There is an infinite amount of daftness to go around, enough so that there are still people clinging to the idea that Computer Games wouldn’t be art. Of course, as with often with humans, this matter is rarely settled with convincing argumentations or empirical log-to-the-forehead -evidence. That’s not going to stop me from trying though. I present for your reading pleasure an argument for that Computer Games are an art form.

NetHack is a game where you have to go deep in the Dungeons of Doom, down to Gehennom itself, to find 3 artifacts, one of them from the clutches of the dreaded piece of age, Wizard of Yendor (affectionately called ‘Rodney’ by NetHackers). These artifacts will give you access to the temple of Moloch that has stolen The Amulet of Yendor, which you must retrieve and return to your god. At the end game you fight your way through 5 elemental planes, last of which is the Astral plane, where you will encounter the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Famine, Death and Pestilence.

Hang on. Are we a Horseman short? The game doesn’t seem to think so. When you #chat with Death he replies:”Who do you think you are, War?”

After killing thousands of monsters either directly or indirectly, perhaps genociding a number or races, getting close to finishing the game, the player is presented with this idea. He is War himself. Of course, the full blow of this situation is not delivered through reading about it. This shall forever remain as the lonely straw of hope for those opposing the superiority of Computer Games as an art form, not playing them!