True art work is moving, so can games truely be considered art?

[DBlack]

I believe that games cant be considered art until a video game is made that can move the average person to tears. True art work is able to move someone emotionaly, and after all the years i've been playing games the only thing thats ever really moved me was when Donkey Kong went into his banana horde and saw it empty. If anyone has a good example of a moving game let me know, I'd be interested to hear if anyone has ever shead a tear over pixels.

 

[Fanboy]

Why does art always need to evoke the emotion of sadness? I didn't cry when I first saw the Mona Lisa.

 

[El Poncho]

Red Dead Redemption was very emotional, didn't make me cry but if I let it I would of cried.

Portal 2 made me feel all types of emotions, especially the ending.

 

[Bobic]

I've been moved much more by games than paintings. Haven't cried at one but that's a bit of a stupid definition. Seriously, how often does a painting bring someone to tears? I do find that books then movies do the whole emotional thing much better than games though.

 

[GiantRaven]

So no video game can be considered art until one video game makes one person cry? Then all the video games that couldn't be considered art...are now art?

How on earth does that even vaguely make sense?

 

[Continuity]

I believe that games cant be considered art until a video game is made that can move the average person to tears. True art work is able to move someone emotionaly, and after all the years i've been playing games the only thing thats ever really moved me was when Donkey Kong went into his banana horde and saw it empty. If anyone has a good example of a moving game let me know, I'd be interested to hear if anyone has ever shead a tear over pixels.

Playing the wrong games.

If this argument alone was required to shut up all the "are games art" doubters then there would very rapidly be no doubters.

So in answer yes, I have "shed a tear" over pixels as you put it, on several occasions, just don't ask me to be specific as I'm the sort of person who has trouble remembering what they were doing a few hours ago never mind months and years.

Besides, there is more to emotion than tears, and I can say without any shadow of doubt that there are simply dozens of games that have moved me in some way.

 

[tjs09]

Do we really need the "artist's community" to validate games? Games are made for average, everyday humans to enjoy, and that's what they succeed at.

That's just my opinion, though. Also, Silent Hill made me cry[sub]in fear[/sub]

 

[HumpinHop]

'Moving' doesn't just mean forcing tears, although I did shed a manly tear for Thrall when Grom fought Mannoroth from Warcraft III.

My friend was beyond joyful at the end of God of War 3 when, let's just say the first person view get's a bit obscured, and felt it was a really thrilling conclusion to the trilogy. Games can move you to all kinds of emotions, the most notable being anger but there are enough games out there that cover the entire spectrum.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

All we need to shut this guy up is a YouTube of someone crying at a videogame. Then it's case closed.

 

[funguy2121]

Really? Donkey Kong's banana theft, that's what sent you over the edge?

How about a hip-hop or funk tune without lyrics that's just a good groove - does this not deserve to be considered art?

What's largely separated video games from other mediums for so long has been a focus on entertainment. Art and entertainment are not mutually exclusive, but I think most of us would agree that Justin Bieber belongs in the "entertainment" category, while The Mars Volta* deserve to be considered art. Art doesn't necessarily need to evoke an emotional response beyond setting a mood, and the response it evokes doesn't have to be tears. The Office has rarely made anyone cry, but there are few who would claim that General Hospital is a more artistic endeavor, or that the emotional reactions of the audience to the soap are more profound than the laughter at the seminal sitcom's brilliant jokes.

It's not that games are not art but that they are more a medium for entertainment in their current form. It's fair to consider them both, but storytelling and cinematography (artificial or not) are nowhere near in games where they are at the pinnacle of movies and even some good TV (love the cinematographer for Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. What sets the medium apart is of course the interactivity, which few games have pulled off on the level of high art. Unfortunately, most developers have commodified their franchises into the video game equivalent of genre fiction: homogenous shooters and me-too RPGs, the same damn sports games being re-released each year with a few minor upgrades.

This, however, won't last forever.

**

 

[repeating integers]

There is no such thing as "true art". There is just art, and art is whatever you define it to be.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

You truly completely and utterly don't understand the first thing about art if you think there is any piece of art that will make the average person cry.


Oh and, I've never cried at a painting, sculpture, book, poem, or food. Can't say the same about videogames.


Am I supposedly "not average" because of this? Well..no, I'm not average, I'm great and what I cry or don't cry about has nothing to do with it!

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Why does art always need to evoke the emotion of sadness? I didn't cry when I first saw the Mona Lisa.

Art doesn't need to evoke sadness, just emotion. Any emotion.

Also, nice Avatar, glad to know I'm not the only one on the site who's heard of Cybersix.

 

[Palademon]

Ok, if you want to play it that way, go play Shadow of the Colossus. If you don't feel something at the end parts you have no soul.

 

[Dense_Electric]

So there are no other emotions besides sadness?

 

[Ewyx]

While I'm always the one to jump on the 'games are art' bandwagon, to be completely honest, the art world is full of elitist assholes and pretentious academia that decides what can be considered art. The fact is, it's not how people perceive art, but what the 'elite' decides that art is.

The whole field of what is art and what is not art is decided by a few wankers who did nothing in their lives, but dedicated their life to analyzing art.

e.g. Marcel Duchamps Fountain is considered art.
e.g.2. There was once a feminist performer, that pulled out a scroll from her vagina, and read it out loud (it was some sort of feminist manifesto thing, don't quote me though), it was considered art.

The art world is SO fucked up and pretentious, do we really want to be considered a part of it?


Also, I challenge anyone to convince a literary theorist that science fiction should be considered as proper literary form equivalent to works like War and Peace, Crime and Punishment etc.

 

[nukethetuna]

Well shit you guys. Justin Bieber is art.

 

[AwesomeFerret]

Have you played Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII? Have you played it without knowledge of how it will end? That moved me. Made me cry a little. A character I grew to like so much, lost. A character who never did a thing wrong, and who did everything he could to be the best anyone could be. And he was still killed, and yet still remained, at least in my eyes, the hero he dreamed of being. That satisfies what you seem to thing is what defines art, but I would say its not the only thing. The original Mario games could be considered "art", for their perfection of platforming, and the fluid simplicity to it. Okami could be considered "art", for the wonderful world it created and stunning visuals, which while not realistic in any sense of the word, were an amazing blend of animation and traditional Japanese painting. Neither of these two games made me cry, and yet I would still class them as part of the ever expanding field of video game art, which does not and should not have to go by the standards of other mediums..

 

[MCDeltaT]

Red Dead Redemption
Heavy Rain
Shadow Of The Colossus
Final Fantasy VII
Mass Effect


A few games with touching, often sad, moments for your consideration.

Have you played Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII? Have you played it without knowledge of how it will end? That moved me. Made me cry a little.

This game was so sad I repressed it. I both love and hate you for reminding me of it.