Drew Warner WRTG 1010 11/20/13

Are Video Games Art?

Imagine being put into a beautiful new world with stunning architecture, beautiful scenery, and an overall presentation that leaves the one experiencing it emotionally affected by it in some way or another. This could be either, a painting, a snapshot taken by a skilled photographer, a book, or even a video game. Some would be appalled at the idea of a video game being called art, but more still would argue that games are just a form of motion pictures, which most anyone would agree are art; there are even video games based off of some popular movies. So, if movies are considered art, why wouldnt an interactive version be placed in the same category? Video games are a new version of art that are experienced in an interactive way, rather than just sitting there and looking at it. Some might ask what one defines as art. Kellee Santiago defines art in her TED talk about this very subject as the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. (Santiago) Many games achieve this goal quite easily. The game developers build worlds that draw in the player, make them part of these events, and in doing so makes them part of this world. Even in a game as simple as Portal, which was released by Valve in October of 2007, this was done quite well by putting the player into a kind of firstperson shooter game; but instead of shooting at people in a war zone, the player was trapped in a scientific research facility and forced to test a new technology by using it to solve potentially

lethal puzzles. After playing through this short, but well-made game, gamers were sad that it was over. The game had put them in a situation where the end of the game was much more than saying Ok, what game is next? It was gamers saying Thats it? What happens now?! The game, like many others, had captured the emotions of gamers to the point where they felt inseparably attached to the story. Four years later, when Portal 2 was released, Portal fans the world over practically leapt for joy (and some probably did) because they now had a chance to see what happened with the characters they had come to love in only the space of an hour or two. Another element of games that makes them art is gameplay and how the player can interact with the world around them. In Heavy Rain, released by Quantic Dream in February of 2010 for the Playstation 3, the character is put into a world where their choices have real, irreversible consequences. Doing one thing in the game may cause one of the main characters son to be killed, while doing another might get HIM killed, and the player cant just restart and do it over; the consequences are real and any mistakes you make cant be fixed. Mike Rugnetta says that he literally lost sleep over Heavy Rain. (Idea Channel) while describing why he placed it in his list of Top 5 Most Artful Video Games on PBS Idea Channel. This touches on the emotional response to art described in Santiagos definition by alluding that Heavy Rain was much more than a game to him and he cared enough about the characters in the game to worry about how his decisions might affect them. Would what he do next kill them or save their lives? Now, there are those who would assert that video games are not art. I speak of Roger Egbert in his article entitled Video Games Can Never be Art, in which he asserts that games cannot be art because of the fact that, "No one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets." While this may be true, there are many games that are, if not on par with, close to being comparable to great

works of art; not only for their visual appear and graphics, but because of musical scores associated with games and game franchises and also for their stories and the worlds they create. A form of art anyone would recognize is storytelling. This is an element that is rampant in gaming. Many games and game series are famed for their stories and fans are often waiting for the next installment in a series so that they can learn what happens to their beloved characters after the latest story. One prime example of a story is the Legend of Zelda series. This series, with its timeline unclear up until the release of the Hyrule Historia in 2013, had fans whom had been playing the games for years wondering exactly what order the games fit into the chronology whilst waiting for the latest installment. Zelda is a game that is most recognized for The Ocarina of Time, where the player adopts the persona of the Hero of Time, Link, and save the kingdom of Hyrule from Ganondorf, who is trying to use the divine power of the Triforce, a relic of the gods, to take over. Ocarina is a game recognized not only for its gameplay and story aspects, but also for the musical element it introduced into the series; Link gets the magical Ocarina of Time, which can travel through time, summon storms, or even change the time of day just by a song being played on it. Video games are a new art form in which people can not only appreciate a good story, artwork, and music, but also become part of them. Gamers become attached to the games they play on a personal, emotional level and can also have intelligent, well-thought out discussions on these games, much as people would have on what an author meant by something they wrote or a painter meant with one of their pieces. Gaming, while relatively new, is an art form all its own.

Works Cited

Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream February 23, 2010 Hyrule Historia, Nintendo January 2013 The Legend of Zelda franchise, Nintendo First release February 21, 1986 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo November 23, 1998

Kellee Santiago: Are Video Games Art? YouTube July 29, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GjKCnPQlSw

Portal, Valve October 10, 2007 Portal 2, Valve April 18, 2011

Top 5 Most Artful Video Games PBS Idea Channel January 23, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAs4Dy-lh8E

Video Games Can Never be Art, Roger Egbert, April 16, 2010
http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east1.amazonaws.com/docs/938/370705/Video_games_can_never_be_art.pdf