So are video games art?

    Quote from killertomato

    That's simple, Kosmo: it's more unique plus it is directly from the hand of the artist.

    I'm not an expert art-fan but a 300 yr old painting says something about the culture the artist lived in, his thaughts and the way things were back then. It's also interesting to realize that the paint itself has been brought on the fabric 300 yrs ago by someone who lived right then.

    So when there are 300 years old games, you will consider them as art?

    And how exactly video games don't represent the current culture? They are afterall a major part of pop-culture.

    Quote from killertomato

    Maybe that's the reason why there aren't any museums filled with videogames?

    There are loads of museums dedicated to videogames. I have even visited one in germany.

    Quote from Kosmo

    That's simple, Kosmo: it's more unique plus it is directly from the hand of the artist.

    I'm not an expert art-fan but a 300 yr old painting says something about the culture the artist lived in, his thaughts and the way things were back then. It's also interesting to realize that the paint itself has been brought on the fabric 300 yrs ago by someone who lived right then.

    So when there are 300 years old games, you will consider them as art?

    And how exactly video games don't represent the current culture? They are afterall a major part of pop-culture.

    Quote from killertomato

    Maybe that's the reason why there aren't any museums filled with videogames?

    There are loads of museums dedicated to videogames. I have even visited one in germany.

    Gaming has it's own culture.

    There might be some videogame-museum somewhere in Germany. Granted. Does that make games art? Nein.

    You see, Kosmo, the art as I like to know it, has some history. A story, I you will. I just don't see games as art, allthough I know it technically is. For me, games are entertainment. I think of a gamedev more like an entertainer then an artist, for that matter.

    Well if you can stick a bit of concrete in a gallery and call it art, then you sure as Hell can call videogames art, so the answer is yes.

    I'm sticking by what I said earlier. While individual aspects of game creation may be art, I consider the overall process to be a craft. I say this because although the content creation is generally an artistic endevor, I wouldn't consider lines of code, or a lengthy design document pieces of art.

    I think this thread is kinda stupid and so is Hideo Kojima. Only someone who isnt an artist would claim that video games are not art. Unless of course you dont really understand what art is like in Hideo Kojima's case. Art is whatever the hell you want it to be! there i said it.

    Agreed, but I really dont think there is anything smart coming out of this thread, "What is art man?" "man, man.....thats not art" "no man, it totally is". As an art student, ive heard this conversation man times before, ive had teachers start this conversation. It sounds a little different because this is about videogames, but I'll tell you, the only requisite for something to be art, is someone has to say "This is art"

    This is art

    [Blocked Image: http://artmarhome.free.fr/b20-tableau-rouge.jpg]

    Personnaly, i really think that videogames are more an art than this. Also i've already participated to plenty of polemics about "is the videogames an art ?", and i think it's rather a media, like the cinema, regrouping different forms of art plus the interactivity. But anyway, the qualificative art is just a recognition of the people to be one, so i don't think we should care.

    Ah...I dated an artist for almost a year. I was exposed to many forms of art and met many artists and went to art opening. I kinda hate art now, at least the art scene, but I do appreciate art like Zuniga, Elizabeth Fischer and other stuff (mostly through seeing their work on walls of my parents house).

    Generally speaking, people only consider something art for selfish reasons. Let me break it down by scenarios.

    1. You are not an artist and you don't really follow the art world. Are video games art to you? It's probably not going to matter. You're not going to think that much or care about it.

    2. You are a "traditionally trained artist" who paints or sculpts or something. Are video games art to you? YES if the following is true: the art you do is struggling to be recognized because it is sort of "out there" and not traditional. For selfish reasons, you will believe video games are art because by popularizing their acceptance, you might also convince people to accept your work as art.

    2-again. You are a "traditionally trained artist" who paints or sculpts or something. Are video games art to you? NO if the following is true: you feel that video games are somehow competing against the acceptance of your art. Many many artsist feel this way. They feel that if video games become "art" then it takes overall mindshare away from their art.

    3. You are a consumer/collect of art with deep knowledge but not an "artist" in any sense of the word. Are video games art to you? Probably not. If somehow their acceptance as art hurt the value of your collection, you'd for sure think they're not art. If you had stock in Nintendo and suddenly art galleries started selling Nintendo related paintings etc. and Nintendo shot up in value because of it (crazy stupid example here) then sure you'd switch stories and say "video games are art", even though that doesn't exactly relate to the act of playing games.

    4. You work in the video game industry as an "Artist". More than likely what you do is art. Whether it is 2D or 3D, you make stuff that looks like stuff that goes into video games. The cooler the design or more realistic, the better, in general. It takes years of training, lots of hardwork and talent to get these jobs and produce the required output.

    But does it matter if your work is considered "art" or not? It only matters if there is some kind of threat to your livelihood. For example, suppose a proposed anti-video game law threatens to limit sales of your game. If the counter arguement is that games should be protected as "art", then you will probably go around saying "yeah what I do is art."

    My opinion: Video games in themselves are not art in the same way most movies and TV are not art. Video games are entertainment. Right now they are tests of reflexes, logical thinking (like solving puzzles) and understanding of programmer/designer intentions. They are damn fun and often stir our imagination the films often do. But most games have very little spiritual impact the way "fine art" often does. Art is often considered something to meditate with. You look at a still life or a statue and it just sits there, persistant and unchanging. By meditating on it, you are forced to deal with your own issues and concerns, and perhaps gain a new perspective to allow you to change your life in big or small ways.

    Video games are interactive. You aren't there to stare and appreciate a game, you are there to play it and solve it and interact with other people and have fun.

    Are there video games that can stir emotion and make you think long after you play it? Of course. Most of us have played great games that has us think about them when we're not playing them the way we think about movies. But rarely do video games have messages that "high concept" films have like recent movies "Crash" or "Brokeback Mountain" blah blah blah.

    So where am I going with this? As with almost all human debates, the core issue is who gets what. There is no inherent measure of whether something is art. It is only art if we say it is. So video games will be debated as art or not soley because the people debating have something at stake which is usually money, respect, credibility or etc, but ultimately that translates into money in the long run.

    It's all about money.

    I wouldn't call games art, but the content of games IS art. Put simply games contain art.

    Games are more a compilation of art, and a load of code.

    Game content is made by artists, environment artists, character artists and texture artists to name a few.

    Thats my view anyway

    I don't know if it is me splitting hair or everybody else over generalizing things, but everyone speak game graphics as "art" by default.

    I don't consider myself as an artist, I make graphics for various medias like ad agencies and sometimes dabble with game graphics. Do I consider everything that is graphical as art in games? No I don't, do I consider some graphics in games to be art, yes I do.

    Why is this? Well, it's simple, even if I worked at a game developer as a graphic designer (or artist as some of you like to say) many of my work would be "children of labor", just something I HAD to whip up, because the boss said so. But then there are the things that I put love in to them, things that I look forward to do, something that speaks to me and it is something unique. A character model is a good example of this.

    It's like when artists used to have appretices who mixed paint and made canvases, some even painted the backgrounds for the master to paint a portrait on. But is the background itself art? I don't consider it to be, it's turns in to art when the portrait itself is painted on it.

    I would be rather arrogant bastard to call myself an artist if I worked at game developer, since not EVERYTHING I make is something unique and magnificent centerpiece.

    Don’t be fooled by Kojima, this is probably an elaborate, over the top plot twist of some kind. Don't worry, you won't understand until he explains, and even then you'll have no idea what the hell is going on.

    Games can be compelling but they are not art. In fact I feel it's disingenuous even to label all game artists as "artists" but it's the easiest term to describe them so it has stuck.

    "Art" is a term that is thrown around cheaply and loosely. I don't have a good definition of art. It's easy to develop a definition that easily encompasses games. But games are toys. Toys are crafted and there is nothing wrong with taking great pride in oneself for being a skilled craftsman.

    There are sometimes games which evoke something deep inside me, games which in their total vision and execution are so cohesive and gripping and subtle that I will say they border on art.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login