Well, do you?
I would consider several already to be art. Ever look at the sky in “Unreal”? Fantastic.
Maybe i should have more specific. A widely respected art form, where they’re created for more than just entertainment.
I think Myst and Riven might concievably fall into that category.
There are already many games that seek to make you think or tell a beautiful story. Role playing games often have a deep theme, probably because reading text is a major part of gameplay. Xenogears, for instance, discusses whether a god is necessary in a technology driven society. if you want visual art: Riven, Metal Gear Solid, and many other games all provide interesting images.
Video games are created by a team of people. They’re art the same way that a movie is. Capturing one person’s vision isn’t feasible quite like it is in tradional art forms or music.
I bought Rune because I heard the graphics were beautiful, even though I knew from reviews that the gameplay was lacking and not the type of game I normally like. I still play it, mainly for the visuals (though hacking up monsters can be fun at times).
Sure, why not? I think it’s only a question of time.
Optimistic gamers compare the evolution of the gaming industry to that of the movie industry way back in its infancy. A new media form initially regarded as silly and for entertainment purposes only gradually matured into a respected art form.
I think a big factor in just how long it will take for gaming to become accepted is that the kids who grew up with Atari are probably in their mid or late 20s now. This is a plus because they recognize and remember gaming from when they were little and will have less of a problem accepting it. This is also a minus because most of them also stopped gaming in childhood and may thus regard them as just for kids or assume that games are still about as complex as they were then. (Note how virtually every depiction of a video game in TV or movies has the player frantically pushing buttons while watching a rapidly flashing screen emitting bleeps and bloops.)
Another factor: online massively-multiplayer games. Once they start catering to the mass market instead of the hard-core (Star Wars Galaxies looks to be the first to try this approach) the sheer number of gamers involved in them is going to be hard to dismiss. By nature they are extremely immersive, social, and interactive, and represent the best parts of one possible take on games as art.
There are already quite a few games out there that tell a great story, but they aren’t recognized by the general public as an acceptable are form yet. In most cases, this is still deserved, as the science of game development in general still needs some work to reach the plot/art level of even an average movie (although I think it may have compared to an average action flick by now). The problem is not creating good writing or visuals - those have been dealt with in the other media before. The problem is in combining those with interactivity and making the result fun and replayable, which we are stilll learning to do.
Geez, too much to say. Before I get too far off topic, let me end this by saying that I hope for some popular acceptance of games as art by… hopefully 2010?
I’m going to disagree with you a little bit here. I think you have some good points, but I don’t think you can apply them to the whole spectrum of electronic gaming.
Does a game need to reach the “plot/art level of even an average movie” to be considered as art? I certainly hope not. Games are not movies. They should be judged on different criteria. While it is true that some games do approximate motion pictures (the LucasArts games spring to mind), many others do not (Tetris, for example). Some of the games that I feel are most worthy of respect feature primitive graphics and/or lack a narrative framework.
Many early motion pictures are today lauded for their artistry, despite the fact that the technology and techniques used in their production were primitive. I hope that once the general public starts thinking about electronic games as art rather than as mere amusements that the merits and influence of certain early games, like “Suspended”, or “MULE”, or “Archon”, will be recognized.
The problem of combining a complex and gripping narrative with player interaction, while balancing the player’s options with the game designer’s vision, is an interesting question in game design. Do you remember back when “Interactive Fiction” was the buzz word for text adventures? However, it’s a question which really only applies to one type of electronic game.
That being said, here’s a slightly derailing question: different sorts of writing are needed for different media. A good novel does not necessarily make a good movie, and vice versa. Do you have any thoughts on what sort of writing works best for a computer game?
I would point at the ‘Thief’ series by Looking Glass (now taken up by Ion Storm) as an excellent example of games bordering on art. Great story, atmosphere, artistic design in both look and sound, worldbuilding on the level of a novel… I wager they will be pointed out for years to come as innovations in the field.
A lazy word would be movie-like… but games are not movies, they’re interactive entities, completely different animals. As technology increases it spawns new ways to express old ideas - this is one.
Since video/electronic/computer games are generally created by a team, I’m not sure if they will ever quite reach the respectability level of “art.” I say this only because art is generally considered to be the creative expression of one person, and that kind of individuality is lost in most games’ team-based efforts.
Perhaps a more realistic expectation is that games will eventually receive the level of status that we accord to well-designed equipment, like exotic cars or airplanes. There you have the result of a team effort, with balances between aesthetic goals, technical efforts, and practical limitations. That’s also closer to the process of game design, which often involves striking balances and working within limitations.
And, of course, since game components are often individual works, they can be seen as art as well. Soundtracks are the most obvious example (Tommy Tallerico, anyone?), but graphics, computer models, and story/plot are all equally valid candidates.
I don’t think this is true. Many other art forms, such as film, drama, and dance, are usually the product of more than one person’s efforts.
I agree that individual artistic expression may be lacking in many of the games being produced today. But, IMHO, that’s true of any media for which a large market demand exists. There are also lots of movies and books produced which seem more concerned with cashing in on a current fad than with presenting an artist’s vision.
There certainly exist games which are the result of a single creator’s dream. Consider Richard Garriot’s direction of the Ultima series of games. Also remember that not every electronic game that’s avaliable was produced by a big company. On the internet, you can download lots of games created by individual designers. Just because these games aren’t commercial, and usually don’t feature state of the art graphics and so on, doesn’t mean that they should be discounted from a discussion of computer games.
Videogames are underestimated by people that don’t play them…and they’ll probably always be that way, unless a really affordable system with great games came out (as in anyone could pick one up rather than the hardcore “Sure I’ll pay over $400 for a Playstation 2” people alone). But who cares? Do we want to see people sticking their nose in the air discussing the earth shattering concepts in Mario?
Videogames combine cinematics (film), text/plot (books), sound/music (orchestras even), visual funkiness (art), and then add an extra part that none of the others (except Choose Your Own Adventure books, heh) can…Interactivity. The ability for the user to interact with the world, change events, and actually “converse” with the characters.
When you think about it, videogames combine everything into one funky package. Of course, videogames are just for kids, we all know that…
- Tsugumo
I could mention a few games that I would consider to be art forms.
Barton earlier mentioned the late Looking Glass Studios’s Thief series. A pair of games that tells an interesting saga—and with so much -depth- in the settings and characters that I’ve seen psychological profiles written on the main character.
Metal Gear Solid is, of course, the ‘Saving Private Ryan’ of the video game world. A game that is by all definitions–absolutely an epic art piece that sends a message about the horrors of war.
If you want an ‘artsier’ work of art, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night looks like it belongs in a museum. Every setting looks like it was inspired by late 18th century design. And each piece of music was in turn inspired by each setting.
Silent Hill is an art piece in so far that it is a successful experiment in psychological horror. It draws a lot of inspiration from the horror of The Exorcist, but combines the general ‘weirdness’ of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks series.
The list could go on. It’s just that when I think of games like the preceding–it reminds me of why I’ve always liked video games better than TV.
-Ashley