If anyone were to make a comparison between video games and traditional art, Theresa Devine would be the one to do it.
Devine, an assistant professor of humanities, arts and cultural studies, has worked on both sides of that fence, starting out as a painter and then moving on to video games.
She also has closely held beliefs about the artistic potential of games, whatever others might think.
“There are games that are art and there are games that are not art,” Devine said. “Just like there is paint on a canvas that is not art.”
Devine’s conversion to video games came in 1994 when her daughter, then in third grade, was playing video games.
“I sat down next to her and made sure these games weren’t ‘hurting her,’” Devine said.
Devine took her to the 1995 “Mortal Kombat” movie and had an epiphany.
“We’re not competing with each other,” Devine said. “We’re competing with this.”
Soon after, she made her entrance into the video game world, working and learning from companies before helping found her own: Zamtox, LLC.
Through it she’s worked on several games for different platforms. All of them explore an artistic idea, such as the relationship between violence and play.
In addition to that, she has organized events and projects on campus to promote the idea that video games can be art, or used as learning tools.
After coming to Arizona State University from Columbia College Chicago, she created the Studio 4 Gaming Innovation, a West campus project that works with professors to foster learning through games.
Some of the studio’s projects include games that help freshman along with classes that are being failed in relatively high rates or bring awareness to world problems.
Even more, she’s organized TEDx ASU West, a private interpretation of the popular TEDx lectures.
The theme, of course, is what Devine has always wanted to speak about: redefining video games.
In April, John Romero, widely considered to be the grandfather of the first-person shooter video game genre, will be speaking.
“(Redefining video games is) a conversation that I’ve been dying to have since 1995,” she said.
Devine makes it clear that whatever she creates, it’s not just for her. She says she doesn’t “care about showing in galleries.”
“Art belongs in the mainstream,” Devine said. “That’s what I want my art to be.”
Reach the reporter at clecher@asu.edu
