Are games art? Can they be? Is this even relevant?

The way people gather information is through observation. We take what we see and hear and then rely on that collection of nerves in our skulls to figure out what’s what. And over all, we like to have our brains stimulated by the world we enter every day we wake up.

What I’m getting at here is this: the reason people enjoy videogames is because they machine-gun our brains with stimuli. The higher quality the stimuli, the more we enjoy the game. The same is true with books, film, and so on. They work the same because, while they’re different mediums, they have the same goal: to entertain.

Now, here’s where things get muddled. For the longest time, books have been recognized as a legitimate form of art, and a little more recently, so has film. But videogames are always left out of this circle of respect. They’re still considered by many to be toys, and they’re not to be taken seriously.

I will be blunt. Videogames are not toys. They are just as capable of captivating the audience as film, and can be as thought provoking as a book. Videogames are (like books and film) a medium—an interactive medium, one that is “played,” but still a medium nonetheless.

Before I drown you all in a sea of hyperbole, allow me a corollary: I don’t think ALL videogames are art. I don’t even think half of the games out there are artistic. There are a plethora of really, really bad games. Just like there are a lot of really crappy books and movies. Those are the ones that are in it to give the masses mindless satisfaction—and they usually fizzle out into obscurity by the end of the month, surviving only on hype or excessive marketing. You know them: the games that are based around a fad, games that don’t have any substance to them, the list goes on.

These games suck. They’re not art. They’re not expression. But they make a lot of money. Blah, blah, blah, fight the power, blah, blah.

But how, one might ask, can a good game be expressive in any way? How does a videogame have artistic merit? It’s not a preposterous concept. Game developers have to worry about composition and visuals just as much as a film crew (and if they don’t, they’re doing it wrong.)

The aesthetics in games are important. You can tell when the visual aspects of a game were well planned out, because it adds significantly to the experience. And I’m not talking about how photorealistic the graphics are—because that often means that everyone is ugly as sin, and the world is very brown and shiny (Oblivion, anyone?) No, I’m talking about when the game’s visuals are noticeable. There doesn’t have to be trillions of polygons on the screen for the game to be beautiful. Hell, it can do away with polygons entirely and be in 2D. As long as the visuals strike the player as being more than mere representations of objects, they’re doing it right. The graphics in a good game are art. Simple as that.

A game is more than just its visuals, though many are led to believe otherwise. Games are storytelling devices. Look at Silent Hill. Look at Final Fantasy. Look at Fallout. Games can have gripping narratives, and they can have characters you care about. It can even be argued that a videogame’s plot is more engrossing than a film’s, since the player is actually a part of what’s happening. Games force the player to be connected to what’s happening—it’s why we feel something when the main character is in trouble.

The way the game’s elements are put together, and how the player interacts with said elements: that’s what makes games artistic. Find a way to involve the audience in a manner that’s never been done before—that’s how you make a great game. The game can tell a message and keep the player thinking about it long after the game’s been completed. It can be incredibly challenging, and give the player a great sense of relief and accomplishment when they’ve beaten it. That kind of interaction with the audience makes it an art form.

I guess the opinion I’m force-feeding yo—I mean, educating you on, is this: videogames are no longer toys. They are a medium. Sure, they can be more gimmicky than film or prose, but they haven’t been around for as long. A good game is a work of art, complex and multi-faceted. They involve the audience. They tell stories, and can deliver themes and messages to the player.

And they can be beautiful…or, if the game developers want it to be, really frickin’ ugly.

/rant

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