Poll: Games - Art or not?

[Dark Harbinger]

Hello again fellow escapists, now, I am sure that this topic has been done or discussed before on the forums, so forgive me if I am contributing to a refuse pile, however I rather enjoy serious threads, as I came to the escapist in search of a serious but good natured community, well in that regard I am happy.

As I'm sure most of you may know if you have been following Extra Credits or simply keeping tabs on gaming news, a big topic that keeps popping up is games as an art form. Most recently seen with Fox News raising a bit of hoo haa about it.

What I pose to my fellow escapists is a fairly straightforward question, I ask because I myself am unsure exactly where I stand, plus I do enjoy being able to reflect on well reasoned statements to be able to form a solid opinion of my own.

Anyway that's probably enough wittering.

So, what is a game to you? Is it a finely crafted piece of work that deserves recognition either in mainstream media or acknowledged by critics as a piece of art that stands up there with the other forms? Or is it a bit of entertainment, a tool perhaps, nothing more than a quick fix for boredom? Or maybe you see a game as a technological achievement?

 

[Radeonx]

Some games are art, and some are toys.

 

[MisterMaster]

Very very very few games can be considered art.

 

[franconbean]

Games are an art form. They aren't widely accepted as that at the moment, but then again movies weren't either back in the day.
I'm pretty sure Moviebob did a Game Overthinker on this.

 

[Hal10k]

If architecture is an art, then so are video games. When you get right down to it, video games are really just a complex type of architecture that has the priviledge of being allowed to ignore structural physics.

 

[Dark Harbinger]

Games are an art form. They aren't widely accepted as that at the moment, but then again movies weren't either back in the day.
I'm pretty sure Moviebob did a Game Overthinker on this.

I apologise then if I'm spewing out the same old stuff. I do try to post something more than Vs threads.

 

[Dark Harbinger]

I take issue with the whole "film-like experience thing". It's a new medium. Not like films. A different art form.

Just to be Devil's Advocate. May I put forward games like Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire?

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

It's simple:

If literature can still be considered art despite pumping out shlock like Mills and Boon or Twilight

If film can still be considered art despite every summer blockbuster consisting of generically handsome white American men shooting anyone with aridiculous accent or more melanin than them

If music can still be considered art despite Lady Gaga's continued existence

If any of the above can hold true, then videogaming must also be art. Because as Tycho Brahe put it so well 'if a hundred artists create art for five years, how can the end result not be called art?'

 

[franconbean]

Games are an art form. They aren't widely accepted as that at the moment, but then again movies weren't either back in the day.
I'm pretty sure Moviebob did a Game Overthinker on this.

I apologise then if I'm spewing out the same old stuff. I do try to post something more than Vs threads.

I'm not criticising you for it, I'm just pointing out that Moviebob has done something insteresting that we could bring in to this debate

 

[Chromanin]

WHO CARES!? I CAN SHOOT LASERS!!

 

[Thaius]

Games are absolutely art. The annoying thing to me is the "only a few games are art" idea. Guys, the medium of video games is a form of artistic expression. To say, "only the really good and artistic games are art" is essentially saying that there is no such thing as bad art. Video games require creativity and skill to complete, and thus they are all art, even if not all of them are good art.

 

[Dark Harbinger]

Games are an art form. They aren't widely accepted as that at the moment, but then again movies weren't either back in the day.
I'm pretty sure Moviebob did a Game Overthinker on this.

I apologise then if I'm spewing out the same old stuff. I do try to post something more than Vs threads.

I'm not criticising you for it, I'm just pointing out that Moviebob has done something insteresting that we could bring in to this debate

Ah, all the better!

I take issue with the whole "film-like experience thing". It's a new medium. Not like films. A different art form.

Just to be Devil's Advocate. May I put forward games like Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire?

Hmmm......perhaps an intermediary form between the two? I dunno.....

Haha, sorry if I put you on a tightrope there, I suggested those because I personally believe they are the closest games to actual films, but I'm sure they can be called intermediary.

 

[SammiYin]

I don't think they are art at all.

[Hides in his fallout shelter giggling]

In all serious, I could write an essay arguing for my point, but I'm far too lazy.

 

[Zhukov]

You didn't give a definition of "art".

Nobody ever gives a bloody definition!

 

[Thaius]

It's simple:

If literature can still be considered art despite pumping out shlock like Mills and Boon or Twilight

If film can still be considered art despite every summer blockbuster consisting of generically handsome white American men shooting anyone with aridiculous accent or more melanin than them

If music can still be considered art despite Lady Gaga's continued existence

If any of the above can hold true, then videogaming must also be art. Because as Tycho Brahe put it so well 'if a hundred artists create art for five years, how can the end result not be called art?'

I know I just posted my own opinion, but once again the guy with the awesome avatar says something I agree with and think is very important. I'm tired of people considering all those other mediums art despite the crap, then saying video games only have a few actual artworks. So, quoted for truth. Way to go.

 

[Zac Smith]

All games are art yes, like paintings, but some paintings are better then others. The Mona Lisa or a 4 years old playing with some brushes, both paintings, but one is clearly better

 

[Dark Harbinger]

You didn't give a definition of "art".

Nobody ever gives a bloody definition!

Here you go, it is a bit of heavy reading though. ^^

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Art