Poll: Hobby or Art?

[Alade]

Well, the question is pretty simple, and so is the background of it. As gaming evolves into an art form, some people want it to stay simple and just provide us with hours of fun, without too much complexity.

So, what do you want gaming to be? A hobby or art?

I myself am leaning towards the art side, some games have influenced me in one way or another, I want them to keep doing that. I would also like to see games become more socially acceptable in higher circles. (i.e. give us some douchey games, so we can play them and pretend to be douches afterward)

 

[loc978]

It's already both. There really isn't any arguing this. By the technical definition of art, even the successive releases of Madden games are art... and people play games like Mass Effect as a hobby.
Shocking, I know.

**edit**
to quote myself the day before yesterday:

Spoiler: definition inside

the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects; also : works so produced [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art?show=1&t=1306978827]

Even if you argue that software doesn't count as an object (though that's quite the stretch in this context... what matters is the human effort that went into creating it), the physical game disc or cartridge is art. If a child writes his name in the snow with pee, that too is art.

If you're going to quibble over these things, at least use a word or phrase that isn't so cut-and-dried easy to define. A better question is "Is the Call of Duty franchise worthwhile art? Is it a great piece of work, or a soulless, assembly-line produced cash-in?"

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

Entertainment, like TV or a movie

there is no such thing as art

 

[Vault101]

Labeling them one way or the other wont change the games themselfs, I dont hwy some people dont understand this

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

The art is in making the games. After that, it's basically just a bunch of people helping spread the brushstrokes.

 

[DEAD34345]

It's already both. There really isn't any arguing this. By the technical definition of art, even the successive releases of Madden games are art... and people play games like Mass Effect as a hobby.
Shocking, I know.

Pretty much what I was going to say.

Just like how drawing is both a hobby and an art. In fact, is there any form of art that isn't also a hobby?

 

[scorptatious]

I kind of see them as both to be honest.

On one hand, I enjoy gaming as a hobby for whenever I get bored or just want to do something fun to pass the time.

On the other hand though, there are a few games that have invoked an emotional response from me. Such as FF VII and IX, MGS3, Shadow of the Colossus, and Valkyria Chronicles. They each have beautiful soundtracks, great stories to tell, fun gameplay mechanics, and unique worlds. Something I believe anyone can enjoy given the chance. They have all influenced me in various ways. That to me is art.

So honestly, I don't see why games have to be one or the other, why can't they become both?

 

[Alade]

It's already both. There really isn't any arguing this. By the technical definition of art, even the successive releases of Madden games are art... and people play games like Mass Effect as a hobby.
Shocking, I know.

I'm aware that a game or a film and probably every art form for that matter can create a fantastic balance between art and entertainment, that wasn't the question asked. The question asked was what someone wants it to be (or prefers it to be so people don't cop out and say both).

 

[loc978]

It's already both. There really isn't any arguing this. By the technical definition of art, even the successive releases of Madden games are art... and people play games like Mass Effect as a hobby.
Shocking, I know.

I'm aware that a game or a film for that matter can create a fantastic balance between art and entertainment, that wasn't the question asked. The question asked was what someone wants it to be (or prefers it to be so people don't cop out and say both).

I think you missed my point. It actually isn't one or the other. You say "art", which is a very cut-and-dried broad definition... but you mean "My definition of high art" which is an opinion.

To answer: like you, I tend to prefer games that meet my personal definition of high art... yet gaming is a hobby of mine. Just a poor choice of words in both cases.

 

[SonicKaos]

The existance of "douchey games" is pretty much impossible, because every game costs around the same price to buy. You can't be posh and of higher class if everyone has access to these things. That would mean either developers would have to start charging rediculous amounts for some of their games so that they appear to be higher class, or make them available in extremely limited quantities. Both aren't wise business decisions really...

Plus, why the hell would anyone want to play a game just to pretend they're cool? Especially if said game isn't necisserily any good.

I'd definitely prefer it to be a hobby. Something people can do for fun to pass time, and talk about with people of similar interests. Would I like gaming to become more socially acceptable? Sure, but we already have enough elitism as it is for no real reason. If you give people a real reason to hate on each others gaming habbits, well... who knows what would happen, but it would be stupid.

Play what you want to play, and find other people who enjoy similar games.

 

[KefkaCultist]

Both. I don't want games that I just stare at while holding a glass of fine wine while fixing my monocle and top hat. Nor do I [usually] want a game that is just a button mashing slaughterfest in the name of fun.

I want a game with substance, a balance between art and fun.

 

[Coffinshaker]

omg, not this again. got enough of an earfull of this debate in artschool to make my brain spin.

HOBBIES CAN BE ART!!! Hobby is like that derogatory term used for arts that aren't seen as "high art". But yeah, games are an art. From the production end, they are arts. If someone likes to make games on the side, that can be a hobby for them, but its still an art. PLAYERS can game as a hobby.

remember... it's 2 different things: production and viewing. Just like a painting, its creation is art, it's product is then viewed. And just like painting, its production could be a hobby, but it's still an art. Viewers may collect paintings as a hobby, though I wouldn't say the appreciation end of viewing to be anything near both terms.

 

[Ghengis John]

Well, the question is pretty simple, and so is the background of it. As gaming evolves into an art form, some people want it to stay simple and just provide us with hours of fun, without too much complexity.

So, what do you want gaming to be? A hobby or art?

I myself am leaning towards the art side, some games have influenced me in one way or another, I want them to keep doing that. I would also like to see games become more socially acceptable in higher circles. (i.e. give us some douchey games, so we can play them and pretend to be douches afterward)

The heck? What is with this poll? Why can't it be both?!?

"Oh what's your hobby?"

"I paint."

Mind blowing.

 

[Haukur Isleifsson]

Both,preferably at the same time. Just as any proper medium should be. Would you really want to have it be only one or the other. That just seems really daft to me.

 

[ColdBlooded]

I refuse to answer on the grounds that games are both, just as a painter would use painting as a hobby to make art.

 

[Zaik]

Tough call.

I tend to think that the "games are art" crowd are all a bunch of pretentious twats trying to ruin something else like the hipster cancer they are, but I can see how an individual game could be art, maybe like Heavy Rain or some sort of interactive visual novel.

I don't mind art video games existing, but I stay far the fuck away from them. Having to define the entire concept as one or the other is pretty much entirely pointless. The most "artsy" thing I think I ever played was Max Payne, and I only call it that because it got so cliched that Max was making fun of himself for it.

 

[eternal-chaplain]

I have to agree with what a lot of people here are saying, it is both currently an art and a hobby with both cases having a good library of games behind them, however the question is what we would like the medium to become and to say the medium should become a hobby would constitute losing a great deal of potential art and robbing mankind of accessible and entertaining art just to kill a few hours every day.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Fun. I don't really care if people think of them as art, except when the effort to make them "artistic" gets in the way of the fun. I want my games to be fun above all other things.
Besides, I don't think all of gaming can be labeled with the "art" label. There are definitely some artistic games, but there are also many that are not.
Of course I'd say the same thing about films, but those have already been painted with that broad stroke.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Huh? This is an odd question. I am not sure that the two are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Heck, I am not sure the two are even on the same spectrum. Playing games might be considered a hobby (like watching films or reading books), but I sure as heck would not call it "art". A game might be a piece of art (like a film or a novel), but I am unsure as to how a game, in and of itself, could be a "hobby". The question really does not make any sense to me.

 

[Erana]

Most game pretty much are blatantly art, just extremely kitsch. I would appreciate games generally being a bit less so, but with AAA titles, this is like my asking for more Avatars, rather than more Transformers movies from the film industry.

That being said, I just wish there was more money in more artistic games, so that it would be able to create for itself a library defined enough to stand on its own as a sort of subgenre.