What is this?

I am Lyz, and this is where I write about video games.

First, I should explain what this blog is not. It is not a debate on whether or not video games should or should not be considered an art form, it is not a list of games that are or are not artistic, it is not a collection of game reviews, it is not an attempt to get people to buy certain games. You can find those discussions elsewhere on the internet, through a magical portal known as Google.

This blog is largely a personal project. I enjoy games, and by far my favorite part of any game, of any style, is that moment when I forget about the real world, and become immersed in the world that the game projects. Some games, I will admit, do not have that effect on me. I will probably not write about those. I do not want to bash games, say how terrible one is in comparison to another. Again, you can find plenty of posts that do just that elsewhere. Instead, I want to explore what it is about each of these games that draws me into their world, what it is that makes me stay and what it is that makes me come back for more.

I have an art background. I have spent the past 7 years studying various aspects of art, starting from computer animation to art history and fine arts, and I am interested in using the language and skills I have developed during my education outside of art. Writing about art is great, but what if I could use those skills to write not about the experience of a painting, or the experience of an installation within a gallery, but the experience of walking through a digital installation through proxy–the worlds created by video games?

I will refer to these posts as Gamescapes throughout the blog, and they will be more formal in structure than the others. And there will be others, discussions of  video games and comparisons to other media, theories and general speculation. But never endorsements to purchase games, recommendations to avoid certain ones, bashing of others. I don’t care about that. Other people do. Go read their blogs, you don’t need that from me.

A few more things to discuss. I do own every game I will write about. I will not buy a game to write about it: I purchase games to play them, not review them (I do not review anything: see above).  All screenshots are my own, unless noted (but it is unlikely I would use a third party screenshot).  If you would like to see more screenshots, you are more than welcome to visit my personal tumblr.

I will, from time to time, talk about the games I love. I primarily play first person shooters and role playing games, but do not limit myself to them. Favorites include, but are not limited to: Fallout 3, Bioshock 2, Pokemon SoulSilver, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and the Sims 2.

Thank you for visiting, and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or complaints!