TBC said:
I presume that everyone on this website would say that games are art (me included), my question is why do we think this. I'm a philosophy student and I want to write a paper about why videogames should be considered art. I just want to have a discussion about why we think that games are art and get some tangible reasons to write about.
Thanks
If you're looking for an objective or analytical point of view, who makes video games?
Concept artists, modellers, animators, programmers, writers, event and scenario planners, set builders, actors, voice actors, and so many more in specialized or custom roles based on the project (maybe historical or cultural consultants for games steeped in history or lore, or even philosophic consultants for existential subject matter). All of these creators plying their trade, working together to build a specialized experience for the player, or receiver of the experience.
With how loose the definition of art has become since abstract expressionism, I think the fact that so many still oppose the idea of video games being art is just stubborn petulance. Two days ago, I learned about a performance art piece called Seed Bed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedbed_(performance_piece)]. Basically the artist hid himself below the wooden floorboards of a gallery and masturbated for 8 hours straight, with the room hooked up to loudspeakers which projected the sounds throughout the gallery. Then in general there's Allan Kaprow's Happenings. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happenings] If individualized experiences like this are considered art, why aren't video games? Of course it would be hard to put Call of Duty on the level of a well thought out happening, but the potential is there. Video games engage the viewer in a way that standard film cannot even come close to.
One of the most vital parts of human experience is interaction. Can you even call someone a human if they've never interacted with anything? That is what video games do--they bring the person in not as a passive viewer, but as a player--someone fully engaged and invested in the current experience. Your role may be as a champion or a warrior, or maybe you're subdued and only capable of small actions. But either way you are there, making calls, being addressed not as someone to be presented something but rather as a part of what is being presented. You learn the most about a person from the way the deal with adversity. And that is what video games can provide that few other mediums can--adversity, challenge, trials. Will you choose to stand in the back and heal your party, or will you take up a warrior class and help them cut down the enemies before you have to heal? Do you rush through the level and get to the princess as fast as possible, or wait around and collect all the goodies and secret treasures you can? Are you the type to press the reset button when you've lost, or will you suffer through the humiliation of the game over screen and let it reset you where it will? These are all elements indicative of someone's character. Games have a huge potential to make us see ourselves in a different light, which has been a common goal of art for nearly a century now.
Again, I think the people who still refuse to admit it's art are really limiting their perspectives. There is far too much you can do with it without there being the potential for art or unique experiences. You can't look at art history and say something as huge and as different as video games aren't the start of a new medium.