A good chance to have your say on what games are art.

[omega 616]

The debate over whether games are art will no doubt still be unsettled when the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. puts them on exhibit -- as art! -- on March 16, 2012. The choice of which games will be on display is being left up to the public to decide, with voting open at artofvideogames.org through April 7, 2010.

The exhibit will feature 80 games and 20 platforms, "from the Atari VCS to the PlayStation 3," spanning five eras: "Start," "8-bit," "Bit Wars," "Transition" and "Next Generation." It's slated to run through September 20, 2012. 240 games are on the ballot, which was vetted by a panel of industry vets. The exhibit's site also features forums where the especially passionate gamers among us can "campaign for particular games and voice their opinions about the selections."

Granted, this came up on facebook but for those of us who think games are art, you can vote in things like SOTC rather than manhunt and postal.

http://www.artofvideogames.org/

So who will you be voting for? Or already have.

I personally have no idea, I will have a look at the options I guess.

 

[Mark Hardigan]

Many games, if I can. Among them will definitely be some greats such as Planescape: Torment, Tass Times in Toon Town, Bard's Tale, Half Life, Doom, Syndicate, Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Fallout, Deus Ex, Shadow of the Colossus and System Shock 2 among others.

 

[Melian]

Many games, if I can. Among them will definitely be some greats such as Planescape: Torment, Tass Times in Toon Town, Bard's Tale, Half Life, Doom, Syndicate, Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Fallout, Deus Ex, Shadow of the Colossus and System Shock 2 among others.

I second all of those, but would like to add Icewind Dale I and II. I mean seriously, it's like playing inside a portrait! So beautiful...

 

[Mumonk]

Art is something that makes you "feel". In the movie Dinner Rush, an art critic said "...I don't hate your paintings. Hate is an emotion that sadly these paintings don't give me." Or something like that, don't remember every line.

Anyways, art stirs passion in people, whether you love it or hate it, if it makes you "feel" then it has done its job.

So if the game leaves an impression, or you feel bad for a toon, or you feel happy when your character wins, or you are attracted to a character, or you see these right-wing Holy Rollers hating it and trying to ban it. Then you know its art.

Movies can be considered art, and they do these things to people. So can games.

EDIT : I forgot my game =P .....errr....Minecraft? lol Its a shitty looking game, and its the most wonderful and beautiful one I have ever seen <3

 

[Mumonk]

Art is something that makes you "feel". In the movie Dinner Rush, an art critic said "...I don't hate your paintings. Hate is an emotion that sadly these paintings don't give me." Or something like that, don't remember every line.

Anyways, art stirs passion in people, whether you love it or hate it, if it makes you "feel" then it has done its job.

So if the game leaves an impression, or you feel bad for a toon, or you feel happy when your character wins, or you are attracted to a character, or you see these right-wing Holy Rollers hating it and trying to ban it. Then you know its art.

Movies can be considered art, and they do these things to people. So can games.

EDIT : I forgot my game =P .....errr....Minecraft? lol Its a shitty looking game, and its the most wonderful and beautiful one I have ever seen <3

Holy shit.
You gave a perfect summary of what makes art & then gave perhaps the worst example of a game that is art.

Minecraft is not art in the same way a blank canvas & a set of paint is not art. It can be used to create art, it can be a medium for art but it is not art itself.
If I went to an art gallery & it was just a blank canvas inviting me to produce my own work, I'd feel fucking ripped off.

BUT, Minecraft makes me feel good. Its the only game in the whole freaking world that I can watch other people play and enjoy it as much. I can sit and watch my wife play it or watch one of those "lets play" things on YouTube all day and feel great.

If it makes me feel good and stirs something inside of me, is that not art?

 

[SimuLord]

You all know my opinion on games-as-art (I tend to echo Roger Ebert's sentiments.)

But if you want a damn fine counter-argument to that point, visual art is not where you should look. You should look at the live orchestral performance of "Maria and Draco" from FF6 or at the Video Games Live performance of Baba Yetu to see where games truly distinguish themselves on artistic grounds.

Music in an interactive medium is an artistic statement that does not detract from gameplay---and indeed, music has been such since at least 1985 (Super Mario Bros. as arranged and performed by the Boston Pops, anyone?)

Think of the way art is supposed to resonate with someone, and the most likely response you'll get in that vein that's not in need of a "that may be just me" qualifier involves a soundtrack.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Okami probably has the most notable visual design as far as I remember but it feels like bringing that one up is almost cheating.

I'll probably vote for Halo later.

 

[kylesesh]

Of course, games are art... For example, the final fantasy series, fahrenheit.

But the one game i can truly call art is Heavy Rain.

The graphics and weather effects really make you feel like your in the mddile of a tropical storm... And the story is one that can't be beaten.

It has such an emotional storyline which in my mind is one of the best games of 2010.

 

[SimuLord]

Of course, games are art... For example, the final fantasy series, fahrenheit.

But the one game i can truly call art is Heavy Rain.

The graphics and weather effects really make you feel like your in the mddile of a tropical storm... And the story is one that can't be beaten.

It has such an emotional storyline which in my mind is one of the best games of 2010.

OK, I know I'm wading into a minefield here, but...

If you're holding Heavy Rain up as an artistic achievement in gaming, all you're doing is pretty much proving that either (a)gamers have no sense whatsoever of what makes good art, or (b)gamers are so desperate to have our medium accepted as an artistic medium that crap like Heavy Rain is held up as a high achievement when if Hollywood made a story like that, with that quality of voice acting, critics would rightly skewer it and it'd get a rating on Rotten Tomatoes that would put it right up there with Battlefield Earth, Showgirls, and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever.

David Cage is a pretentious ass, a title he seems hell bent on wrenching away from Hideo Kojima as the biggest pretentious arthouse ass in all of gaming. To see people hold up his craptastic game as some kind of artistic marvel makes me seriously wonder if gamers have ever seen any actual movies that didn't star Michael Cera or Monty Python.

Watch Schindler's List or Forrest Gump or any other movie that clearly establishes film as a legitimate, indisputable art. Compared to any even halfway competent movie, Heavy Rain looks like a four-year-old's crayon drawing hanging in the Louvre.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Anyways, art stirs passion in people, whether you love it or hate it, if it makes you "feel" then it has done its job.

brb nominating Rapelay

 

[Mumonk]

BUT, Minecraft makes me feel good. Its the only game in the whole freaking world that I can watch other people play and enjoy it as much. I can sit and watch my wife play it or watch one of those "lets play" things on YouTube all day and feel great.

If it makes me feel good and stirs something inside of me, is that not art?

Minecraft is a vehicle. It gives you the tools to create art, but that's all. It's like I said with the blank canvas.
What's making you feel good is the art created inside the game.

But, it doesn't give me a flat land of white blocks, it gives me a wonderful "garden of eden" to play in. A world that I can be very attached to. Worlds that I will cycle over and over and over till I find an area I "love". Also most games do this. Most sandbox games anyways. It gives you a prerendered world, let your character loose to do whatever you want to to that world. Kinda like that Black and White game, you play god and make the world as you see fit.

You say if you had to "make your own art" you would feel ripped off. Well that's called a Movie my friend. If you want to "walk through a gallery and be entertained" then watch a movie, or play a overly cinematic JRPG =P

But games are supposed to be played, and the best games let you "make them your own". Minecraft just takes that to the highest level.

 

[Mumonk]

Anyways, art stirs passion in people, whether you love it or hate it, if it makes you "feel" then it has done its job.

brb nominating Rapelay

That make me lol hard =P

 

[Mumonk]

If you can simply go out & stare out at blocky mountains, without digging or rearranging it & find joy in that, I'll pay. I'll pay that Minecraft can be considered art, even if I don't agree with it.

But I dispute what you say next. A game does not need creative input from the player to be good, plenty of great games involve nothing more than performing a predetermined set of actions with the option of failure.
Shadow of the Colossus, a game largely considered the best representative for games-as-art & enjoyable to boot. What do you do in that? You climb & jump & stab in the right order & the right time, you're not making anything at all. The art comes from what you see around you, the art is in the Colossi, creatures largely out of your control, who you can only mildly influence.

So by that rational, any game that you can alter the prerendered world that you have been given, can't be considered art?

What you say is true, a game DOESN'T need to be "creative" to be good, look at the old adventure games like Monkey Island and The Dig, truly awesome games where it is very scripted and allowed NO deviation from the story.

BUT, there are TONS of games that CAN be altered, and most games are kinda "shunned" these days for their linear gameplay. People want to express their creativity, even if its something as simple as giving your character tattoos or getting a new helmet for your armor, or painting a smiley face on your tank. Or something as complex as when you kill a NPC it will effect the ENTIRE story line from then on to the end of the game.

I wouldn't consider any of those games not to be art. I don't care for Picasso, never liked any of his work. Does that mean he is still not a great artist?

 

[Klepa]

Before the games as art debate can go anywhere, we need a definition of art that we can all agree upon.

A game with cool visuals, or astonishing music, definitely has great art in it, but whether or not the actual game itself is "art", I do not know. Are art galleries art?

 

[KalosCast]

Art is something that makes you "feel". In the movie Dinner Rush, an art critic said "...I don't hate your paintings. Hate is an emotion that sadly these paintings don't give me." Or something like that, don't remember every line.

Anyways, art stirs passion in people, whether you love it or hate it, if it makes you "feel" then it has done its job.

So if the game leaves an impression, or you feel bad for a toon, or you feel happy when your character wins, or you are attracted to a character, or you see these right-wing Holy Rollers hating it and trying to ban it. Then you know its art.

Movies can be considered art, and they do these things to people. So can games.

EDIT : I forgot my game =P .....errr....Minecraft? lol Its a shitty looking game, and its the most wonderful and beautiful one I have ever seen <3

Wow, you found a great quote and then took 100% the complete wrong message from it. Any good art creates the sort of emotion or message that the artist intended to invoke, but stirring emotion doesn't create art. If I yell at you and insult you and piss you off, that's not an artistic monologue, I'm just being an asshole. Likewise, Minecraft isn't art any more than an unfinished Lego set is.