10 Dumbest Controversies That Dogged Popular Video Games

2. Roger Ebert Saying Video Games Could Never Be Art

Coming out of nowhere, late veteran film critic Roger Ebert's 2010 claim centred on the fact that because games are "played" and constantly interacted with, authorship is therefore created by the player, and not the creator.

It's an interesting stance... for about a second, because in reality, video game developers set the parameters with which we play. The player can't will Nathan Drake to fly, no more than they can make Doomguy run on walls, or Spider-Man drive a car. Any mods or level hacks are comparable to fan edits of popular films, but none of this actively robs the created work of its authorship.

You will always play the game engine, character, movesets, animations etc., that a developer codes. Fundamentally, the developer is the author of the work, just like a film's production team.

Thankfully, after this debate had blown over into a million different thinkpieces, Ebert apologised. He maintained he still doesn't believe games are art, but should've kept it to himself.

Swing and a miss.