It's just a coincidence that I've talked so much about art. It's not really a significant part of my life. It actually doesn't mean much to me at all. If anything, it's a word that's usually followed by a roll of my eyes.
Everyone has different opinions of what is and isn't art, as well as opinions of what's good and what's bad art. I'm not gonna try to define it because I don't care enough. But I do wanna make one thing clear.
If film, music, paintings, literature, photographs, sculptures and whatever the hell else can be called art, then you better believe that videogames are art too. Maybe you aren't aware, but there are people out there that dismiss videogames as an artistic medium. Roger Ebert would be the most prevalent. Well Mr. Ebert, you've outdated yourself.
If someone spends hours drawing an image of a man, would that be art? This person even drew a scene for him to exist in. There's a table with some of his stuff on it and the man's girlfriend is sitting in a rocking chair nearby. Is it art? This person worked really hard on it. In fact, it's their job. They're feeding their family with this work so it means a lot to them that it's as good as it can be. It's art, right?
What if the person sculpted it instead? Then they painted it and added more to the scene. There's trees visible through a window and a sad looking dog lying at the man's feet. The dog wants to be pet but can tell his owner isn't in the mood for that. Have we hit art status?
Maybe this little diorama is actually a moving scene with real people. A director has taken someone's screenplay and is turning it into something millions of people can experience. Now there's dialogue and music, a dozen characters and a kick-ass plot twist. People are gonna like this movie. It's a good one. I'm positive we've got art on our hands.
But what if it was a little different? What if someone drew that initial character and a dozen more? Then someone sculpted it in a 3d modeling program and another person created animations for it. Next, someone writes backstories and personalities for all these characters, as well as a setting and plot of their existence. A whole story is created that these characters act in. It has music, dialogue, conflict and drama.
But did I mention you're not just going to watch this? You're going to control it yourself. You'll be able to affect it with your actions and your experience will be unique. And it won't be a passive experience. This isn't just some toy you fiddle around with. There are challenges and goals for you to accomplish. You're going to invest your time into learning how to do these things. You'll get better at it.
You'll feel more connected with this experience than you have with any other artistic medium. When something happens to the character you control, you won't acknowledge it in the third person like you do with movies. You're not going to say "He found the map." You'll say "I found the map."
When you do well you'll cheer and laugh. When you do poorly you'll complain or throw something.
You'll invest hours, days, weeks or even years in this experience.
You'll meet people and make new friends with it. You might even makes enemies over it.
When you finish you'll want to tell your friends. You'll compare your experiences and share your best and worst moments.
It's a video game, by the way. It was made by videogame developers. You know why they're called developers instead of designers? Because that's already the job title for people that design gameplay for videogames. 'Developer' is a blanket term that covers anyone who works on a video game. Those other people? Their specific job titles? Artist. Writer. Composer. Animator. Actor.
These artists work closely with game designers, programmers and producers to make one of these newfangled videogames. Because of the scope, freedom and accessibility of a videogame, it's extremely important that everything interact logically. These people are multitalented artists that have to understand each other's work and how it affects their own.
With all this collaborative effort from different people doing different work, and all the stimulation it gives its users, you'd think it would be obvious that this is art. It's art on a level that no other medium has reached yet.
Yes, some games are for children but so are some books, some movies and some songs. And yes, there are mindless games out there but for every Citizen Kane there's a hundred Dude, Where's My Car?s. Just like for every Ocarina of Time there's a hundred Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.
My point is this: You don't have to play games and you don't have to like them. But don't you dare try to tell me they can't be art.
