Poll: Can multiplayer games be art?

[random_bars]

Here's a question for you guys. I agree with the school of thought that says that video games are art in just the same way as movies, books, music and so on are, considering they contain elements from all of these, merely with the added element of interactivity.

But whenever this topic comes up, all everyone seems to be talking about is single player games.So my question is - can the same be said of multiplayer games? Or does the fact that they are competitive in nature, and require two people to enjoy, mean they're closer to a sport than an art?

 

[Kyougi Ryu]

If the co-op mode in Portal 2 can be as interesting as Portal 1 (and by the looks of it, there's a good chance it will be), then I think multiplayer games/modes can be art. It just needs to be pulled off properly.

 

[random_bars]

If the co-op mode in Portal 2 can be as interesting as Portal 1 (and by the looks of it, there's a good chance it will be), then I think multiplayer games/modes can be art. It just needs to be pulled off properly.

Thing is I'm not talking really about the quality of it, I mean bad art is still art. But that the very concept of multiplayer, especially competitive multiplayer, could be seen to go against the idea of art - that's what I'm wondering. Do you think that competition means a game isn't art?

 

[spartan231490]

I would say that multiplayer games are still art in the balance of machanics and the creation of interesting maps and ect.

 

[L4hlborg]

Just about anything CAN be art, so I'll go with yes. I don't have any examples in my mind though.

 

[MrGalactus]

Uhh I don't know about that. The closest would be to what Brink is doing, giving a story to multiplayer. In games that we can easily call art like Bioshock or Silent Hill or CoD4, single player has a message or a moral to be learned. It makes you think about the characters as people and their motives and makes you react emotionally. So far, I don't think multiplayer is art, I think it is just entertainment, but that is not to say that that cant be. If someone is inspired to make the best multiplayer game with his own unique vision, that would make it art. Its all about players emotional experience and who made it for what.

 

[random_bars]

Uhh I don't know about that. The closest would be to what Brink is doing, giving a story to multiplayer. In games that we can easily call art like Bioshock or Silent Hill or CoD4, single player has a message or a moral to be learned. It makes you think about the characters as people and their motives and makes you react emotionally. So far, I don't think multiplayer is art, I think it is just entertainment, but that is not to say that that cant be. If someone is inspired to make the best multiplayer game with his own unique vision, that would make it art. Its all about players emotional experience and who made it for what.

Hmm. So, then, would you consider a multiplayer game where the players are not simply generic army men, but actual characters, with personalities and opinions and motives, art? Because off the top of my head, Team Fortress 2 and Brutal Legend both fit these criteria.

 

[Crapster]

I almost feel like a great multiplayer game can be art. One thing that art can do, beyond making people think, is bring them together. I feel like a lot of joy in watching movies isn't just derived from the movie itself, but that there's something to be said for the group experience of seeing it in the theater. I mean, sure there are sometimes noisy children or dicks who won't stop talking, but that doesn't change the fact that you're sharing an experience with people.

Multiplayer games are the same way. For all the teabagging and guys throwing the word "fag" around, you're still sharing an experience with the people you're playing with, and I think that there's a certain art to that.

 

[random_bars]

Surely though you could say the same of any group activity though...?

(this is to Crapster btw)

 

[klakkat]

I would say Minions is a work of art, though not the kind like a classic book. More like the kind of art you hang on your wall; entertaining, interesting, and surprisingly deep for such a small thing, but it's not full of commentary on the world or any kind of philosophy.

Hell, a lot of games can fall in that category. The big factor for me is if it gets the brain moving. That about sums up my opinion on Art; if it doesn't touch your mind or your emotions then it isn't art (mind you, I realize this definition is personal and disqualifies about 95% of 'art' from being called art by me).

 

[Subzerowings]

Let me just be perfectly clear about this:

Spoiler: This is considered art.

Kind of sets the bar pretty low, doesn't it?

So yes, (multiplayer) games are art.
It's not much of an achievement, really.

 

[Kenko]

Art can never have a function. So no. Its not art.

 

[SuperRobot64]

As long as it has a narrative, then yes.

 

[Buccura]

Honestly I tend to roll my eyes when people begin to argue that games are art. Games can have artistic merit to them, games like Killer7, Okami, Eternal Darkness, Bioshock, to name a few, but to say all games are art I think is extremely pretentious.

On topic, I think it's possible, but by no means are all multiplayer games art in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Jandau]

No.

There aren't any elements inherent to multiplayer itself that might be artistic, at least not in the current gaming paradigm. One could make a game with artistic merit and then just stick two players in it rather than one, but then it's not multiplayer that makes a game artistic, is it?

 

[random_bars]

No.

There aren't any elements inherent to multiplayer itself that might be artistic, at least not in the current gaming paradigm. One could make a game with artistic merit and then just stick two players in it rather than one, but then it's not multiplayer that makes a game artistic, is it?

But even if it isn't the multiplayer specifically that makes the game artistic, would you really discount the game from being classified as art?

 

[MrGalactus]

Uhh I don't know about that. The closest would be to what Brink is doing, giving a story to multiplayer. In games that we can easily call art like Bioshock or Silent Hill or CoD4, single player has a message or a moral to be learned. It makes you think about the characters as people and their motives and makes you react emotionally. So far, I don't think multiplayer is art, I think it is just entertainment, but that is not to say that that cant be. If someone is inspired to make the best multiplayer game with his own unique vision, that would make it art. Its all about players emotional experience and who made it for what.

Hmm. So, then, would you consider a multiplayer game where the players are not simply generic army men, but actual characters, with personalities and opinions and motives, art? Because off the top of my head, Team Fortress 2 and Brutal Legend both fit these criteria.

Exellent obsevation.
I have not played the multiplayer for brutal legend as I thought it was a beat em up, but the multiplayer was more along the lines of strategy which I wasn't expecting and it put me off.
Team Fortress, though, is an interesting example. The characters are given personality, but it is very minor and doesn't show up during the game itself much at all. I would say Team Fortress is art, though. Valve themselves seem to be more gaming arists than software developers, I mean they arent perfect or efficient people, but when they set out to make a game, they set out to make it the best the can. They take Mods that inspired them, and take it to its full potential. That's what makes Team Fortress 2 art. It was made from one mans inspiration, and was made to be the best and to inspire other people, not for profit.
So yes, I would say it's art, but because of why and how it was made, not because of the content of the gameplay itself.

 

[Weaver]

I think there is a difference between "good art" and "bad art". Plan 9 From Outer Space is art, but it's not good art for instance. To answer the question, I believe a MP game is art, but I've never seen them as "good art".

 

[Shirokurou]

I don't deny the possibility, but find it unlikely.
If a game can be likened to a book or a movie (which is art), then multiplayer is a sport (which is... a sport)

 

[brainslurper]

art is a creative portrayal of skill or talent, and i think the only way you can really judge art is the effect art has on people. in that case black ops multiplayer is the god of art as it has outsold every other form of entertainment that could be called art. like twilight the movie in itself wasnt art but it was an art getting people so into it.