Why videogames are art

[masonfr8kr]

My parents will not let me buy M games. However, my friend lent me a copy of Mass Effect 2 the other week and I was doing a power play-through on saturday and sunday. All of a sudden I came to the realization that I was witnessing something great. I am sure that people have ranted and raved about ME2 plenty, especially when it first came out, and I am also fairly certain when I say that most people probably just play through for the romance scenes the series is so famous for. Somewhere about two-thirds of the way through the story something hit me that I hadn't necessarily felt before, certainly not while playing a game. I realized that the story is a representation of the human experience. In my opinion and experience that is what art is, whether it's on canvas, CD, or a screen. The icing on top of the cake is the fact that there are so many variables throughout the story that nearly any outcome a gamer can imagine may come true; what makes it beautiful is that by trying to achieve that the player will influence his or her journey to the desired ending. This was the realization that I came to. Please share any similar experiences you may have had while playing this game or other titles

 

[The Only]

im seriously researching this for a paper please let this commence

 

[Snotnarok]

Games have people making concept art, painting landscapes, designing clothing for characters and architecture, musicians making music, writers creating stories and dialogue, artists sculpting characters in 3D as well as landscapes.

All these art forms combine to make ...not art? How? That's my argument flat out.

 

[Thaius]

When I was younger, I started playing games with great stories. First came Halo: hardly a masterpiece, but an original and entertaining sci-fi epic with a fantastic plot twist and an extremely interesting expanded universe. Then Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time; this tugged at my heartstrings and delivered an experience I could only describe at the time as "like a movie, but interactive." Then came Final Fantasy VII. Everything about this game, every moment of the story, every note of the soundtrack, every character, was absolutely amazing. It's a fantasy epic unlike any other, and for the first time I realized that video games are a storytelling art form unlike any other we've ever seen.

Since then, I've put a lot of study and research into the topic. Seen a lot of conflict, and came out of it with only a stronger resolve as to the artistic status of the medium (seriously, even the best arguments against games as art are either really shaky or plain ignorant).

I would also love to cite the plot twist in Bioshock and the ending of Shadow of the Colossus as moments that really struck me as great, specifically because both use interactivity in creative ways that enhance the impact of the scene tenfold. Good, good stuff.

EDIT:

im seriously researching this for a paper please let this commence

Ooh, feel free to ask me anything. I would be majoring in video game storytelling if such a major existed: as it is, creative writing is as close as I can get. But seriously, I'd be glad to help.

 

[sanguinator]

lately many games have had an artistic representation for something; particularly rpg games

 

[masonfr8kr]

I think that this is a great topic to write a paper about. It is a current, controversial topic. One that could seriously alter the face of the videogame industry as we know and love it. From my perspective we are just emerging from from an era of second-rate developments, cliché sequels, and several big-budget, low originality games with only a few true gems over the past decade. With more games focusing on a story primarily yet augmented with mind-boggling graphics, big guns, and explosive events videogames are becoming more of an art than entertainment alone.

 

[Funk Engine]

Here's my opinion on this: art is anything that evokes an emotional response. Paintings, songs, movies, all of them have been designed and altered over time to help deliver the most poignant emotional responses they can, whether those are joyous, fearful, or sad. If art is simply something that is designed to evoke emotional responses, then games are about as great a medium as we are going to get. We are made to control the character, and that brings us closer to him or her than any dialogue or descriptive writing ever could. Because we care so much for our character, we feel every emotion they would feel as if they were our own. Of course, this only really holds true for truly great games (The list that springs to mind is obvious: Shadow of the Colossus, Portal, Prince of Persia, Half Life, Bioshock, Deus Ex, etc.).

The thing is, we'll never be able to convince everyone that games are art, because everyone interprets different things as art. However, as time passes and more companies develop good, artistic games, gaming will become more accepted and people will start to see just how much expression is available to us through games as a medium

 

[DustyDrB]

im seriously researching this for a paper please let this commence

Then do a search for this subject and read through the 7000 billion topics on this a week we have here...

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Games have people making concept art, painting landscapes, designing clothing for characters and architecture, musicians making music, writers creating stories and dialogue, artists sculpting characters in 3D as well as landscapes.

All these art forms combine to make ...not art? How? That's my argument flat out.

Exactly, although art is subjective and therefore not everyone thinks it to be.

However the way I see it a games potential as art is often thrown out the window when say, if there is a very poor story or some major thing preventing it from being great and in a way moving or making people think.

What I mean is often I see these arguments on games as art somewhere, usually The Escapist then I go play Modern Warfare 2 or Halo and think "This is fun, but how the hell can anyone interperet this as art?", then I'll play Dead Space, Deus Ex or even World In Conflict then I think "Ah now I see what everyones on about..."

Also, Mass Effect is cool but the decisions you make (which are just dialogue options) only slightly change future decisions (which are well...just more dialogue options.)
You never get the chance to like, save or exterminate a village, but if you did I bet the game would just go "Oh ok 5 more paragon/renegade points for you, carry on."

 

[Littlee300]

Batman Arkham Asylum felt truly like art (ignoring the action parts) Batmans hidden emotions revealed by scarecrow gave me awe and Jokers mind is so interesting

Edit: It feels like art. It looks like art. It smells like... *goes off to smell a disk* A very mild smell of when you print a lot of papers. It is 2/3 art then!

 

[masonfr8kr]

I totally realize that as well as criticism to my earlier statement. To be fair I only played through it once for a cinematic feel but what makes something better than average is not the huge, overlying options of genocide vs. picking flowers. Beauty lies in the subtlety of things. For me the subtlety lies in Mass Effect 2. For others it can be in Shadow of the Colossus, Portal, or for some weird reason, Halo. Whatever is beautiful, sad, or provoking to that person is art. The most important thing is that it is engaging.

 

[Exort]

icing on top of the cake is the fact that there are so many variables throughout the story that nearly any outcome a gamer can imagine may come true

Yeah... within like 2-3 branches. Thats totally "any outcome a gamer can imagine"

People. Do me a favour please. Do not over hype meh video games with such obviously retarded phrases. All it does is makes things harder on us in the long run.

Besides, the "are games art" argument was over like 15 minutes after it was first brought up. People just keep dragging its tired old corpse to argue over to somehow think they are intellectual or deep or just to try to convince themselves that games aint just for kids anymore.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1974-Enriching-Lives

I think it is becuase you didn't read enough book to realize some game is full of reference from book or other media are that consider as arts.

Comic book start out as thing for children, now people are willing to accept it is a medium to expess art.
Plays and Acting start out as children playing, now? No one is going ever agure about how plays are not art.
At Shakespeares time, plays are consider inappropraite. In fact, theatre can only be build outside city. Now? theatre are build on some of the most expensive streets.

People will slowly accept concept that seems alien to them give enough time. This was true with all concept, I hope it will stay true with games.

What is to say video game can't be art?
Video game is a Medium, so it movie, TV, newspaper, novel, and such.
It is the people that create the game that decide whether it is a art, and the industry is going down the right path.

The diffence between successful people and unsuccesful one is the abitily to see what is behind a idea. If one can only see a idea's surface not the possiblty hidden inside, they can never discover and use the true potential of the idea, and doomed to lock themself in thier own world.

 

[Spinozaad]

What is art?

If we take the same (and, dare I say, cynical) standards of art and apply them to videogames, than the games pretty much no one plays are the only "real" artistic games. Major games, no matter how skillfully made, no matter how good, are then just 'entertainment'.

But since art is one of the most subjective and precarious things, it's art whenever you want it to be.

Yeah. That's all there is to discuss. Because as long as there is not a single definition for the concept of 'art' that's beyond all reasonable doubt and discussion, this debate is utterly pointless.

 

[Veylon]

Why do video games need to try to be art? Why can't they try to be good games?

Games where a series of cutscenes and dialog are the 'art' tend to get pushed into being movies with awkward scene-select. The gameplay gets squeezed away or minimized so the author's story can predominate. That's my beef: what makes a game a game seems to get stripped away the closer it gets to being considered art.

I'll accept videogames are art when Tetris and Mario Brothers are allowed in. It can't just be about the games that imitate movies or books, it has to be the ones that are about the core gameplay.

 

[Exort]

-cut-

Yes. I "read enough book" as you put it to get the references. And thats a big who cares. So shitty game A referenced shitty book B in shitty scene C. MEH.
All that does is shows that games developers and more importantly gamers themselves do not have enough faith in gaming itself to let it stand on its own feet. Trying to cram crappy meaning into it to appeal to the "GAMES ARE ART" fools just makes gamers look like try hards.

As I said. The "Games are art" argument ended 15 minutes after the very first time it was brought up and I will show you why.

Anything is art.

Everything is art.

The 'video-games are art' argument is a backwards step.

So as Cassita here has already said. Anything and everything is art. So the more we try to defend gaming as an art form the more we show our insecurity in it and are just arguing over nothing.

The argument should not be "are games art" it should be "show me how games are not art"

Are you aware of the law suit happening? The Superme court of US is deciding whether video game is under protection of free speech. That indirctly means "Is Game a art?" since to be not protected by free speech the meduim should no artistic valve (Miller test). That is what it is about.

No, not everything is an art. Somethings does fail Miller test, and by Law they are declare as not art. Sorry but that statement fails.

Why people are tell other "games are art", because there are people like you. Actully quite funny, you ask why people are insecure, yet you are the one that don't consider it as art. It is your existence, that make them feel insecure, you are the one aguring "game are not art".

Also "show me how game are not art" is exactly how to prove "game are art" that is what people uses in court to defend Game's free speech, and funny enough nobody up to date provide a good enough answer to make games fail Miller's test, and maybe you could kindly take a stab at the problem? Professional lawyers tried and failed (everytime).

"games developers and more importantly gamers themselves do not have enough faith in gaming itself to let it stand on its own feet." It is not us not have faith, it is people like you argue otherwise, and referencing is very common among differnet medium. I thought you should notice that by now, since you claim you read enough books.

Anyways, you how arguement surround " Gamer have no faith" and didn't even try to prove "game is not art". I'm sure anyone that learned logic can tell you that is not a logic equivalent.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

icing on top of the cake is the fact that there are so many variables throughout the story that nearly any outcome a gamer can imagine may come true

Yeah... within like 2-3 branches. Thats totally "any outcome a gamer can imagine"

People. Do me a favour please. Do not over hype meh video games with such obviously retarded phrases. All it does is makes things harder on us in the long run.

Besides, the "are games art" argument was over like 15 minutes after it was first brought up. People just keep dragging its tired old corpse to argue over to somehow think they are intellectual or deep or just to try to convince themselves that games aint just for kids anymore.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1974-Enriching-Lives

I think it is becuase you didn't read enough book to realize some game is full of reference from book or other media are that consider as arts.

Comic book start out as thing for children, now people are willing to accept it is a medium to expess art.
Plays and Acting start out as children playing, now? No one is going ever agure about how plays are not art.
At Shakespeares time, plays are consider inappropraite. In fact, theatre can only be build outside city. Now? theatre are build on some of the most expensive streets.

People will slowly accept concept that seems alien to them give enough time. This was true with all concept, I hope it will stay true with games.

What is to say video game can't be art?
Video game is a Medium, so it movie, TV, newspaper, novel, and such.
It is the people that create the game that decide whether it is a art, and the industry is going down the right path.

The diffence between successful people and unsuccesful one is the abitily to see what is behind a idea. If one can only see a idea's surface not the possiblty hidden inside, they can never discover and use the true potential of the idea, and doomed to lock themself in thier own world.

You want to know what a legend in comics thinks about the artwork they produce? Steve Ditko used his old Spider-Man pages as cutting boards. He did 38 issues (39 if you count Spidey's first appearance), can you imagine the amount of money he could've gotten for those first 600 or so pieces of art? (Admittitedly he is deeply into Ayn Rands Objectivism so it kind of makes sense.)

Basically, where we see art, the creators might just be seeing their job. Can it still be art? I think it is more worthy of the term art than people like Jonathan Blow who are trying to make art because the art and emotion comes out naturally when they aren't thinking of art instead of coming off pretencious like Braid does.