Games are art essay.

[LobsterFeng]

So I'm currently enrolled in this film class at my high school. This class has been around for about 7 years, when it was created it counted as an elective English credit instead of an art credit. Now this really bugged my teacher because he believes that the study of movies should be treated just as fairly as the study of art, drama, literature, etc.

For 7 years he fought with the principal, the district, and eventually the government, about changing this to an art credit (he somehow got our congressman to vouch for him.) So this is the first year where this class has counted for an art credit, in celebration, he wanted our final essay of the year to be about what we think art is. Most of the students are doing it on movies, but I raised my hand and asked if I could do mine about video games, and how I think they should be treated as art too.

A lot of the students snickered, some nodded their heads in agreement, and my teacher told me that that would be a great topic, because he understands exactly how I feel about this, since he was in the same position not too long ago.

Anyway, to get to my point, I want part of my essay to include some personal testimonies...I guess...I can't think of a better word; personal testimonies from actual gamers about why they think games can be art. This is what I am asking you members of the escapist today, Why do you personally think that games are art?

My teacher will be sending some of the best essays to the congressman that helped him, so if mine is the best a congressman will hopefully read it. This could be our chance to burst the stereotypes surrounding our culture, and show a person of high authority what we believe (or he might just take a quick glance at it and then shred it, but hey let's remain optimistic.)

TL;DR: Why do you personally think games are art, tell me so I can put it in an essay.

 

[LobsterFeng]

Example: there's a sculpture called "My Lonesome Cowboy" that sold for a lot of money by some Japanese guy. The sculpture is an explicit, and exaggerated "Animu" character jacking off and... well, needless to say, it's very NSFW.

Funny you should mention that, we actually talked about something called "The Fountain" which was basically a giant urinal that sold for millions. I just want what you guys personally get out of games I guess.

 

[Waffle_Man]

Something isn't art. Art is found in something.

I find art in games, therefore games are art.

 

[Kezboard]

Yahzee has written about this topic, you might want to look that up.
One soundbite I particularly like is this: Humans create two kinds of things: Tools and Art. Since videogames aren't tools, they're art. Bang, question answered.

Without making it that easy for us, maybe we can look at another angle: Emotional impact. Games entertain, because they induce an emotional response. At the lowest level it's the feeling of triumph and cartharsis after overcoming a challenge, but as games today tend to have a story, there's also the emotional attachment to characters and places. The medium's interactive nature only serves to enhance that feeling of connection.

Probably the most convincing argument for videogames as an artform is that, after certain tropes and conventions have been established over the decades, creators can work an a metalevel, using their audience's expectations against them and force them to reflect on their actions. The best example is perhaps That Twist from Bioshock, but I'm willing to file IWBTG's "You jumped into a sword, idiot" in the same category.

 

[KuwaSanjuro]

I still don't believe a medium as a whole can be considered art. Michaelangelo's David can be considered art but if I do a poor sculture of a penis in clay its not art like David because they're were essentially made the same way, just like a film could be art (I can't actually think of a film I'd consider art) but simiailrly a porn film is art because hey its a film and films are art. I just think there are examples in these mediums of things considered art.

 

[Jewrean]

Art is all based on our personal perception and how it makes us feel inside. The Mona Lisa is undoubtedly art but there are people in the world who will look at the painting and feel no emotion. To these people, the ones who are not moved in any way by the picture, it is not art.

I once saw a long wooden board painted white and hanged on the wall. It was selling for $40,000 in the area of Modern Art. It was the most retarded thing I've ever seen. It made me feel anger. Maybe that means it IS Art?

Anyway I digress. The only difference between a painting and a movie is that the movie has moving pictures. The difference between that movie and a game is that we can interface with the moving pictures. I don't see why the jump shouldn't allow it to be categorized as art.

Some examples I consider ARTY:

-Limbo
-Silent Hill
-Abe's Oddysee
-Braid

I'm sure there are many others and some people may even think my responses are quite cliche. But the stylistic choices and the emotions that were evoked during these interactive experiences were quite strong.

Even a generic shooter evokes a sense of anger / fun / adrenaline from time to time.

Hope all goes well!

 

[Iron Lightning]

I could write a long-winded philosophical essay about why games can be art, but I won't. Instead, I'll point you to [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Void_%28video_game%29"]The Void[/a]. If that isn't art, then I don't know what is.

 

[eggmiester]

art is about evoking a response from someone,whether it be an emotional response or an intellectual response. art is about making a person look at how they would react in a similar situation.art push's a person to think about themselves, their beliefs, their morals. art is about making people feel something, anything.

this is why video games are an art: because no other medium can actually put you into these situations better than video game's can: no other medium of art can offer you the ability to make the decision's that can change the world, for good or bad: to make you respond to these situation's in your own way.

this is why video game's are an art.

 

[tzimize]

Anything is art. According to ....whoever defines stuff like that.

Any creation is art. Games are creations. They are art.

In my personal opinion only the best stuff is art, so not all games are art. Only the best.

Examples:
Portal/2
Okami
Flower

 

[eggmiester]

Art is all based on our personal perception and how it makes us feel inside. The Mona Lisa is undoubtedly art but there are people in the world who will look at the painting and feel no emotion. To these people, the ones who are not moved in any way by the picture, it is not art.

I once saw a long wooden board painted white and hanged on the wall. It was selling for $40,000 in the area of Modern Art. It was the most retarded thing I've ever seen. It made me feel anger. Maybe that means it IS Art?

Anyway I digress. The only difference between a painting and a movie is that the movie has moving pictures. The difference between that movie and a game is that we can interface with the moving pictures. I don't see why the jump shouldn't allow it to be categorized as art.

Some examples I consider ARTY:

-Limbo
-Silent Hill
-Abe's Oddysee
-Braid

I'm sure there are many others and some people may even think my responses are quite cliche. But the stylistic choices and the emotions that were evoked during these interactive experiences were quite strong.

Even a generic shooter evokes a sense of anger / fun / adrenaline from time to time.

Hope all goes well!

ah feck ya, you said everything i wanted to say better.

i'd also add in :

the mass effect series
the dragon age series
pyschonauts
shadow of the colossus
grim fandango
bioshock
the persona series
the fallout series

if you want to talk about video games as art dude, the game's jewrean and i mentioned are fantastic example's. i'd also recommend you buy any of these game's if you find them: they're all awesome!

 

[CrustyOatmeal]

i feel video games CAN BE art, they are not art just because somebody says they are and the opposite is true as well, just because some critic says something isn't art does not signify it as such. for me, art is something that stirs the soul and attempts to conjures up emotions in the person experiencing or, in the case of video games, interacting with the artwork. that being said, in my opinion, there of some video games that do not deserve the title or artwork and i can say the same about movies, music, painting, and sculptors. just because an object is created in the field associated with art, such as paintings, does not instantly categorize them as such. if i do not feel emotionally moved or intellectually impacted by a piece of "art" then i refuse to justify it as such in my mind. the problem many have with my definition of art is that everything and anything can be art and that what one person finds worthy of the title another might dismiss it as trash not worthy of note but i think that is what is so great about my definition of art, it brings back into play one's own person tastes and opinions rather than fallowing the word of a large group of people we all agree to be artistically minded. art falls to the individual to categorize and label and it is when we listen to those "more enlightened" than we that we loose focus on what artistic expression's original intent was, to awaken the soul

can you put your paper on this forum when you finish it, i really want to read it

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

I'm literally almost done with my 10000-word dissertation which is about the academic validity of videogames, so I guess I should give you my views.

I feel that, as a medium, games can offer similar narrative experiences as films in regards to certain themes. MGS2 deals very, very well with notions of reality and identity, but the whole Metal Gear Solid series is perfect for examples of postmodernism. There are a whole host of articles written about it on www.metagearsolid.com (yes, that says "meta" not metal). The great thing about games is that they offer a new way of experiencing the same themes that films deal with...you could use games with moral choices in them to talk about the whole "death of the author/artist" debate that basically states that texts are completely subjective even if they were produced with a specific message in mind.

You could even look at things like Spore, Minecraft or any other game that allows players to create their own shit...The art comes from how YOU play the game, rather than the game itself being art automatically.

Going back to Metal Gear, you can obviously see the film-like cinematography throughout the series (obviously there are other games too that utilise the same techniques), and well...games use artists so...why can't backgrounds be considered art??

My advice to you would be to use examples that you would consider "art"...perhaps even go the other way and just point out a few games that you wouldn't consider "art", that way your overall argument might have more weight than simply saying "all games are art!!!!"

Oh and did you know that the Smithsonian has an "Art of Videogames" exhibition next year?? I think it would be a pretty good idea to mention that... http://www.artofvideogames.org/

Wow...sporadic thoughts...

 

[Nooners]

I actually led a class discussion about a week ago on the changing landscape of art, including new forms of art that included videogames. I fully knew that it would be a lively discussion (it was, and the teacher hugged me afterward), helped by a pair of girls who like playing Call of Duty with their boyfriends. Their argument might be that games are fun, sure, but it didn't carry the same weight or richness that traditional art such as films as the theater do.

Something I think you need to address in your essay is how games are like any other medium because they force you into the experience. Even with a game as simple as Pac-Man, you can't sit on the sidelines. Film and TV are excellent artistic mediums, that goes without saying, but it's possible for games to carry a lot more weight than either of them eventually if the industry matures.

Okay, my personal experiences for video game art. Let's see...Deus Ex's 3 end choices were a great moment for me, because I honestly didn't love any of them. It really made me think about the role of government and power in society.
The Purification of the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion was also a memorable experience for me. That Argonian Tienavva was like a brother to me for some reason (thank god for PC mods).
I'm also going to put down the possible romances with Tali and Garrus in Mass Effect 2. I wish I could've made it a bit more personal somehow, but what was there was still fairly strong and one of the more memorable parts of the game.

Hope that helps a little bit. Best of luck to you! Any chance we could see that essay once it's done?

 

[GiantRaven]

Meaning that your chair, and the NSFW sculpture, is art not because it means something; because it exists.

Not because it exists, but because it has the potential to mean something to somebody.

 

[Shirokurou]

If movies, from the time of their birth and to thier current state of popcorn blockbusters can still be considered art. Then so can games.
Because games are a medium, where an artist can make the player actually do and go through the work. Like direct impressionism.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

I did my senior exit project on Video games's positive benefits, which included them as art, among other things.

I'd love to help you out, but even giving you sources could come back and bite me.

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

I think some games are artistic, but I wouldn't say video games are a good example of art. I know art is subjective blah blah, but a load of video games are just about killing people and shooting guns. I doubt anyone plays those games for their artistic merit, they're entertaining, in the same way Die Hard, or any over the top action film is. However, those types of games make up for a huge portion of video games as a whole. I'm not just talking about COD, Halo etc either, I'm talking about action games in general, so hack and slashers, sandbox games, shooters, fighters, racers, and so on.

In my opinion video games aren't the best example of art because to achieve a good story they need to balance it alongside gameplay, which hinders the story. I get much more emotionally involved with a film that excels in delivering a compelling narrative, not a video game. I would maybe agree that the ability to do something on screen and physically enjoy it even though it bares no consequence on me is in some ways art, but I wouldn't say video games possess better story telling techniques than films, or books.

Besides, anything is art it would seem. I have a ticket to a gig on top of my bank card, which is on top of about £300 cash right next to me, I could take a picture and say it's art. People wouldn't dare argue it isn't art either because then they would show other people that they don't see the artistic value.

Slightly off-topic, but if I were to write that essay. I wouldn't run in like "FUCK U GUISE, ART R SUBJECTIVE SO VIDEO GAMES R ART". I'd find a middle ground, argue why they could be perceived as art, and why they couldn't. It's down to opinion though, I'd probably write it about how certain video games could maybe be seen as art, but why the majority aren't.

 

[Palademon]

I was in this position for a small presentation in Philosophy. (Yay, another oppurtuntiy to mention it). Explain why you think something is art. I did Shadow of the Colossus

People thought it silly, but when I had 14 slides with nothing but small captions, images and links, and my presentation took 30 minutes, speaking from the heart with barely anything as a prompt, and only eneded because the class did, and I was about two thirds through, and people found it hard lasting the suggested five minutes with more classical or cliched ideas of art, which seemed to have no point other than "This is well known for being art" I felt quite UN-silly.

Anyway, I guess an important thing is games CAN be art and anyone who thinks games are art arent going to defend the stupidest things, and this is something you should put across so you don't seem like you full-heartedly believe in all games great and crap.

So choose good examples.