Games are art argument.

[sam42ification]

One of my freinds is really into art (mostly into photography) being into art myself and also into gaming on a few occasions i've raised the topic of gaming being an art. My freind rejects the idea. I've made this post so people of the escapist can give me some points to argue next time we debate the topic. So tell me some of your better arguments so we as gamers can fight to reconised as a form of art.

 

[Astoria]

To put it simply, art is an expression of creativity. Games are creative. Therefore games are art. Can't see how he'd argue back against that.

 

[PayneTrayne]

Art causes you to think. I have to think of where to put the next long piece in Tetris.

 

[Valagetti]

As Yahtzee once said, things created can be catagorised simply into two catagories. Art of tool. And unless I'm using my Bulletstorm disc to break into my own house I'm pretty sure games are art... Though this is fully subjective.

 

[sam42ification]

As Yahtzee once said, things created can be catagorised simply into two catagories. Art of tool. And unless I'm using my Bulletstorm disc to break into my own house I'm pretty sure games are art... Though this is fully subjective.

Actually i also quoted from Yatzee when arguing i said that then my freind responded with "Toys can neither be catorgorised as art or tool and games are toys". He then went on to say "Your too old to be playing with toys".

 

[Valagetti]

As Yahtzee once said, things created can be catagorised simply into two catagories. Art of tool. And unless I'm using my Bulletstorm disc to break into my own house I'm pretty sure games are art... Though this is fully subjective.

Actually i also quoted from Yatzee when arguing i said that then my freind responded with "Toys can neither be catorgorised as art or tool and games are toys". He then went on to say "Your too old to be playing with toys".

I'm deflecting here, but was this at the GDC convention?

 

[DarthFennec]

Art is where you do stuff for a reason. If there's a drive and a creativeness behind making a video game what it is because it means something that way, then it's art. Sorry if that made little sense

 

[kypsilon]

Tell your artist friend that they said that photography wasn't art either when it came out...and that you're disappointed that he/she doesn't have a more enlightened view of the artistic scope of the medium of games that have frame rates like movies which are still pictures being shown quickly in sequence.

Then tell him it would be cool if his pictures had a sound track.

 

[rubinigosa]

Why is a photograph art ? because it makes us fell something the same can be said fore paintings,films,music and even video games as long as it is made by man and not by nature and can make us fell something then you can call it art...that dose not mean that trowing poop at a brick wall is art just because it makes us fell disgust it is vandalism.

 

[sam42ification]

As Yahtzee once said, things created can be catagorised simply into two catagories. Art of tool. And unless I'm using my Bulletstorm disc to break into my own house I'm pretty sure games are art... Though this is fully subjective.

Actually i also quoted from Yatzee when arguing i said that then my freind responded with "Toys can neither be catorgorised as art or tool and games are toys". He then went on to say "Your too old to be playing with toys".

I'm deflecting here, but was this at the GDC convention?

Yes i'm pretty sure he said it at the GDC convention.

Tell your artist friend that they said that photography wasn't art either when it came out...and that you're disappointed that he/she doesn't have a more enlightened view of the artistic scope of the medium of games that have frame rates like movies which are still pictures being shown quickly in sequence.

Then tell him it would be cool if his pictures had a sound track.

Tried it. He shrugged but i'll keep saying because he hasn't yet come up with a counter to this argument.

 

[Nova Helix]

Besides the whole art is subjective, everything is art, blah blah blah. Here is a simple proof that video games are art.

In these spoilers are one image from a video game and one from a famous piece of art. If the first one is art video games sure as hell are art.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Seriously how Dada and ready-made are considered art but video games aren't is just ridiculous.

 

[MBergman]

One of my freinds is really into art (mostly into photography) being into art myself and also into gaming on a few occasions i've raised the topic of gaming being an art. My freind rejects the idea. I've made this post so people of the escapist can give me some points to argue next time we debate the topic. So tell me some of your better arguments so we as gamers can fight to reconised as a form of art.

I feel that most kinds of creative creating deserves to be called art, why not? So how could creating a new and exciting game mechanic, say Portal, not be called art? And to break it down in the "classic" art forms:

Writing is art, video games have writing.

Painting/drawing is art. The biggest part next to the game mechanics is how it looks and it's style, so video games has that too.

Acting is an art. Video games sometimes (most of the time really) have actors portraying characters.

Music is an art and I think we all now at least one and probably several gaming tunes that kick the ass of a lot of other music so, check.

Now I've probably missed something but you get my point. Video games consist of all kinds of "proper art forms" in addition to being able to create new ways to experience them. I would say that constitutes as an art form in my book at least.

 

[kypsilon]

Tried it. He shrugged but i'll keep saying because he hasn't yet come up with a counter to this argument.

Sounds like a win to me. I've got a friend who does the same thing. Although if he/she does have a rebuttal I'd love to hear it.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

One of my freinds is really into art (mostly into photography) being into art myself and also into gaming on a few occasions i've raised the topic of gaming being an art. My freind rejects the idea. I've made this post so people of the escapist can give me some points to argue next time we debate the topic. So tell me some of your better arguments so we as gamers can fight to reconised as a form of art.

All fiction is art. All drawings are art. All sculpture is art. All television and movies are art. All music is art.

All video games are art.

Now, the issue here is that not all video games are GOOD art. Some are sucky art. But they are still art.

Just like some fiction **coughTwilightcough** is sucky art, some drawings and sculptures are sucky art, and how some TV shows and movies are sucky art.

Art is everywhere. Some of it's good, some bad. Some of it's fine art, some is performance art, and some is literary.

 

[Alexnader]

I feel that most kinds of creative creating deserves to be called art, why not? So how could creating a new and exciting game mechanic, say Portal, not be called art? And to break it down in the "classic" art forms:

Writing is art, video games have writing.

Painting/drawing is art. The biggest part next to the game mechanics is how it looks and it's style, so video games has that too.

Acting is an art. Video games sometimes (most of the time really) have actors portraying characters.

Music is an art and I think we all now at least one and probably several gaming tunes that kick the ass of a lot of other music so, check.

Now I've probably missed something but you get my point. Video games consist of all kinds of "proper art forms" in addition to being able to create new ways to experience them. I would say that constitutes as an art form in my book at least.

Lots of things can be known as an "art". People say there's an "art" to various things like fishing. However what we're really arguing here is whether or not video games can be fine art. The art you see in galleries. Fine art is something developed primarily for its aesthetics and/or concepts, rather than something developed primarily for practical purpose.

Video games, even those like braid, are mostly made for a practical purpose. I.e. to be fun, to entertain and to turn a profit for the studio and publisher. While I believe that interactive video media easily has the potential to be art, I don't think that most video games as they are now would be fine art. This isn't media discrimination, most movies aren't art. Most books aren't art. Most songs aren't art. Knitting, sewing, tailoring etc are all crafts. However all those mediums have a side of them that is artistic and have as much place in a gallery as paintings or sculpture. There's the guerrilla knitters, tagging the streets with wool to make a statement. There have been "books" that are more at home in a gallery than on a bookshelf. There are "movies" that are exhibited in galleries. I would imagine that games have or can have their own artistic counterparts, the important thing to remember is that just like no sane person would wear a scarf made by a guerrilla knitter, you may not find an "art game" particularly fun.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

-Post contains spoilers!-

Of course video games are art. I don't see how they could be seen as otherwise.

Don't video games tell stories? Do their characters have personalities, feelings, thoughts, and resolves?

Don't they have worlds, settings, and creative use of devices used in cinema and writing, such as motifs?

Of course video games are art. Metal Gear Solid's Snake is an exceptionally deep character who, if you followed the series from start to finish, you can become attached to.

Art is, by definition, something that invokes emotion. I felt concern for Snake who was going through a horrible case of accelerated aging and deteriorating health through MGS4.

I could understand how Big Boss felt at the end of MGS3 when saluting The Boss's grave.

I could understand Luke Fon Fabre's guilt in Tales of the Abyss when he had to fight the real Luke to see which would survive.

The stories of video games generally pique my interest, and many have an impact on me, just the same as an intriguing painting, emotional movie, or engaging video would.

Video games have unlimited hours of time to tell their stories as well, giving you much more time to get to know the characters that they contain, much like books.

If you thought Indigo Prophecy's story was cut short, it'd be a lot shorter and have much less to tell if it were a movie. Also, speaking of Indigo Prophecy, that was another game that was actually meant to make its players feel concern for the characters lives throughout its content.

The much shorter time per movies is also why video game to movie conversions usually art terrible.

The interactivity of video games is actually a very nice device to create a deeper impression on its audience.

MGS3's ending had a nice example of this. The Boss had to be put out of her misery after being defeated by Naked Snake. Instead of having him shoot her one last time in a cutscene, it gave the last shot to the participant instead.

I've also heard the argument that video games can't be art because they're interactive, but it isn't hard to see how this is incorrect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_art

Already shows that interactive art is legitimate.

If anyone is still unconvinced, then there's also the fact that if you automatically exclude video games as art just because they are interactive, you're also excluding this very impressive piece of art:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZysu9QcceM

Another very strange argument I've heard is that video games can't be art because they're a combination of different arts, which means movies, television programs, youtube videos, and stage plays can't be art.

What Video Games, books, movies, television, traditional, and all other forms or art have in common is that they were created with a vision in mind with varying detail in mind on how they will impact their audience.

Because of this, I simply cannot understand how exactly video games can't be thought of as art.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

I know I've never considered games as an art form. Mind you, I mostly play shooters so...

Moo.