Do you consider videogames as an art?

Are videogames art?

  • Total voters
    185
Plies

Plies

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
I feel discussions about this subject are always fun. 😁


I'd say video games obviously contain art, but are they an art form, or just pure entertaining? Isn't it quite disturbing that most of the progress in this industry today is too much relying on presentation (aka better graphics), "borrowing" movie/literature elements and satisfying immature jerks like us (yeah, me included) with immature media coverage and general hype that still raves too much about production values and too less about intellectual substance?



Personally, I think (with a few exceptions) video games aren't art (yet). Those exceptions that immediately come to mind are Clair 33 and Astro Bot, because of the way these games lead you through. No static text lines to choose, instead the world the designers created contributes to the whole story progression. I like this more then "run to A, talk to B" or stumbling from cutscene to cutscene.


How a game can make you "feel" from the aspects of the story, gameplay, atmosphere, or even a combination of all of these things.
Is it any different from enjoying and appreciating a Pablo Escobar Picasso painting?



I'd love to hear something from the devs too!!!

French Reaction GIF
 
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Yes. It takes directors, artists, composers and actors to make the game happen.

Its multimedia project.
 
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As with any other form of media, most if it is not art, but some of it is. And all of it is subjective.

Few of mine

Art: Disco Elysium, Witcher 3, Shadow of Colossus, Last of Us 1&2, KCD 1&2, MGS1-3, Silent Hill 2..

Not art: Call of Duty, FIFA, Fortnite, PUBG, DOTA, Assassin's Creed, Saints Row, Resident Evil..
 
i think that video games have become a powerful artistic medium, able to offer narratives and aesthetics that rival, and at times surpass, those of cinema, literature, or visual arts. Titles like Journey, Inside, Disco Elysium, The Last of Us, Shadow of the Colossus, and What Remains of Edith Finch (just to name a few) clearly show that games can be poetic, philosophical, emotionally rich, and visually compelling.

However, most AAA productions often fall short on the artistic side. They're shaped more by commercial pressure than creative intent, constrained by rigid production pipelines, and frequently lack a clear vision of what they're even trying to achive. At their worst, these commercial products aren't about art at all, or even gaming, but are more likely elaborate systems designed to extract as much money from players as possible, dressed up, sometimes, in shiny high-end graphics and repetitive, uninspired gameplay loops. No need to elaborate even more, we all know that things here

And honestly, it feels like you're right: a big part of the industry today has little to do with art, and everything to do with profit, even at the expense of minimal ethics.
 
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Yes, I've never understood the counter argument.

Music is considered an artform. Video games contain a ton of music. Movies are considered an artform. Video games contain a ton of cut-scenes. Paintings are considered an artform. Video games contain truckloads of artwork. Etc.

That said I'm not in any way a 'artsy' guy, so I couldn't really care less either way and my perspective on it is not very deep.
 
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Sometimes sure. Other times they're just products

Just like a drawing is art, but I wouldn't consider one of these "art" despite somebody designing it and creating it on paper.
iu
 
Yes. It used to be Picasso's, Michelangelo's and Van Goghs.


Right now it's more art where the "artist" throws a bloody tampon against a white canvas and tries to sell it for 300 million.
 
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Nope. But maybe I don't know either so there's that. I'll read a few things on either side. I just play them :d

Robb said:
Yes, I've never understood the counter argument.

Music is considered an artform. Video games contain a ton of music. Movies are considered an artform. Video games contain a ton of cut-scenes. Paintings are considered an artform. Video games contain truckloads of artwork. Etc.

That said I'm not in any way a 'artsy' guy, so I couldn't really care less either way and my perspective on it is not very deep.
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The argument I've seen against this specifically is that its parts don't make the whole an art. There can be components to a system (at a micro level) that don't hold the same meaning or value when scaled up (macro level). So the counter might be on the basis of its ontology (what a game is absent all those other aspects) than just saying it's art because it contains other things traditionally considered art. Someone above mentioned "interactivity" which is a worth defending.

vvvv Using the sum argument, but parts don't give the same properties to the whole.
 
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If dedicated concept art, music, digital artwork, story writing, etc are involved then the sum must also be art.

However, if it is repurposed / asset flipped like EA's cheap slob, then definitely not.
 
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Denton said:
As with any other form of media, most if it is not art, but some of it is. And all of it is subjective.

Few of mine

Art: Disco Elysium, Witcher 3, Shadow of Colossus, Last of Us 1&2, KCD 1&2, MGS1-3, Silent Hill 2..

Not art: Call of Duty, FIFA, Fortnite, PUBG, DOTA, Assassin's Creed, Saints Row, Resident Evil..
Click to expand...

Lumping Resident Evil in with the rest of that slop is crazy
 
In general, no.

Video games started life as toys for children. That was their intended purpose.

There are some games are are art. Rez, Journey etc. Definitely artistic games. However, a lot of games don't fit the criteria for art. I don't think people would consider, Fornite, COD, Fifa etc art. They're games.

Video games are games first, but some can be expressions of art.
 
Nope. They contain elements of "art" though, "commercial art" to be specific, but, other than that, they're purely a medium of entertainment and for developers to build and deliver rich and imaginative worlds. They're not meant to be vehicles for some pretentious message. If they happen to have a deeper philosophical message, then that has to be crafted by someone with great care. Very few manage to do that right.
 
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Robin Williams What Year Is It GIF


But yeah. There's many artistic disciplines involved video games, so yeah. I think they're an artistic expression. Also a product of engineering.
 
Still think video games aren't art ? Tell that to Demon's Souls, Ghost of Tsushima, Ori, Hellblade, Zelda and Okami. They're rolling their eyes at you.
 
Myths said:
The argument I've seen against this specifically is that its parts don't make the whole an art. There can be components to a system (at a micro level) that don't hold the same meaning or value when scaled up (macro level). So the counter might be on the basis of its ontology (what a game is absent all those other aspects) than just saying it's art because it contains other things traditionally considered art. Someone above mentioned "interactivity" which is a worth defending.

vvvv Using the sum argument, but parts don't give the same properties to the whole.
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Ah, yeah. But that doesn't really make sense to me as long as those parts wouldn't have existed without the game to begin with.

Like, licensed music in FIFA I can understand. That stuff would've been produced/made either way. But the entire OST of FFVIII wouldn't exist without the game being made.

To me it doesn't make sense to say the music is art and the game isn't. The music is the game, if that's art, the game is art.
 
Yes.

Cinema has lots of trash and garbage for kids and is considered art. Books lots of trash as best sellers. Music same thing.

I don't understand why games that mix lots of things and are made by various artists, you got art made by Yoji Shinkawa or Yoshitaka Amano, music by Nobuo Uematsu or Yuzo Koshiro, directors like Fumito Ueda, can't be art.
Maybe there are few examples that achieve that status in my mind but don't tell me a Silent Hill 2 doesn't have a story as complex if not more than your average book or movie.
 
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Video games are a product sold to make money. Same with film. I don't consider either art. People throw that word around like it's nothing, making the entire term largely worthless.
 
Eimran said:
Right now it's more art where the "artist" throws a bloody tampon against a white canvas and tries to sell it for 300 million.
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We went to the Tate Modern a few years back, never been before, modern art is utter shite but we were bored in London.

The whole museum was having a show of fart huffing 'women's art'. One room was full of used Tampons, some in glass cases, some behind screens..

We ran off. I still don't know what to make of it to this day.

In regards to art in gaming. Soma exists, so yes, gaming is one of the best forms of art and expression

Tampon free, too.
 
They obviously contain elements we traditionally consider to be art (music, pictures, movies etc), and even if games were only an amalgamation of those elements (with some non-artistic interactivity added to make them games) I think we would have to consider them art.

I think the more interesting thing to consider is: can the interactive elements -interactivity being what defines a game as a game- be considered artistic in their own right, or are they more comparable to the 'walking around the art museum' part of the experience... or are they just a set of challenges, which may provide entertainment to overcome, but really aren't trying to convey anything in particular?

Depending on the game, I think the answer can be yes to any (or all) of those questions. In the majority of cases I would not consider the interactive elements in gaming to be art because I do not consider them to be attempting to convey any particular meaning; they are simply providing a challenge in the same way that a crossword or an obstacle course might provide challenge, and I do not consider those to be inherently artistic no matter how good the crossword or obstacle course is. In these cases the game would still likely be art by default -by virtue of its traditional passive artistic elements-but I don't think they would be great examples of what is/should be meant by 'games as art'.

I think there are some cases where the interactive elements themselves can be artistic. I consider it rare, but it can happen, and it allows games to 'be art' in a way which cannot be achieved in passive forms of art. It allows for a more direct communication in a sense between the creator and the person experiencing the art, because the latter can be a participant instead of merely an observer or at best someone experiencing it secondhand via a character in passive media.

One example that always comes to mind (and it's sad because it's a reminder of when Ubisoft could make good games) is in Prince of Persia '08. You spend the whole game double-jumping to the point it becomes second-nature. Fast forward to the end of the game, Elika (your character's companion and love interest) has sacrificed herself to bring life back to the kingdom or whatever, you run off to find the magic whatever the fuck to try and bring her back to life and the game puts what appears to be a straightforward jump in front of you. If you're like me you instinctively go to make the jump without thinking about it and fail... you fail because you have forgotten that Elika is your double jump and you -you the player, not just the character- have taken her for granted. There's no consequence for it and the actual (barely any more difficult) solution was right there in plain sight the whole time and you could have gone straight to it, but that's not the point: the point was for you to attempt the double-jump without thinking, experience that moment of 'why didn't that work?' and then realise what you had done and contemplate what a piece of shit you are. That to me is really 'gaming as art' - when it is using its interactive elements to say something in a way which could not be done in passive media, and using the agency of the player to make them experience what is being conveyed more directly.

Tldr: games are usually 'art' via their passive elements but only occasionally via their interactive elements. I think you could remove all interactivity from most games and they would be exactly as artistic as they were before, but the ones where that isn't true are special and are worthy of respect as a distinct form of art.
 
Pejo said:
Sometimes sure. Other times they're just products

Just like a drawing is art, but I wouldn't consider one of these "art" despite somebody designing it and creating it on paper.
iu
Click to expand...

You are gonna straight face say Graphic Design isnt art?

5eJDSB8.png
 
I feel like videogames where gameplay is the only real focus (like Nintendo games) are mostly a craft.

Games that have interesting themes and perspectives have artistic merits, like Disco Elysium and Expedition 33, are artful as well.

But then again, I think these definitions are mostly semantic. It depends on your experience with the games
 
No, art is accessible to the masses, video games are not.

The social aspect of appreciating an artwork is tangible — you go out with someone to a movie, an exhibition, a gallery, you Netflix and chill, you'll reserve a table to enjoy a seasonal three star Michelin course.

None of that happens in video games. It's virtual. It's meaningless.

But they are so damn fucking fun so let them be just this - fun.
 
Plies said:
I feel discussions about this subject are always fun. 😁


I'd say video games obviously contain art, but are they an art form, or just pure entertaining? Isn't it quite disturbing that most of the progress in this industry today is too much relying on presentation (aka better graphics), "borrowing" movie/literature elements and satisfying immature jerks like us (yeah, me included) with immature media coverage and general hype that still raves too much about production values and too less about intellectual substance?



Personally, I think (with a few exceptions) video games aren't art (yet). Those exceptions that immediately come to mind are Clair 33 and Astro Bot, because of the way these games lead you through. No static text lines to choose, instead the world the designers created contributes to the whole story progression. I like this more then "run to A, talk to B" or stumbling from cutscene to cutscene.


How a game can make you "feel" from the aspects of the story, gameplay, atmosphere, or even a combination of all of these things.
Is it any different from enjoying and appreciating a Pablo Escobar Picasso painting?



I'd love to hear something from the devs too!!!

French Reaction GIF
Click to expand...
indie dev's here, work as game designer and an artist as well.
i was amazed with squaresoft arts back then, and at the time i learnt art, i know video game is one of the form of art, modern art to be precised.
i never go to college, i know many teacher will laugh at me if i goes there and saying this : ))

for me, square soft back then, is the most inspiring visual art, and so often their games are considered as great as well.
 
Rocinante618 said:
No, art is accessible to the masses, video games are not.

The social aspect of appreciating an artwork is tangible — you go out with someone to a movie, an exhibition, a gallery, you Netflix and chill, you'll reserve a table to enjoy a seasonal three star Michelin course.

None of that happens in video games. It's virtual. It's meaningless.

But they are so damn fucking fun so let them be just this - fun.
Click to expand...
If I watch a movie alone presumably it is still art though? We (except for young children) typically read books alone.

I don't think the social aspect is required for defining whether something is art or not. The only necessary communication is the one between the creator and the person experiencing the art.
 
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