Can certain video games be considered a form of art?
The past five years have brought us significant new arguments for the three decades long philosophical debate on whether video games should be considered an art form.
I want to emphasize that this is only a philosophical discussion since video games have already been afforded legal status as creative works in the vast majority of developed countries, which legally sets them side-by-side with works such as paintings, drawings, sculptures, literature, music, dance, and movies.
Most of the philosophical definitions agree that art is the expression or application of human creativity and imagination for the creation of works that are meant to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
Two to three decades ago, I would certainly be on the side of criticizers of the idea that video games are a form of art, since back then none of the video games had beautiful, artistic graphics, engaging stories, or the ability to evoke emotions other than pure amusement, excitement, or fear.
However, over the last ten years, the line between art games and indie games (games with a focus on artistic design and engaging storytelling) on one side and digital art and interactive art (such as digital images and performances that involve the participation of viewers) was becoming thinner and thinner.
I haven’t played many video games since I graduated from university, but out of those that I did, the ones from a company Telltale have made the biggest impression on me. The company started publishing its most successful titles about five years ago.
Unlike the vast majority of video games in which the focus is on the player doing something (shooting, driving, buying, building, making moves…), Telltale produces games that put a very strong focus on the story. Nothing in the game is really challenging to do, there are no set goals, points, scores, you cannot win or lose a game.
The feeling when playing their games is very similar to watching a movie – you are watching the story uncover and your interaction with the game is mostly restricted to making dialog decisions, which impact the relations between characters and gives flavor to some events within the story. Telltale stories are quite deep and evoke complex emotions, characters are very well written and voice-acted, graphics have an artistic style. Thus, it’s like watching a Disney or a Ghibli movie with which you can interact.
Despite the appearance of such games, some still challenge their artistic value because they target wide audiences instead of small niches. Excuse me, but if everyone would suddenly start to appreciate painting, should painting lose its status as an art form?
Emerging art forms depend upon existing communities for recognition and legitimization, and video games are facing suspicion from critics of established artists just as movies and comics were once doubted. I think that there are two main reasons why some people still refuse to agree that some types of video games have become art indeed: prejudice (they have tried only a couple of video games in their life and classify them all the same) and elitism (they take pride in being connoisseurs of a certain traditional art form and they want as few other people as possible to have a similar status).
If I have interested you in Telltale games, I recommend the following two issues:
- Telltale: Game of Thrones (especially if you have seen and liked the TV show)
- Telltale: The Walking Dead (if you don't mind some cartoon-style gore)
Please let me know:
- Do you think that some video games are works of art?
- Do you have any other reasons for or against?
Have a wonderful day, week, and life!
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the images used in this article. I just found them online and wanted to share them with you.
I absolutely think they are a real piece of art!
There are games that are so unique with their ideas and the way they entertain people that they absolutely deserve it.
Yes, and not just entertain, but also evoke strong emotions and thinking through fantastic storytelling and involvement. : )
Videogames are art like the movies are art. This are visual representations in movement about stories. Digital art has still to fight to be recognised like traditional art.
Yes, as I wrote in the article, some games feel like watching a movie with which you can interact. : )
Some people claim that a videogame could express a story with more accuracy than a book. Art is change, don't you think? And we love that
An interesting claim. Probably because video games have graphics, sound, and text, while books have text only. However, sometimes it's good to leave something for the imagination. Cheers! : )
This an interesting point raised. I do believe that it might be hard for some people to consider video games as a form of Art because of predjudice. Your point on elitsm is probably valid too, however I feel it might just touch this very deep philosophical question on its superficial level.
To consider the place of video games -or any kind of computer designs -within Art raises the question of what is Art itself. There are many ways to approach answers to this question. If Art is "the expression or application of human creativity and imagination for the creation of works that are meant to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power" then it does indeed include a wide range of creations, with all their different cultural, educational, generational and sensitive backgrounds. Although I do not disagree with this perception it has its limits, that can be witnessed in all the debates on Modern Art and the fine line between Pop entertainment and Artistic artworks.
Some claim that Art in its purest form is an Absolute: when Art happens, it is beyond creativity and it is merely recognisable on a none spiritual level. This utopia of Art also has its own limits, but it also allows to understand the reluctance some could have to include absolutely all forms of creativity unnder the umbrella of Art.
On this note, I do not deny the artistic talents of most creators behind video games and I find it very exciting to see new technologies as a new tool for creation. On the contrary, I find it beautifully fascinating to see how many more doors have been open thanks to the virtual world.
Thank you for the meaningful comment, @astralaglae. : )
I understand the reluctance some people have with classifying absolutely all forms of creativity as art. It is very hard to draw the line in such sensitive matters. I think that, for something to be considered art, in addition to being creative, it should have the ability to evoke strong and complex emotions in viewers/participants.
It is funny this conversation has been in my head since my last comment and I have been raising this point with a few people.
Definition of Art is definitely an unresolved question and in many ways I love the fact that it is. I do believe it is one of the mysteries of life that allows creativity: because art is still undefined, subjective standards about what we consider as Art gets higher, so whatever we will want to create to our subjective satisfaction will have to be of the highest quality we can give.
Trying to find a representation of Art through our creativity is probably a way for artists to never be satisfied with mediocrity.
I'm really glad to know that our conversation got stuck in your head. Most of the topics I write about are something that I've been thinking about for a long time.
Interesting thoughts. Probably many people do tend to strive to achieve greatness more when there are no clear standards - no standards, no limits.
Cheers! : )
They are definately a piece of art;
Have you ever played Braid? Inside? Limbo? Firewatch?
Those are trully amazing and artistic games!
I haven't played none of the mentioned games, but I see that they are all artistic indie games, which is the genre that has the most to do with art. I recommend you to check out Valiant Hearts: The Great War, if you haven't already, it's a lovely indie storytelling game. : )
Please, as the humankind evolves, the art forms evolve as well.
Who don't want to evolve, they should still draw elephants in the caves while poor mammoth is on the fire!
:D :D :D
Thank you for making me smile. : )
I feel like Myst was one of the turning points for the gaming industry. It presented something so rich and immersive that people were drawn into the world. I still remember when it came out, the graphics were amazing for a game. Although much of it was still images, it was just so vibrant. I also feel like the Final Fantasy and Command and Conquer were some of the front runners of bringing live action and cinematic content together. Square Enix even produced a couple of movies with little separation between the two forms of art. Finally, I feel a hat should be tipped to the Kings Quest series. Those were also deeply immersive and in my opinion supreme works of art. Great post! -@bozz
Very nice choice of games. Also, excellent choice of words - how can a story "so rich and immersive that people were drawn into the world" not be art? Cheers! : )
Your right an amazing difference now! Have not seen Woflenstine 3d in years what a game. Kids these days would look at that and laugh. How quickly times have change 💯🐒
Actually, I haven't seen it so far neither, but the google images screenshots have made me smile. It seems even further behind Doom in terms of graphics, although it must have been a hit in its time. : )
It was a great game I had it in 1994/5 on my PC it came on a floppy disc haha 💯🐒
:D
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It definitely is an art!
: )