When the argument 'Videogames are Art' comes up...

[Eclectic Dreck]

To be honest, I have not played a game that strikes me personally as being art. That said, there have been painfully few pieces of literature, painting, music or movies that meet the criteria.

There have been plenty of games that have had a strong narrative or had an appealing or interesting visual style, and even times when the totality of the game managed to craft what could only be called an experience. But it never has had the emotional impact I expect from art.

As is often said, I don't really know what art is, but when I see it I instantly know that it is art.

 

[willsham45]

Okami, beautiful looking game.

But really all games, and artist has to model all the characters and textures and stuff, all animations need to be made or programed...all these things are used in film making and are all preserved as art, why does doing the same thing only where the user adds something to the mix have to change anything.

You could take many screen shots on a game and post them as art, some games have amazing vistas, the halflife games for example with the tower and the portal thing at the end of episode 1 and beginning of 2

 

[Veylon]

My take on it is that to accept video games as art, they have to succeed artistically as video games. It's gameplay that has to count first and be the art. Otherwise, if we're praising the cutscenes or music or voiceacting, the game isn't being judged by it's core attribute, that which makes it a game.

 

[Velveteen]

This thread makes me really happy.It makes me really really want to break out Shadow of the Colossus.

I'm on my first playthrough of Final Fantasy VII now (I know, I know, I've tried many times, it's so good *happy tear*) and it's the first gaming I've done in a while, so this thread will also be a good resource to plumb so I can just stay in amazing games only.

Oh, and my answer is Symphony of the Night.

 

[biGBum333]

Shadow of the colossus.
the story of a man who tries to save the woman he loves and must put his faith into an unknown being and hunt down 16 creatures as old as time itself for what he believes to be the greater good. along his way he physically and emotionally become more corrupt but still trusts the omnipotent being. at the end of his journey he is no longer considered human and is killed then possessed by the one he believed was his only friend. after his seeming death his love awakens and finds the hero reverted back to his childhood as twist of fate to give him a second chance or possibly the being still resides within his body and is waiting to exact revenge.
in the end it gives the message that killing the innocent to break fate is never a good idea and shows that no matter how painful your life is to just move on and not put your faith in false gods.

gee, a spoiler alert wouldve been nice... thanks

 

[OrokuSaki]

..............the art in a game is utterly based on how all the gameplay elements mix to form one whole experience. For instance, FFVII was art because the soundtrack matched the tone, and the graphics (stunning for their time) managed to breathe life into an otherwise dreary combat system. And the story was interesting and driven by decent characters.
While FFXIII clashed on almost every level and really wasn't so much a GAME as a mildly interactive cutscene.

This said, i've yet to see a game utterly perfect enough to be called a masterpiece, but every game is a work of art in its own way....... but I did love Portal like almost everyone on page 1.

 

[biGBum333]

all games are art to a certain extent.

 

[SaraPh]

Balance of Power 2.
Followed by Super Mario Bros.

 

[MrhalfAwake]

Planescape Torment.

Its one of the few games I can thing of that has ACTUAL literary weight. Not just COMPETENT weight either mind you. This thing is actually written damn good.

 

[CrustyOatmeal]

i think of the entire amount of creativity involved with creating a game. the characters, the story, the history, the scenery... you really cant point out a single thing in a video game and not call it art because every single bit of the game was imagined by somebody through their own creativity and even the objects that are recycled in games were created in somebody's mind long before it appeared in the game. much like movies, every piece of the project is art and to trash a single piece is to trash the entire process

 

[Iron Lightning]

The Void - It isnt exactly the best known game, but the whole thing is just artistically powerful.

The Void, The Void a thousand times The Void.

It's beautiful, it's depressing, it's innovative, it's original, it's an exploration of the human condition and most importantly, it's anything but transparent.
One of the finest pieces of art ever created.

When Roger Ebert first started rambling about games being incapable of artistic expression, I seemed to be the only Escapist who ever mentioned The Void in the numerous "games are/aren't art" threads. I am so glad that other people have started mentioning it. However you two found the game, I must say how glad I am that you did. I'm not trying to boast here, I just wanted to say how happy the two of you made me just now.

More on Topic: Yes, The Void, the above video does no justice to the game, like all great art it needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Unfortunately I have a very hard time playing it. I have a psychological problem related to stress, of which The Void provides a great amount. It is testament to The Void's quality that I still make the attempt to play it.

Edit: One Important Point: The Void has been officially translated into quite a few languages (English among them,) so you don't need to learn German (although you may want to learn Russian) to play The Void, as you might have inferred from the above video.

 

[rosac]

Pokemon!

...

I'll just get my coat...

 

[chainer1216]

i personally view all games as art, but when i think of good art and gaming i think of games like red dead redemption, mass effect, and assassin's creed 2 and brotherhood

people seem to think that "art" has to be this beautiful visual and intellectual master piece, but have you actually stopped and looked at what people consider true art? Shakespeare's stuff was mostly drivel, "oh we're teenager who just met, and we cant be together. lets kill ourselves!" or "you killed my father, prepare to die, oh wait, now I'm dead too!" and most famous artist suck as proportioning people bodies. art is something that is entertaining, that makes you think, and what makes you feel, great art, masterpieces, do all those things.

 

[Halceon]

AI War: Fleet command. No comment on the expansions, but the core game is pure, unfettered despair, delivered thoroughly through game mechanics and the 8 sentences that explain the premise.

 

[Wintermoot]

any game with the excpetion of games based on stars and movies art is the expresion of a original idea (atleast by my defintion since there is no real definition of what art is)

 

[slipknot4]

World of Warcraft, the story that each zone gives you is simply amazing when you take a deeper look at it.
And the story of all the characters for instance... The fall of Arthas and the rise of the Lich King is the first one that comes to mind. Just reading about it is wonderful.
And of course, the art style itself.

 

[Estocavio]

The Void - It isnt exactly the best known game, but the whole thing is just artistically powerful.

The Void, The Void a thousand times The Void.

It's beautiful, it's depressing, it's innovative, it's original, it's an exploration of the human condition and most importantly, it's anything but transparent.
One of the finest pieces of art ever created.

When Roger Ebert first started rambling about games being incapable of artistic expression, I seemed to be the only Escapist who ever mentioned The Void in the numerous "games are/aren't art" threads. I am so glad that other people have started mentioning it. However you two found the game, I must say how glad I am that you did. I'm not trying to boast here, I just wanted to say how happy the two of you made me just now.

More on Topic: Yes, The Void, the above video does no justice to the game, like all great art it needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Unfortunately I have a very hard time playing it. I have a psychological problem related to stress, of which The Void provides a great amount. It is testament to The Void's quality that I still make the attempt to play it.

Edit: One Important Point: The Void has been officially translated into quite a few languages (English among them,) so you don't need to learn German (although you may want to learn Russian) to play The Void, as you might have inferred from the above video.

When i first played it, i was horribly confused. When i first went into the Garden i was horribly confused. Then i realised i was methodically tending to a Garden based on life as a puressence, and that the game was much more philosophical than i thought it was; Then it all just came together

 

[Grayfayce]

All of Team Ico's games. I'm sure that their new game, 'The Last Guardian', will be just as breathtaking and moving.

 

[boholikeu]

My take on it is that to accept video games as art, they have to succeed artistically as video games. It's gameplay that has to count first and be the art. Otherwise, if we're praising the cutscenes or music or voiceacting, the game isn't being judged by it's core attribute, that which makes it a game.

Hopefully you aren't saying that we have to *only* look at gameplay when judging the artistic merit of a game. After all, people take the script and music into account when reviewing movies, and lyrics into account when reviewing songs.

people seem to think that "art" has to be this beautiful visual and intellectual master piece, but have you actually stopped and looked at what people consider true art? Shakespeare's stuff was mostly drivel, "oh we're teenager who just met, and we cant be together. lets kill ourselves!" or "you killed my father, prepare to die, oh wait, now I'm dead too!" and most famous artist suck as proportioning people bodies. art is something that is entertaining, that makes you think, and what makes you feel, great art, masterpieces, do all those things.

I have a feeling this is going to make me seem pretentious, but the art of Shakespeare isn't really in his narratives. It's in the wit, the tone, and the thematic development. Similarly, the art of painting is not only in being able to create a realistic representation of a human being (if it were, painting would have been obsolete as soon as the camera was invented).

As such, a game might have a more complex plot than Romeo and Juliet, or more accurately rendered figures than say, a Picasso, but at the same time it's probably also lacking a complex thematic idea like what you find in most "true" art. This is often what people are referring to when they put the fine arts on a pedestal.