Similar to how Maxis and EA's upcoming Spore game allows players evolve a creature from humble unicellular beginnings to daring space explorer, venerable designer Will Wright is adamant that games are quickly morphing into a full-fledged art form.

Speaking at Vancouver Art Gallery's most recent "Krazy! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art" exhibition, Wright said that most art forms, such as television, are created to solve specific problems but inevitably evolve into entertainment and, finally, art. "My industry ... is in the early stages of this process," Wright said.

Wright believes that game designers use their senses allow them to build models of simulations, which allow players to experience something without it being real. As gaming progresses, "Social structures did a large part to spark the development of our imaginations, to build a model of our realities."

Now, according to Wright, gaming has evolved to the point of non-linear, player-driven storytelling. "We, designers, provide a platform for player expression." Using the allusion of his first experience killing civilians in Grand Theft Auto IV, Wright said that he felt remorse at the incident, but it was his story, and that's what happened.

Scoffing at differences between film, an inarguably linear narrative experience, and video games, Wright said that games simply have a different emotional palette -- as summarized by Gamasutra, "feelings such as pride, guilt, and accomplishment, which are commonly felt when playing games, are not felt in the viewers of films whose characters might experience those feelings."

Concluding his lecture, Wright stated that "The best experiences are generative experiences. The best stories are player stories."