Why do video games need to be art?

[LightningBanks]

I find that although i enjoy all sorts of games, some games I get into the gameplay and enjoy the excitement- Gears of war comes to mind here

Other games are more enjoyed if you treat them like a ride, appreciating things such as style, humour, style- Heavy rain, fallout 3 (to some extent), and more recently deathspank

 

[default]

Okay, there is a massive difference between ART and DRAWING. The difference between real emotional or conceptual expression and just making something.

Most games these days are the latter, just a series of ideas pasted and enunciated straight-forwardly. Bang, just like that. This are giant Mc-Sword-Barbarian, go kill goblins.

However, a very select few express some deep and real underlying emotion or idea. This is what true art is about. A kid scribbling a deformed house is NOT making art. He is just drawing.

But lets face it, most games these days are tasteless, even if they were considered art. A giant, sweating man in 3 inch thick battle armour spraying lead on a horde of slavering creatures from the underworld can barely be considered thought provoking or beautiful. I am with Erbert on this one. For the most part, games are not art.

 

[Furious Styles]

They don't need to be, but they arguably are.

 

[Glamorgan]

Like what everyone else has said, they don't have to be, but they are

 

[Ldude893]

Oh good god, not this again.

OT: Anything made by a sentient being that can convey emotion is art. Therefore, Games are Art. Now let us shut up and never talk about this again.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

Short answer: They don't.
Long answer: They don't, and the morons that need to prove that they are art are just trying to compensate for something.

 

[Lullabye]

Short answer: They don't.
Long answer: They don't, and the morons that need to prove that they are art are just trying to compensate for something.

Probably their lack of artistic value....
Um. They don't need to be art. Just as an apple doesn't need to be a fruit. You just can't help it.

 

[Jaranja]

No, videogames need to be considered a normal form of media. Just like books. Just like movies. Just like TV.

They can be art later.

There you go. They're all just media.

Most forms of media can be considered art if they're bloody amazing, however.

If you think something is art, it is. If you feel like they don't need to be art, whatever that means, they don't.

 

[TPiddy]

No, videogames need to be considered a normal form of media. Just like books. Just like movies. Just like TV.

They can be art later.

Books, Movies and TV can be art, so why not games? Obviously not everything will be art, and most games are not intended to be that way, it's only a select few that can transcend the medium to become truly artistic (Okami, for one)

 

[TiefBlau]

They don't NEED to be art. They just are. That's reality, and that's what I intend to argue.

If you want to know why I argue, its because:
a) We all wish to educate,
b) It's fun to argue, and
c) It's kind of insulting to see someone question the profundity of my favorite media.

It's like the whole anime thing. Most people think of anime fans as fat, basement dwelling, pillow humping tards, and, granted, the developers aren't doing much to reverse that image. But when I find a work or series I truly appreciate, and some asshole shoots it down with a blanket generalization about catgirls or some bullshit, you're damn right I'm going to take some time to correct his ignorant ass.

 

[Proteus214]

They need to be art for the sake of longevity. If something moves you emotionally, then you tend to remember it for that. Crafting an aesthetically stimulating experience will endear the game to the player. It's the difference between a flash in the pan and something that is remembered for a lifetime.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

I don't think they need to be art. But I think it's just stupidly ignorant when someone says that videogames are just about shooting things.

 

[Aurgelmir]

Like what everyone else has said, they don't have to be, but they are

Are they really?

Or do you mean that they can be?

Because personally I do not consider all games art. But I do think there can be games that are art.

But what I am asking is not if the are. But why do we as gamers need to consider games art?

PS: I agree that idiots that say that games can never be art... are well idiots
That doesn't mean I consider all games to be art. I personally have yet to play a game that I would view as art.

 

[Joe Matsuda]

They don't need to be...they just are...

Some convey emotion and feeling so well I actually cry

I mean, onions make me cry too...but Persona 3 made me cry for a completely different reason i.e. emotion i.e. it's art

 

[Pearwood]

A team of people working to tell a story to an audience, just as much artistic potential as a film.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

The biggest problem for most people are that out of any type of media that can me considered art is that video games are so much more interactive than anything else, would you climb to the top of Rodin's Gates of Hell? Of course not, but you expected to jump right in a game and loss yourself in it. Most mainstream critics just don't know how toi handle it. My thoughts on the matter aside, yes video games CAN be art, but I'm not sure we have reached the level where any video game truly touches you the way real art should and does

 

[jelock]

No, videogames need to be considered a normal form of media. Just like books. Just like movies. Just like TV.

They can be art later.

Which are all forms of art and artistic expression. Art is the something made through creative and expressive input - they portray feelings, images, tell stories etc which is exactly what games do thus by their nature they are artistic. Art is not just pictures.

 

[LightOfDarkness]

No, videogames need to be considered a normal form of media. Just like books. Just like movies. Just like TV.

They can be art later.

Those 3 examples are all art. Drama (acting) and writing.

Pretty much all media is art. Whether it's any good or not is something else.