![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Video Games and Art
So Roger Ebert said once more that video games aren't art. And there has been a big tizzy about this. This is silly. Clearly, for the trivial definition of art, video games are art. But Ebert, sometimes (he shifts his goalposts constantly) means "not art" in a different sense than formal definition: he sometimes means it in the critically dismissive sense, and in that case he's pretty close to right on target.
What do I mean by "critically dismissive?" Well, for instance, imagine a Hallmark card with a nice painting of some lilies on the cover. It's clearly art in the trivial sense: paintings are pretty much the only thing which are defined culturally as honestly %100 bona-fide art without asterisk. But in another sense it's "not art:" in that it has no redeeming social or aesthetic value. Indeed it pretty much exists to be inoffensive and non-noticeable.
In terms of the basic question: are video games art? clearly the answer is yes. But in terms of the question "is there any worthwhile art in video games?" the answer is much hazier. I think that the answer is yes, but there's still a surprising dearth.
When I think about video games that have personally affected me about as much as a pretty good movie or nearly any book, I can count them on one hand. If I remove the games where it was some non-game aspect of the work (I'm looking at you, FFTactics) that affected me, it drops even further.
When I think about video games that have caused me to dramatically re-examine and rethink my life, the number drops to zero. (compared to a handful of movies, a few role-playing games, a great many books.)
In terms of things which have actually honestly changed my life, it's really just books and may...be a tabletop role-playing game (although I bet if I was a movie buff it'd have some movies too: I've seen this amongst my friends.) Video games aren't anywhere close to this.
So, once we've dismissed the obvious, there's a pretty important question there: why the dearth of decent art in video games? I think that, as a generation of video game players and designers, we need to confront that question, not shun and avoid it.
What do I mean by "critically dismissive?" Well, for instance, imagine a Hallmark card with a nice painting of some lilies on the cover. It's clearly art in the trivial sense: paintings are pretty much the only thing which are defined culturally as honestly %100 bona-fide art without asterisk. But in another sense it's "not art:" in that it has no redeeming social or aesthetic value. Indeed it pretty much exists to be inoffensive and non-noticeable.
In terms of the basic question: are video games art? clearly the answer is yes. But in terms of the question "is there any worthwhile art in video games?" the answer is much hazier. I think that the answer is yes, but there's still a surprising dearth.
When I think about video games that have personally affected me about as much as a pretty good movie or nearly any book, I can count them on one hand. If I remove the games where it was some non-game aspect of the work (I'm looking at you, FFTactics) that affected me, it drops even further.
When I think about video games that have caused me to dramatically re-examine and rethink my life, the number drops to zero. (compared to a handful of movies, a few role-playing games, a great many books.)
In terms of things which have actually honestly changed my life, it's really just books and may...be a tabletop role-playing game (although I bet if I was a movie buff it'd have some movies too: I've seen this amongst my friends.) Video games aren't anywhere close to this.
So, once we've dismissed the obvious, there's a pretty important question there: why the dearth of decent art in video games? I think that, as a generation of video game players and designers, we need to confront that question, not shun and avoid it.
This is Lindsey
(Anonymous) 2010-05-06 04:04 am (UTC)(link)Art, to me, is in part about dealing with human emotion. human conditions. human impulses. As an artist, this is something i've always tried to bring into my own work, I want to make pieces that people can enjoy at the most base of human levels: touch. This is WHY I make video games. As a way to make a piece that people can play with. Because being in a gallery setting, people don't want to PLAY with your work. They can't, because the gallery world has instilled "DON'T TOUCH" so deeply into our mindsets that when we go into a space that is specifically designed to be interacted with, people just DON'T. They Freeze.
So, my mini rant aside, why a dearth of art in games? Well, it depends on where you're looking. Indie games are where the greatest 'art' pieces are going to be. This piece for example was poignant to me: http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php
The big budget games? not as much, considering how many people are involved, publishers, and the sheer amount of money involved. Bioshock was skirting on the edge of that, but not quite committing. And in all honesty, I don't blame bigger companies for being worried. They're not there to make art. they're there to make money. art means risks. and means risking someone getting on fox news who has no exposure to your product complaining that your game is a full on sex simulator (i'm looking at you Mass Effect).
I would argue that there were points in my life that at one time a book or a movie might have influenced, were replaced with a game. Xenogears being the one that stands out most in my mind, comparing it to Soylent Green, when realizing that all the food on the planet is actually recycled people. And the utter revulsion that followed, and /how could you do that to people/.
This weekend/week, I will be playing Heavy Rain, which is, from what I hear a piece of art. I'll let you know how it goes. but if this game is half as poignant as i've heard it is, it might be the harbinger of things to come.
ok, i hope that i'm not off topic here. but this sort of struck a cord, and since it's my industry felt i should chime in. yea. :)