The real question is, what kind of art are they?
High brow or low brow?
Are they respected or not?
Film has been around for a century, but thanks to the "Hollwood Mentality", people have the impression that it's low brow -- designed specifically and only for their entertainment, and not for any artistic purpose other than to make money.
If Books have the one up on Film, then Film has the one up on games.
It shows, too -- in the lack of great storytelling/acting. Games are undoubtedly fun, and offer an entirely new level of interactivity to art. However, at this stage in their lifespan (roughly 40 years or so) they are still working on getting a lot of respectable titles out. At that stage in the game Film had Noir, Hitchcock, Orson Welles, ect. What do Video Games have? Not a whole heck of a lot.
When you think of a game as a well put together piece of art, with all facets of not only it's gameplay, but it's presentation, storytelling, voice acting, ect. in consideration...how many great ones come to mind?
Not that many.
Video Games have a long way to go before they are widely accepted as an important form of art. We might see and understand their importance, MIGHT, but the perception of the world as a whole has not gotten there yet. Hell, it hasn't even gotten there for FILM yet, and There have been PLENTY of great, influential artistic masterpieces in film throughout it's history.
Art? Yes.
Respected? No. Probably not even in our lifetimes at this rate.
However, at least we got to see and experience the beginnings of a new art form. That brings another question to mind: When exactly did it stop being "just for fun" and start being art? Art says something about the world, it has a capacity to teach and explain thoughts and feelings. Can we really say that about a game like Solitaire? or even Pong? At what point did the Video Game become art? I think that's definitely a subjective question, but one worth thinking about.
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Yet another one sentence statement that pretty much nullifies multiple paragraphs if not disproven:
If art is in the eye of the beholder, once again it is inarguable that everything is art.
Goozex Forum Moderator
I hated art in school and I love video games, therefore video games can not be art. Thats my logic and I am sticking to it.
killmak: I hated art in school and I love video games, therefore video games can not be art. Thats my logic and I am sticking to it.
that is flawless logic
derekjr: I could flick a turd on the ground and call it art.
I could flick a turd on the ground and call it art.
Take a video of yourself doing this. Upload to YouTube and let us decide.
As for the OP's question, yes.
Forum Moderator
When you think about the state of art today, a lot of what people are calling "art" doesn't really seem to fit that description. Some of it's questionable to say the least, while even more of it tends to be mind-numbingly overdone (Look! I'm being taboo! I IZ N ARTIST!!!). But really, in a society where someone could, in fact, fling a turd on the ground and call it art, attempting to exclude anything from being referred to as such is both idiotic and hypocritical.
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I believe some games are a form of art. I guess you could say that it is art made of art. The music, the story, the scenary, the animations, are all art, but don't really constitute a game. I would say that some games make something greater than the sum of all it's parts. When it transcends the art used to create it and instead strikes something more.
When I played Shadow of the Collosus, I felt bad every time I killed a giant. It just seemed wrong. I cried when Aries died in FF7, not because she was an awesome character, but because the entire world was corrupt and evil and she was the only innocent one. The death of innocence as it were. In Phoenix Wright I literally cheered when I aced the prosecutor, but my jaw literally dropped when he turned it on me.
I could go on and on, but I think the emotions created from the combination of many parts is what turns it into art.
/By the way, wonderful idea. You can pretty much copy paste a lot of other peoples ideas and really get a good grade. I wish I had thought of it.
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cheeznrice: derekjr: I could flick a turd on the ground and call it art. Take a video of yourself doing this. Upload to YouTube and let us decide. As for the OP's question, yes.
I was making a point that the difinition given was not that great.
Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions.
Flicking a turd has arranged an element. The emotion invoked is shock, revultion, disgust...
The same can be said to a paragraph someone writes. the words would be aranged in such a way as to bring about emotions. (books are not art)
Is a Big Mac art? The ingrediants were arranged in a way as to affect senses... (smell, like or dislike for tase).
By this definition, the chemicals in a scratch and sniff is art (not the picture itself).
My point is that this definition is too vague.
JurassicUtility: Renaissance 2K: The only semi-convincing argument to games not being art is the following: "Video games will never be art because games have set goals and objectives that drive the user. Art, on the other hand, only exists to be admired." That said, Taintedzodiac's explanation is much better. So... should video gaming be considered a sport?
Renaissance 2K: The only semi-convincing argument to games not being art is the following: "Video games will never be art because games have set goals and objectives that drive the user. Art, on the other hand, only exists to be admired." That said, Taintedzodiac's explanation is much better.
The only semi-convincing argument to games not being art is the following:
"Video games will never be art because games have set goals and objectives that drive the user. Art, on the other hand, only exists to be admired."
That said, Taintedzodiac's explanation is much better.
So... should video gaming be considered a sport?
On Black Fridays yes...
derekjr: I was making a point that the difinition given was not that great. Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions.
Bring it up with the editor masses at Wikipedia if you think it's inadequate.
You'll probably have a caniption if I use the one from Dictionary.com:
Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
That pretty much falls under "everything a human makes is art."
Wow. That one is bad.
Whether someone calls a video game art or not has no bearing on how much enjoyment I will get out of playing them.
Whether video games are called art or not will not affect there sales number, enjoyment, income of the developers, future value (like a painting of picasso) or their standing in society so whether or not they become officially listed as works of art will not change anything about the gaming industry.
I game therefore I am!
I think that video games can be considered art the same as movies or tv can. I think the distinction to be made is not the age of the art form (i.e. sculpting, which has been around forever vs. movies, approx. 110 years), but the way the art form communicates it's message.
For instance, almost any art form can deliver a direct message, whether it be through visual depiction (i.e. painting of a woman crying over the body of a dead young man) or a narrator/character telling the observer what the message is ("Avatar").
There is another form of art that lets the observer decide the message. While the creator may have intended something specific, it is unknown to the casual observer. "Classic" art forms like paintings and sculptures are often praised when they let the observer decide the message. "Modern" art forms like movies or video games are often criticized, because observers expect those mediums to at least give a strong push in the general direction of what the message is.
So, yes, video games are art.
Farts are art. So are video games.
derekjr: Yes, but by this argument I could flick a turd on the ground and call it art... (not that I would)
Yes, but by this argument I could flick a turd on the ground and call it art... (not that I would)
Oh, you are a fan of Andres Serrano's art?
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