Are Video Games an Art Form?

[Viola]

I love, love, love Portal, but I never played Portal 2 nor have I played The Bridge, but I just looked it up and uhh... I think I'm going to need to invest!

The Bridge is your average romp through physics based puzzling l, but the art style is moving and has a gritty feel towards it, the storytelling is minimalistic and it works better that way. Like Dark Souls.


Except, in The Bridge, you don't get a red spirit invading you every time you enter a forest with Giant Armor and a Chaos Zweihander +5, stunlocking you into oblivion.

 

[ToteMaus]

Like most 'favorites' I can't just pick one, so I guess you could say I don't have a favorite anything. But Space Engineers, KSP, and Mount and Blade are all up there when it comes to games.

 

[AuxAcid]

I think video games could be considered an art form. One game that really comes to mind is Okami, the design and flow of the game are beautiful.

 

[Kylesar1]

What's art or not depends on the person.


Anyways, I feel that calling video games art is just.......too much.


I don't really know why. It strikes me as a fanboy type thing

 

[Ammy]

Anyways, I feel that calling video games art is just.......too much.
I don't really know why. It strikes me as a fanboy type thing

Anything has the potential to be art. You could argue your opinion on if an individual title is actually good or not. You could argue that the vision behind it is uninspired. Stating that you feel it cannot be such though is an absolute, and something that's always really bugged me. If Journey isn't worthy of being called "art", then I just don't want to be a part of this society any longer.


Conversely, I also find it difficult to say that a medium as a whole is art. I cringe at the thought of Shootbangs: Modern War Battles being called such. That's just my bias though. Like you said, the classification varies from person to person.

 

[Kylesar1]

Anything has the potential to be art. You could argue your opinion on if an individual title is actually good or not. You could argue that the vision behind it is uninspired. Stating that you feel it cannot be such though is an absolute, and something that's always really bugged me. If Journey isn't worthy of being called "art", then I just don't want to be a part of this society any longer.
Conversely, I also find it difficult to say that a medium as a whole is art. I cringe at the thought of Shootbangs: Modern War Battles being called such. That's just my bias though. Like you said, the classification varies from person to person.

Not once did I ever say games couldn't be called art. I've just never met someone who called a certain game art, and not a fanboy. I'm not saying something can't becalled art. If I were to call any game "art," it'd be Metroid Prime on the Gamecube.


The word "art" just strikes me as an elitist term, as in "if this game isn't as good as this one, it's not worthy of being called art." People would literally argue on whether or not a game is worthy of being called art, which is stupid because it's subjective.


"Art" is an elitist term to me, so that's why I feel that it's nothing but fanboying. To each their own. I'm sure there are some people who use the term to describe some games, and aren't a fanboy, but I haven't met one.

 

[ToteMaus]

No no no, this isn't about individual games, it's about the medium. And it's not about quality, either, a bad painting can still be called art, I think the intent behind it is more important.

 

[Levyn Ari]

Absolutely. The amount of work that goes into them, from design to voice acting.... Yes. Most definitely.

 

[Syncopy]

I believe in some way, shape, or form—all games are art.


Art to the storyboard.


Art to the developer.


Art to the designers.


Even coding is an art for anyone who's done it before.


Okami, Asura's Wrath, Diablo 3, even the CoD series (I saw someone mention it); the landscapes are gorgeous, the god rays are perfect in Battlefield, and even the handling of weaponry, physics, down to the ragdoll effects are an art form in their own way. Someone took the time to create it, regardless of with a brush or a Wacom...

 

[Hisame154]

Art is not depicted as just one set thing, as is human kind. We are carried by different cultures, varied by many attributes, and have a world wide appreciation.


So to say that video games are a form of art, yes, it would stand correct. It takes several artists to create the very product that one plays for enjoyment. Same goes with movies, songs, and literature.