A New Electronic Form of Art
Art is present in everyone’s life in some way or another. Everyone can think of some
way that art is present in their lives. Yet, there is a form of art that some people will not accept
for some reason: Video games. Video games should be recognized as a form of art just like
paintings, poems, and movies. Writers and even art museums like the Smithsonian American
Art Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art agree that video games are a legitimate form of
art. When more people finally accept these games as a medium of art, then they will be seen as
something more than mindless forms of entertainment that are unjustly blamed for being the
cause of violent crimes.
Besides the false claim that video games directly cause violence, what is a big argument
on why video games cannot be art? People think video games aren’t art because games like
football and hockey are not art. Games inherently cannot be art. However, this argument
doesn’t apply to games that are not strictly “games”. This argument only applies to games like
Madden or other sports video games that are just virtual simulations of the respective sport.
They don’t tell stories or have as artistic details and backgrounds as other games do. Brett
Martin, a writer that contributed to the book Videogames and Art, says that “Claude Monet
paintings are held in more regard than a Bob Ross piece. In the same sense, Final Fantasy is
more respected by gamers than Madden” (351). Not all video games are strictly games, they
contain artistic aspects in their story-telling, character design, mechanic, graphics, and
background design. Games like Madden can be art, but they can be considered a low form of
art while other video games can be high art, just like some paintings compared to the Mona Lisa
seem lesser.
Now that we’ve refuted the claim that video games cannot be art, let’s ask, what does
make them art? For one their stories. Stories can add artistic value no matter what the
medium, whether its films, poems, or even video games. We can prove this because we can see
similarities between the stories of video games and the stories of already established works of
art. In the video game, God Of War, the main character loses his wife and child to the ancient
Greek Gods and swears vengeance on them. Kratos, the game’s protagonist, must then fight
through hordes of mythical monsters and challenges in order to achieve his goal of revenge,
similar to how Odysseus must face tests and beasts in The Odyssey in order to reunite with his
family. Both Odysseus and Kratos are heroes that are overcoming all odds because of their
family. These kinds of heroes of video games can even be compared to the hero of modern
literature. Another writer, Mauro Nicolini, wrote that “The hero of a modern novel … asserts
himself in a hostile world by disrupting the social hierarchy based on lineage. … Moving to a
completely different chronological and disciplinary context, a similar scenario animates videogame sagas like God of War and Legacy of Kain. The two heroes are examples of Nietzschean
will of power consecrated in disrupting the status quo…” (Nicolini 73).
As well as being comparable to other stories of artistic value, these video game plots can
invoke emotions inside gamers just as a film can invoke emotion inside a movie critic. Ask any
connoisseur of video games and they can tell you how they felt sorrow while playing through a
video game when a character was tragically killed, or joy when the player finally gets his
characters to the happy ending they deserve.
I’ve been blabbering on about stories, but a good story can make anything artistic, right?
Well video games have something exclusive to them alone that also adds artistic value. Game
Mechanics. Simply put, game mechanics are how you play a game: jumping, running, or even
shooting. After saying those examples, they don’t sound like they add artistic value. However, if
they are used correctly, like in the hit video game Undertale, they can be very artistic. Undertale
is a RPG, or role-playing game, made by Toby Fox that is famous because it has a very unique
mechanic of pacifism. Unlike other RPGs, where the player-controlled hero must defeat
monsters in order to gain experience points, level up, and become strong enough to defeat the
game’s final boss, the player can choose to play through Undertale without hurting a single
enemy and gain zero experience. Even though the in-game character doesn’t get any stronger
from this method, the character does accomplish his goal by befriending the would be enemies
and receiving their aid. This mechanic of pacifism in an RPG has created thought and discussion
within the gamer community. Gamers have taken this idea and have tried to apply it to other
games like Fallout 4, a game where the player is supposed to shoot their enemies, and have
tried to play through the game as a pacifist and almost broke the game! (Hernandez) And even
if they haven’t applied it to other games, gamers have started talking about the benefits of this
method in real life by befriending enemies and people who disagree with them instead of
arguing, ignoring, or overcoming them. Any game that can make its audience think and even try
to change their lives and how they play games should be considered art.
Games are art because of their thought and emotion provoking stories and mechanics,
even if other games without these qualities are not as artistic. Just like poems, movies, and
paintings, video games should be included in artistic discussion. Museums and others have
already accepted them as art, but there are still people, of the older generation, that think
video games can never be a medium of art. If we can accept Videogames as art, they’ll be not as
disregarded as violence inducing toys, and instead as artistic expression.
Bibliography
"The Art of Video Games." Chrysler Museum of Art. Chrysler Museum of Art, 14 Feb. 2015.
Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
Martin, Brett. "Should Videogames Be Viewed as Art?" Videogames and Art Second Edition. Ed.
Andy Clarke and Grethe Mitchell. Bristol, UK: Intellect, 2013. 345-56. Print.
Nicolini, Mauro. "New Forms of Picaresque. From the Classics of Literature to Video Games."
Art and Videogames: Neoludica: 2011-1966. Ed. Debora Ferrari and Luca Traini. Milano, Italy:
Skira, 2011. 72-5. Print.
God Of War. Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2005. Video Game
Tucker, Abigail. "The Art of Video Games." Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian, Mar. 2012.
Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
Hernandez, Patricia. "Guy Beats Fallout 4 Without Killing Anyone, Nearly Breaks The
Game." Kotaku. Kotaku, 28 Dec. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2016.