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Frank Lantz

What Frank Lantz thinks about video games

@frank-lantz · 9 positions · 0 changes of mind

Game designer and writer, founder of the NYU Game Center, creator of Universal Paperclips and Drop7, and author of The Beauty of Games. Writes about games as an aesthetic form at his newsletter Donkeyspace.

Frank Lantz did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2024, in their own words. Our reading of what Frank Lantz has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe video game audience has come to embrace the medium’s worst traits as emblems of the hobby rather than treat them as flaws.

    Their wordsSo many of the worst things about video games are not just reluctantly tolerated but enthusiastically embraced because, through association, they have become emblems of our beloved hobby/artform/lifestyle.

    ↗Are Games Bad?franklantz.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  3. Our readingVideo games are the cathedrals of the modern world and nobody yet knows what they are for.

    Their wordsThey are the cathedrals of the modern world. Only we don’t know what they are for.

    ↗Are Games Bad?franklantz.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

  4. 3 months earlier

  5. Our readingGames do not make the world a better place; like other art forms, they make the world.

    Their wordsI don’t think games make the world a better place, it’s actually much worse than that, I think games, like other artforms, make the world a place.

    ↗Are Games Good?franklantz.substack.com 2nd of 5 in this piece

  7. Our readingAnyone who wants to understand games should learn to play the compulsive ones and, in the same motion, learn how to stop.

    Their wordsBut I also think that, if you really want to understand games, you should learn how to play these games. Which means learning how to stop playing them. You should learn how to disappear into them, how to let them swallow you whole, and then learn how to extract yourself, safely, on the other side.

    ↗Are Games Good?franklantz.substack.com 4th of 5 in this piece

  9. Our readingGames are hard to see clearly, and the usual tools for looking at them distort as much as they reveal.

    Their wordsI think that it is difficult to see games clearly.

    ↗Are Games Good?franklantz.substack.com 5th of 5 in this piece