Film critic Roger Ebert has decided to lift his silence on games as art and once again posted his thoughts on the topic on his Chicago Sun Times blog titled “Video games can never be art.”

In response to a talk given at the University of Southern California’s TEDxUSC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talk given by game developer-producer “Having once made the statement above, I have declined all opportunities to enlarge upon it or defend it. That seemed to be a fool’s errand, especially given the volume of messages I receive urging me to play this game or that and recant the error of my ways. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that in principle, video games cannot be art. Perhaps it is foolish of me to say “never,” because never, as Rick Wakeman informs us, is a long, long time. Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form.”

As video games become more widespread and enter our everyday lives, online gaming is quickly becoming the main form of entertainment for many people. Games like World of Warcraft or Second Life attract thousands everyday who spend hours in virtual worlds. Many people think this is just an escape from everyday life but for one games designer, this is just education for changing the world.

Jane McGonigal is a games designer and researcher who has been working on a theory about how virtual communities work and how they differ from the real world. Recently she had a very interesting talk at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference regarding how we could learn from online games.