In Response to Brandon's Question

The medium of art that has had the strongest emotional impact on me would be music. I think that music is able to convey stories and emotions much more easily than other art mediums such as paintings or sculptures. A wide variety of emotions can be conveyed through music. I think that the majority of people would agree that music is the most emotionally powerful medium of art because music can be easy to understand (although still very complex in its entirety) which helps people identify with it the most. It can easily be argued that people with a greater knowledge of art in its many forms may find that a different medium of art is more emotional for them personally, but for the average individual who has not studied art in depth, music is easy to pick up on and understand from an onlooker’s perspective. Individuals often comment on how they are able to identify with specific lyrics in some songs, but even music which is just an instrumental can still easily convey emotions through the instruments used (violins vs. trumpets) or through the tempo (fast vs. slow). The easy to understand nature of music has inspired many to participate in the creation of art because art via music is so powerful to some that it speaks to them to the point where they wish to express themselves in the same manner which was able to touch them so personally. What is the art medium that people least identify with or enjoy?

Games

The word “game” holds many implications. Usually when a person hears the word “game” they have an automatic understanding of the general ideas that are behind the concept. Because games are so widely known and understood, rarely is a person put into the position where he or she is asked to define the concept. The dictionary defines a game as “a form of play or sport, esp. a competitive one played according to rule and decided by skill, strength, or luck.” As we discussed in class there are many different components to the concept of a game such as it must have at least one player, there needs to be rules, there is a general goal of having fun, etc. The definition found in the dictionary fails to mention a lot of these components that are common threads to most games, but instead mentions other components which could be questionable. The dictionary’s definition focuses on the assumption that a game is something which can be played. The specific word of “play” is not a very reliable component to the concept of games because although games are something to be played, there are other things which can be played which are not considered to be games. For example, musicians play instruments all of the time. When a person goes to a piano recital it is not perceived as a game even though there is playing involved. The dictionary’s definition also focuses on the idea of competition but many games played (such as the class example of house) do not have any form of competitive features to it. What is the most important component to games?