I think that's also a fair perspective! From that view, I think the title becomes "video games are becoming *high-quality art*" and partly because the reviewers are pushing them in that direction. But you can also see the quality coming through from their adaptations into other artistic media.

In fact, video game reviewers seem to talk more about plot, narrative, and artistic impact than movie reviewers, according to this Metacritic data. I'd argue both forms contain works of art, and both contain "functional" works meant to distract and waste time (schlocky action movies, etc.).

Both game critics and users alike now seem to weigh the story of a game above almost all other criteria--including visuals, gameplay, etc.

Another fascinating thing to me was that the culinary mix doesn't really vary much from large urban counties to smaller rural ones. American and Mexican food are the two dominant cuisines, with side helpings of Chinese, Italian, etc. Urban counties just have more distinct low-frequency flavors.

An interesting side story from this was that the counties where immigrants move also develop restaurants from their home countries about 2 years later, like clockwork. But, the elasticity--how many more restaurants open in that county--varies tremendously across different origins.

Strangely, no one seems to be complaining about the additional taquerias 🧐

Thanks to all of our attendees and presenters for another successful Saberseminar! You guys are the main attraction and the community that makes our event welcoming, fun, and interesting, and we are so grateful to all of you. ❤️