Games As Art

Thinking back to a question raised by Ed Hooks in his recent workshop: “Are videogames art?”, at the time the alsoran answered him “games can be art, but most are crap”, immediately following up with reference to Ico. For example, film is considered an art-form, yet still the vast majority of the medium is, like games, crap.

After a brief discussion, it was concluded that only a handful of games can even be entered into the possibility of “games as art”: the aforementioned Ico, Rez and the upcoming Okami to name a few. However, the alsoran believes that in concentrating on the visual style, (only one aspect of game design, yet created by the ostensibly-named “art” department), we ignore other areas that contribute to the overall impression left on the player that may be considered an artful experience.

Playing through Zelda: Windwaker again, one can easily see that puzzle design, when done well, is an artform in it’s own right, displayed best in the classic Tetris.

Similarly, sound design is equally important in creating anexperience we may consider to have artistic merit, in the film industry as well as games. Thinking back, this was one of the main (and often overlooked) factors that set the expansive exploratory ambience in the original Tomb Raider. Who would argue that John Williams ambient Star Wars background tracks are not also works of art?

To define an artful experience, as opposed to one of design, one must look beyond individual aspects that create the whole. The alsoran offers that, just as he favours songwriting that is written with honesty and comes from real-life experience over pre-fabricated and formulaic pop trash, film that is created only in search of that magic dollar can never be considered art when set beside classics of the medium that serve not only to entertain us but also offer an experience that makes the viewer that little bit more enlightened than when they entered the theatre.

The same can be said for the medium of games. Though we have a long way to go before these examples of artisitc merit become more that just a drop in the ocean of licenses, sequels and rush-jobs to make the next financial quarter.