As a medium, video games are still a relatively new form of entertainment. From its origins with the earliest development of computers to its eventual move to the public space, it has become a multibillion dollar industry and has become a part of pop culture. But would you ever consider them to be a form of art?
While many may scoff at the idea of video games being a form of art and expression, this kind of question has been circulating around the electronic entertainment industry for a long time. By definition, art is the arrangement of different skills and experiences to create an aesthetic product. As a medium, video games bring the audio and visual aspects of film and combine it with the interaction of the user. Obviously, this is what sets video games apart from passive forms of entertainment such as movies, music and books, which are widely considered to have artistic value.
As games have matured throughout several decades on the market, more developers are starting to take risks and develop new games that are sophisticated in scope as well as attempting to innovate methods of play. Instead of offering shallow and forgetful experiences, several development studios are creating games that attempt to challenge the user’s expectations.
Belgian development studio Tale of Tales has created a series of artistic games that offer a unique take on interactive entertainment. Several of their products feature strong emphasis on characters and setting, which they see as a way for players to be able to relate more to the game. One particular game titled the “The Graveyard” has the player guide an elderly woman around a cemetery while also taking in the scenery and ambiance.
Despite these intentions from game creators who want to do more things with video games, there are many who remain steadfast in their assertion that this form of entertainment can never be art. One critic in particular is famous film reviewer Roger Ebert. He argues that the interactivity needed in video games is what prevents it from being an art from, making them inherently inferior to films and music. “Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control,” said Ebert, after responding to a question regarding video games on his blog.
Though he is absolutely correct about the author’s vision having influence in the work, it needs to be said that the player’s interactivity is within the author’s, or in the case of video games, the developer’s vision. For example, the game “Little Big Planet” provides tools to the player that allows them to create environments, write their own stories and customize their own “sack people” (the characters that populate the game) as they see fit.
While the game does have a small amount of story and stock levels available when you first start the game, the ultimate experience of the game is the content generated by the players. With users getting the chance to become authors of their own creations within the game, they’re able to express themselves and create their own experiences, all while staying true to the game developer’s vision and retaining the essence of the game.
Personally, I think video games are an exciting medium for people to use to express themselves. There were times when film was thought of as just a source of entertainment and was not taken seriously as art. Now more than ever we’re seeing people experimenting with video games as an artistic form of expression. The rise in popularity of independent video games, made by people who grew up with games, are starting to turn heads in the industry and push the envelope on what can be done with them.
Art has always been subjective. Personally, if Marcel Duchamp can put his own signature on a public urinal and call it art, then at the very least video games should get some form of recognition. In many ways, it’s the most advanced form of expression we currently have.
