Teh Tarik Corner - Are Video Games Art?

Teh Tarik is a new series of article where I’ll cover topics I think are interesting and relevant to us be it Malaysians or anyone else. The purpose of this article is to encourage debate on the topic and apply real analytical thought on the topic. The debut article is “Are video games art?” So sit back have a teh tarik and join in the discussion.

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

William Shakespeare, As You Like It.

I like this passage from a Shakespeare play in which a character named Jacques describes the world as a theatrical stage. It’s an artistic expression of a man’s almost cynical view of the world. Art has always been described as the creative expression of man. However, video game enthusiasts and makers have long debated about defining video games as art.

Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa

According to meriem Webster, art is defined as “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects”. This definition seems to disregard music as part of art.

The definition of fine art puts things into perspective “art ( as painting, sculpture, or music) concerned primarily with the creation of beautiful objects – usually used in plural”.

Half Life 2: Episode 2 (PC, XBOX360)

Based on the definition, we have an idea that art relates to anything that requires some use of creative imagination in its making or production. The use of the term beautiful as in beautiful object is too vague to make any sense of since it is entirely subjective to each individual.

Surely we can compare the development of video games that does employ the use of creative imagination in regards to the responsibilities of its designers, writers, artist, and coders. While in the early days of video games, games were made from a more technical perspective rather than an artistic perspective since the industry was still young and trying to get a grasp of technology.

Shadow of The Colossus (PS2)

The thing about video games is that it employs the use of multiple mediums like sound or music, visual art(graphics), writing(storyline) as opposed to the more singular mediums like painting, music, literature and even movies that lack an element of interactivity. I’m not trying to say that video games are a more superior form of artistic expression than these types of art. On the contrary, I think these single medium arts often deliver a deeper and more meaningful experience by mainly refining elements in it to present a lot more depth and elements thought possible.

Flower (PS3)

That is something that video game developers have not learnt. It is not about the quantity of content rather the quality of what is in it. There are definitely games that stand out as good candidates for being defined as art. Games like Okami, Half Life, Bio Shock, and System Shock immerse us in a gripping story that we as the player feel an attachment too. We cared about how the story went. We cared about the characters in the game.

Games like Rez, Flower, Flow and Fez were more simplistic in nature of its gameplay but added either an interesting visual elements or aural element that made them a unique experience that you will never forget just like the amazing piece of music or novel you’ve read.

Rez HD (X360)

From a more grounded perspective, we should look at whether gameplay mechanics of a game can be considered as art. By this I mean that if we could see that the mechanics of Super Mario, a platformer where you navigate a 2D plain and collect gold coins as an artistic expression and removing the audio and visual element of it. These can vary from very simplistic puzzle like games to more complex mechanics of strategy games.

On a very basic level, these gameplay mechanics are nothing more than elaborately designed algorithms that are designed to challenge the player to accomplish something in the game. Seen from this perspective, it’s hard to put the ‘fun’ or emotion in it.

Portal (PC, X360)

What all these leads to is that, it is extremely difficult for us to segregate all the pieces of what makes a game and judge them separately. While we can definitely appreciate good sound design or visual design of a game, it is difficult to judge a game as art just by looking at these specific elements in it.

It is imperative to look at a game as a whole rather that bits of pieces put together (which relates to the whole topic of reviewing games by scoring them on different categories). If I could describe an experience of playing a game like Okami as an unforgettable, emotional, experience, I would without a doubt describe it as art which it is in my opinion.

Okami (PS2)

Which gets back to the point I made earlier in this article, beauty like art is entirely subjective to an individual. While I might describe a game like Okami as art, others that might not have had the same experience as I had might beg to differ. If we all had an appreciation for games from an artistic perspective then we would all be describing it as art.

That would only happen when gaming culture as a whole becomes more mainstream and the new generation of gamers mature. I think we are still a bit far off from that mark as a whole.

So would you consider games as art? What games would you put in that category?