Suddenly John Lanchester's opinion matters

The website for the London Review of Books will be getting an unusually high volume of traffic this week, because of this article by John Lanchester.

It is, perhaps understandably, drawing a lot of attention from those who are desperate for videogames to be seen as a credible medium for artistic expression. It's certainly nice to see someone outside the wierd, cultish world of games giving the subject some serious consideration, and while it would be easy to nit-pick (surely Will Wright's "first great creation" was Sim City, not the Sims?), I think he makes some interesting points in the otherwise over-egged 'can videogames be art?' debate.

"Now I play videogames too!"

But really, who cares? I can only cringe as friends of mine rejoice at this token of acceptance from the cultural elite. It seems practically inevitable that in twenty years time videogames will have become as mainstream a form of entertainment as eating tea and toast, and I fail to see what's so important about the literary world beginning to cotton on to this fact. By no means am I sad to see the stigma around videogames evaporate quicker with each passing year, but I see far more significance in overhearing respectable adults on the bus, gossiping among themselves excitedly about the Wii.

What many seem not to have realised is that John Lanchester's article (and all coverage in 'respectable' publications) should be seen as the result, not the cause, of games' widening popularity. If anything about Lanchester's article is remarkable, it's that it's taken until now for it to be written.