Poll: Video Games = Art

[tokoolforranch]

So I had to post this because of what i read on my other post about why everyone rags on the ps3. I was reading through the responses, thoroughly satisfied with arguments and counter-arguments that had sparked up, and i came across someone who claimed that video games are not a form of art. I have to disagree with that statement. I believe that video games may be the ultimate form of art; they incorporate all forms art: music, drawing, animation, writing, acting, and any other I have missed. I would like everyone's opinion on the subject, and if there is anyone who has worked on the creation of a video game, I am begging to hear your opinion on the accusation that video games are not an art from.

 

[oliveira8]

Yes they are a form of art.

Edit: Fine fine I'll add more...It is a form of art but it shouldnt forgot its main aim. To entertain.

So gaming shouldnt start to go picasso and lose its main goal. Which is to entertain.

 

[Mumorpurger]

I'm an daily reader of Cracked.com, and there's an article that describes 10 games that qualify as art, giving the setting, why it's art, and why it's fun as Hell. here's the link:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/defending-the-habit-10-video-games-as-modern-art/

Oh, yeah, and it's a pretty damn funny article to boot. The whole website is worth a look, but only check it out if you're NOT a basement dweller who doesn't have any remote sense of humor.

 

[dnnydllr]

for the most part....
I don't consider games like grand theft auto art...or madden...or most sports games
but if you take a game like oblivion or fable, that is what i call the most faneffintastic art you'll ever find, and much better than any piece in any museum.

 

[SmilingKitsune]

Yes, games can achieve the status of art in my eyes, not all of them but then I don't see all films as art either.

 

[quack35]

People are going to give such unbiased answers, given this is a video game fansite.

This thread's kind of pointless. Everyone's been talking about games as art here for a long time.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Thread has been done to death.

 

[ElephantGuts]

I think that video games are art as much as movies, TV shows, or books are art. And I consider all of those art. Except for the crappy ones. They're just crap. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor will be in my possession in about 14 hours.

 

[Sewblon]

Yes they are art, but for video games to thrive as art they must establish themselves as something other than a hybrid of other arts.

 

[Finnboghi]

As an undergrad in video game design, I'd have to say that yes, video games are an art form.

In fact, coding as a whole is (or at least, used to be) an art form.

 

[Therumancer]

Well new people show up so you might get some new answers.

Consider for example that White Wolf once put in this really over the top "is it art" thing in a couple of their RPG books which started an "Are RPGS art?", "Are World Of Darkness Games Art"? On RPG forums where such debates generally take place most people said "yes" but you'd be surprised at how many people eventually wound up saying "no" over that time period and making some rather eloquent statements explaining why.

Honestly by the definition used by many people today, pretty much everything is art. Paint an American Flag on the bottom of a jar, pee in the jar, and then dump a cruicifix into it on stage. That can be called "performance art". People have actually gotten away with goverment grants doing stuff like that. :/

Stack some garbage up in random piles and snap pictures, that's art. Doesn't make sense, it's just randomly scattered piles of garbage? Well it's the chaos of the thing... dooood.

A more fair question would revolve around the question of worthwhile art, how one feels that value should be determined, and whether any given piece or type of artwork is worthy.

See for example, I can appreciate paintings, sculptures, photography, and all kinds of things as Artwork even if I don't agree with the statement (or just don't get it for whatever reason). But someone doing performance artwork with bodily fluids, or knitting crap with their pubic hair, or whatever, might be artwork in the "textbook" sense, but to me is simply vile, and I don't care what kind of a statement your trying to make.








>>>----Therumancer--->

 

[SimuLord]

For the over nine thousandth time, video games are not art and I for one am mighty glad for that fact. I don't want art. I want FUN. The two are mutually exclusive as far as my gaming tastes are concerned.

 

[Good morning blues]

Video games are generally corporate art. Video games are art in the same sense that Jackie Chan movies are art. Take from that what you will, I guess.

 

[SimuLord]

Video games are generally corporate art. Video games are art in the same sense that Jackie Chan movies are art. Take from that what you will, I guess.

What I take from that is that you can't call art alive and well when more people know the Ninja Turtles than know the works of the Renaissance artists they're named after (especially Donatello.)

 

[Good morning blues]

Video games are generally corporate art. Video games are art in the same sense that Jackie Chan movies are art. Take from that what you will, I guess.

What I take from that is that you can't call art alive and well when more people know the Ninja Turtles than know the works of the Renaissance artists they're named after (especially Donatello.)

That's high art, and the whole point of high art is that it's inaccessible to the majority of people, reserved for only the upper class. High art is just as healthy as it's ever been; we don't know because we're not billionaires or art snobs.

 

[Spider Expert]

Video Games are a form of art and it's silly to censor them and restrict them.

People are silly.

Now I'm angry >:0

 

[matsugawa]

I'll agree that games are art... about 30percent of the time. Here's what I mean:

Games fall into three basic categories (with occasional cross-pollination):

Games that are Games (gamer's games). These games stay true to form and favor gameplay over design. Pong has practically no artistic merit, but it never needed any. Pretty visuals and cohesive designs are present, but ultimately irrelevant next to the intended fun factor. Pac-Man's design is cohesive yet simplistic, but is just as much fun to play today as back in its debut. Narrative might also be favored over design or gameplay, such as in an RPG.

Games that are Toys (casual gamers, but with hardcore potential). God games and Sandbox games fit this category perfectly along with flight sims, music games, and potentially some racing games. There may be linear progression, but it's almost completely optional in light of the freedoms granted by the game's environment and context. Guitar Hero can be played for five minutes or five hours with equal levels of satisfaction.

Games that are Art (elitists, both good and bad). These are games that favor design and concept over actual gameplay. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are prime examples with their developers' "Subtractive Design" philosophy wherein many conventional game staples are abandoned or reduced significantly, such as the lack of a HUD in Ico or absence of enemies apart from the titular colossi in Shadow.

Hideo Kojima stated that he does not regard games as art, and where his games are concerned, he's absolutely right. Metal Gear Solid is a pretty series indeed, but people don't play them for the sake of immersion or spectacle; they play them because they're fun and, if you're patient, have fairly repsectable stories.

 

[Jonny The Kay]

Some games but quite a bit aren't

 

[Tattaglia]

I guess you could say the craptacular Linger in Shadows was art... it cost me five bucks for seven minutes. This is a video game, not prostitution!