The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a "consumer," what
William Gibson memorably described as "something the size of a baby
hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in
the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered
with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and
makes them sting. It has no mouth... no genitals, and can only express
its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing
the channels on a universal remote."
A work that is...prepared by an officer or employee of the United
States Government as part of that person's official duties, is
not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no
U.S. copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works,
distribution, performance, or display of the work.
Another bubbling intra-generational gap, as any modern parent
knows, is that younger children tend to be ever more artful
multitaskers. Studies performed by Dr. Rosen at Cal State show that
16- to 18-year-olds perform seven tasks, on average, in their free
time — like texting on the phone, sending instant messages and
checking Facebook while sitting in front of the television.
People in their early 20s can handle only six, Dr. Rosen found, and
those in their 30s perform about five and a half.
The science, reduced to its simplest terms, is that carbon dioxide
is known to be effective at trapping solar heat. So are water
vapor (the source of 90% of earth's natural greenhouse effect),
methane, and other gases. The natural carbon dioxide content of the
atmosphere has doubled in the last 200 years, climate is getting
warmer, so the logical conclusion is that there is a connection
between the two trends. If you feel uncomfortably warm at night and
wake up to find someone has put another blanket over you, you don't
need to look beyond that to identify the source of the warming.
* Nobody - nobody - argues with the carbon dioxide trend. It's
established beyond doubt.
* The debate over whether climate is getting warmer is mostly over.
* The debate now is over whether the connection between warming and
human emission of carbon dioxide is real, or whether there are other
causes of climate change at work.
* The real issue is whether the benefits of taking action will
outweigh the costs and regulatory burdens.
* There are some who argue that warming will be beneficial by
reducing energy demands for heating, lengthening growing seasons,
and creating larger habitable and arable territory.
The case for human-caused global warming is simultaneously a lot
clearer than George W. Bush believes, and a whole lot less so than
Al Gore does. There are legitimate questions about the data, past
climate reconstructions, and the computer modeling still to be
answered.
I think Ebert is mostly right, but we shouldn't give much serious attention to someone who has had so little experience with games. That's like arguing about Hermann Hesse with someone who staunchly refuses to read anything longer than a road sign. We should be proud of the distinction between play and art. If we're going to argue at all, our position should be that play is potentially as important as art, if not more so.
---
(Emphasis on "potentially". Game developers still have a lot of ground to cover. The linked article was praising games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect as positive examples of storytelling in games. Yikes.)