Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Are games art?

Я games art?


  • Total voters
    120
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
4,010
I don't know. Is Candy Land art? It too is a game. It has drawings on the board and box. It's telling a story. There's artistry that went into the making of it, but is it in and of itself art? Is hopscotch art? If not, why? What if someone playing draws out an immaculate looking hopscotch court? At what point does a game become art?
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,980
This seems fairly relevant:

1547648168-20190116.png
 
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
4,010
I don't know, zinkydonk sounds too much like shrinky dinks, and videos games are not shrinky dinks...ergo they are not zinkydonks. They also aren't zinc dummies.
 

Icewater

Artisanal Shitposting™
Patron
Joined
Jun 12, 2011
Messages
1,952
Location
Freedomland
Project: Eternity Wasteland 2
The entire "are games art?" debate centers around people being uncomfortable with the idea of some shit like Cawwadoody being considered equal to [great work of art]. It's ridiculous because, as some have already pointed out, it's entirely reasonable to say that video games are art but most video games are not good art. People don't see a child's scribbles as taking away from truly skilled artists, why should video games be any different?
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
Patron
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
27,088
Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
It's beyond me why people don't use their god-given deductive ability.

Drawing, painting, sculpting, composing, etc. are art.

What are video games if not a conglomeration of 2D drawings, 3D-sculpted objects, music, sounds, etc. - therefore a pan-art form.

You have to be some kind of a limited mongrel to really believe games aren't art.

And you have to be a mouth-breathing mongoloid for making this assertion without realizing a basic fact: Not all drawings/paintings/sculptures/compositions are art.

All art is decorative, but not all decorations are art. It's not a two-way street.

On that note, anyone calling themselves an artist is talking bullshit. People don't get to call themselves artists, regardless of what they've done or how good they're at it - that's for others to do. It's a title that people earn from their peers for being good at their work.

Ah, but now you've moved from asserting that games can't be art to asserting that gameplay can't be art. :M

I didn't move anywhere, you did. Stop twisting my words.
 

Sigourn

uooh afficionado
Joined
Feb 6, 2016
Messages
5,623
It is impossible to know because there is no clear definition of what art is

It's a cop-out, but it's a necessary cop-out. What is "Artistic merit"? What is "art"? Is it "technique"? Because games require technique to be made, it's in their nature: you can't just simply throw a bucket of paint into a canvas to poof a game into existence, you require the knowledge to be able to program one and use the different tools. Art isn't a measure of quality either, which is what a lot of people think when they think of art (hence "high culture").

It seems the most common yet implicit definition of art is "something made by someone which makes you think". Essentially if something doesn't make you think, it isn't art: that's what a lot of people think. Hence something like Marcel Duchamp's readymades are considered art by many: the guy grabbed a urinal, changed its orientation, and gave it a name. Boom, "it's art". Piero Manzoni's "Artist's shit" is also considered art: literally feces on tin cans. But as we have seen, nearly EVERYTHING can be called art if it's in a museum or a gallery (like the glasses on the museum posted earlier).

Then we can talk about whether art is something made for expression only, as opposed to something to entertain others or a commodity to sell. If I'm not mistaken, the Mona Lisa itself was commissioned, and no one in their right mind (speaking about "high culture" circles) would dispute it being "art". Therefore, it is not only impossible to know because there is no clear definition of what art is, but most importantly: who the fuck cares? There are people devoted to cinema as an art (filmmakers, critics and theorists) who simply don't give a damn about other art forms. People won't suddenly care about videogames if they are called "art". Neither will your parents be proud of you for indulging in videogames just because they are "art".

My personal opinion: I don't want to share the same hobby with people who will analyze Galaga as if there's some deep underlying meaning behind it.
 

Siveon

Bot
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
4,509
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Artists are not artists through merit. The title of art is not an immediate badge of honor, but rather a means to explain the human creative expression. Not all art is good, original, or even that creative. Art can be made with ill or monetary intent. It is even possible to make art, with the intention of not making art at all.

This is confusing, as we call great things "a work of art". A man who honed his skills has it down to an "art". The meaning here is that the work is so obviously art because it is that good. The honed craft is an art because he put so much passion and effort it's now a tangible form of creative expression.

So the big question is how do you tell the difference? Depends on the person viewing the work. It's a two way street, one person looks at a comissioned landscape painting and says it has no soul. The other says the beauty is in the detail, and calls it art. Third agrees with the first, but says it's just bad art. Or in other words, you can't, it's all art to someone. Good or bad.

At least that's the way I saw it. The answer "who the fuck cares", is appropriate, because it means so little, and is dependent on the individual.
 

Squid

Arbiter
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
536
The credibility of that link are two games mention inside: Doom and Dwarf Fortress
There's good games on there like Planescape: Torment too! But then I look further and see shit like Fallout 3 and Bioshock Infinite!

Stupid list really. Why? Because I don't agree with it. That's how art works folks! If you don't find the artistic value behind it, then what's it worth to you? Nil. Nothing. I've seen more heart and soul and artistic value in a kid's portrait of his dog than I have from college art students. Some people spend 40 years making bad art and then suddenly make good art and they're rich and famous. It happens. It's about what you're looking for I guess.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
Most fuckers that claim games aren't art, never played a video game.
Most fuckers that claim what they do is art, are full of bullshit.
Art on those retarded days of the decline of the western civilization is alot of BS.
So, don't give a shit, actually if some moron claim video games aren't art, this is actually a compliment for games on how art is a fucking decline shit on the west.
Gonna be offended if some fraudsters that take a dump on the middle of some art gallery wanna say games aren't art?
Actually, those fucker have shit for brains. The more artistic they are, the more shit for brains they have, at least that is how art works on the west right now.
 
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,509
Location
The Present
St. John’s Cathedral is not art. It is a place of worship, functionally and purposefully. It merely contains art. The Eiffel Tower is art. It is a sculpture that has no function other than to be aesthetic. Video games, in the modern day, are more often entertainment rather than art. While both are the culmination of human creativity and expression—most games are made to entertain, not capture or convey a concept. The distinction matters. Most games are entertainment that use art as a vehicle for ulterior motives.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
11,756
Most fuckers that claim games aren't art, never played a video game.
Most fuckers that claim what they do is art, are full of bullshit.
Art on those retarded days of the decline of the western civilization is alot of BS.
So, don't give a shit, actually if some moron claim video games aren't art, this is actually a compliment for games on how art is a fucking decline shit on the west.
Gonna be offended if some fraudsters that take a dump on the middle of some art gallery wanna say games aren't art?
Actually, those fucker have shit for brains. The more artistic they are, the more shit for brains they have, at least that is how art works on the west right now.
JimBentonComic-MusesPressure.jpg


Videogames are one of the few refuges of quality art. :M
 

Black

Arcane
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
1,872,592
Moot point since modern art is meaningless, boring, banal and shit.
 

DJOGamer PT

Arcane
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
7,347
Location
Lusitânia


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_considered_artistic

  • Final Fantasy VII (1997, PlayStation) – considered by many to be one of the best role-playing video games, its story includes the death of a major character, aimed to give the player an emotional stake in the game


  • BioShock (2007, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS, Cloud (OnLive), PlayStation 3) – a title created by Irrational Games then known as 2K Boston, that is a spiritual successor to System Shock 2. The game is regarded as an important work of art due to its immersive atmosphere, compelling storytelling[according to whom?] and the narrative deconstruction of linear gameplay.


  • Heavy Rain (2010, PlayStation 3) – An interactive movie where the player enters quick time events during various sequences, including intense, rapid-paced scenes. The results of the player's choices or actions can cause one of the four main characters to die while the story continues on, causing the player to become invested in the game's story

  • Dear Esther (2012, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux)[55] – a first person video game centered around its graphical environment and story. The narrative is provided through monologues as the player journeys through the environment.

  • The Walking Dead (2012, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Android) – An adventure game set in the world of Robert Kirkman's acclaimed comic book series, The Walking Dead has been praised for its story, meaningful player decisions, and believable characters. It is often considered one of the greatest examples of storytelling in video games.

  • Beyond: Two Souls (2013, PlayStation 3) – Tells the story of Jodie, who possesses supernatural powers through a psychic link to Aiden, a bodiless entity, growing from adolescence to adulthood while learning to control Aiden and the powers they share.

  • BioShock Infinite (2013, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) – A first-person shooter set in 1912 in an alternate universe where American Exceptionalism is flourishing aboard the flying city, Columbia. The game's narrative challenges concepts of nationalism, religion and racism prevalent during that period, as to provide a "funhouse mirror of American ideological history", according to Ben Popper of The Verge.

  • Grand Theft Auto V (2013, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One) – Rockstar Games' open world crime-based title satirizes the modern day lifestyle of the West Coast of the United States, taking place in a city that is a smaller-scale but detailed interpretation of the city of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas, often used by players and artists as a backdrop for their own creations.

  • The Last of Us (2013, PlayStation 3) – A game set in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, the Naughty Dog-developed title has been stated to be "a masterful marriage of storytelling and game design" and considered the "most riveting, emotionally resonant story-driven epic of [the seventh] console generation".

  • Life Is Strange (2015, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) – A story-driven game featuring hand-painted textures and based on a time rewind mechanic, which affects the development of the story. The game addresses the themes of surveillance, suicide and assisted suicide, as well as ontological search for defined and specific identity and coming of age.

(And so many other dumb shit)

WY402H4.png
 

Abhay

Augur
Joined
Aug 12, 2013
Messages
204
Location
India
Yes they are, but with changing times the motivation behind creating a video game is no longer about art anymore. As already pointed out, there's also a lot of shit art to be found coming out of the industry. If you trace the motivation for making video games in the past, then you will find many developers working with a great vision in their pursuit to generate art and not just profits from recycled ideas. These developers made my childhood so memorable with their contribution to the medium. It certainly is an art if it still makes me play their games even after so many years have passed.

Sure we still continue to get games every year that will generate profits for the publishers, but do we really appreciate the craft of these modern developers as an art form?
I don't think the video game industry in recent times is raising the level of fine art in creating amazing works that will live for years to come.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom