogames as art. Do I consider their stories or their aesthetic appeal? Or the way they make me question things? I have no doubt that videogames are art (DF, Minecraft, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Earthbound, the list goes on), but I'm having trouble reconciling "video" with "game", if that makes any sense. Should gameplay itself factor in to the judgment of games as art?

Final Fantasy IV has an amazing story and some of the most beautiful music I've heard in gaming to date. Still, at times it could be the most boring, repetitive, clunky piece of dung I'd ever put in my GBA. On the opposite end is Toribash. Although the graphics are dull and I turn the sound off because it's annoying, I still have an absolute blast every time I play. I can get absorbed for hours trying to defeat the one guy who's been holding the top spot for eight rounds in a row.

Which one of these games is more artful? Is it the fun one, or the expertly-rendered but somewhat dull one? The idea of gameplay and interactivity is something that hasn't been widely explored in art before, and I'm having a hard time quantifying which should be more important: appearance or fun.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Art isn't quantifiable. Which seems more artistic to you? That's your answer.

[Orange Wizard]

I think video games being art goes without saying, even beyond the obvious visual media.  They tell stories in a way that could barely be scratched at before, where the story they tell becomes your own.  Outside of "choose-your-own-adventure" books, which are pretty much crap, games have the unique quality of making the view not just an observer, but the protagonist, an actual participant.  Further, they give you the ability to explore a fictional world outside of the context of a story.  In DF's case, that capacity for exploration is infinite, limited only by your own imagination and creativity.  In fact, there's no story at all beyond what you create. 

If you look at it objectively, DF might be one of the greatest artistic works ever created by man.  I'm completely serious.   Toady created a masterpiece, and anyone who interacts with it becomes a creator themselves.  New stories are constantly being born, and grow, constantly evolving.  Boatmurdered.  Cacame.  The great mermaid harvest.  The list goes on.  Da Vinci made some excellent paintings.  Tolstoy wrote some amazing books.  ToadyOne made a world. 

*EDIT* Typo >.<

He didn't just make a world, he made something capable of creating a world. When it's finished, it will be capable of randomly generating things on par with The Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire.

[PlutoniumApe]

As an Art Historian I approve of this display!
Sadly, my colleagues aren't always the best in making these decisions, as to which video game one is supposed to call art and what quality might have led to that conclusion, but I wholeheartedly approve this time, especially choosing Dwarf Fortress.

History of Art is a really awkward subject to begin with, due to the ambiguous nature of Art (<- notice the capital 'A'?) itself. In my experience everything is Art once an Art Historian has made that decision, money is probably an issue, too or vice versa. What was my point again? Oh yeah:

FUCK YEAH! DWARF FORTRESS!
Never been this proud of my profession.

[hermes]

Pretty neat that Captain Duck is gonna do the guided tutorial for it too.

:O

Really? That would make it so much sweeter.

Yeah this is cool.  The DF corner is going to be the most chilled and mellifluous section of the exhibit with captain duck's soothing voice.

"Hey guys!  This is Dwarf Fortress.  It's bloody complicated, but, well, great!"

[Wayward Device]

One thing I'd think would be absolutely great would be if they printed all the dev logs form 2006-now on one long roll of paper. Not hard to do and I can't imagine a better way to show off the sheer amount of work that's gone into it. I mean, can you imagine seeing this huge roll of paper and being all "what's that", then finding out it's a six year long list of things changed and improved in DF. Scrolling through, I'd estimate that they are about as long by now as a novel. Not A Song of Ice and Fire type of length, but more than a Tom Clancy.

Likewise, I don't know what's going to go in apart from various videos, but it would be nice if some of the more epic megaprojects (like the Turing-complete calculator) went in as well.

[werty892]

Well, now that its about games and internet, they should change the name to the museam of modem art.

^{IM SO SORRY}

OT: THey should have Towersoared to be part of the exhibit, the things built there jesus christ.