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Can Games become an Art?

KezraPlanes

KezraPlanes

Just some dood
I've recently finished Metal Gear Solid 4 (one of the, if not, the best game on the market right now) and the overall presentation of the game and storyline kicks the ass of most of what has been released by Hollywood in the last 10 or so years.

Having that as an example and taking into account other landmarks in gaming like: Final Fantasy VII, Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy for US people) and many others, can games fight against the stigma that they are only for kiddies (here in Portugal it's pretty common, if you like games than you're an immature kid) and establish themselves as an Art form no bigger, no lesser than movies, literature or music.

It's been proven over the years that games can make you feel just the way any movie or book would (hating or loving some characters) but in gaming those feelings are always stronger because you (living through the main character) experience the action in the 3rd or 1st person, socialize with the NPC's (and/or party members in RPG's) in a wat that makes you bond with those same NPC's.

Unfortunately (imo) the motion sensing crap was a step backwards in establishing games as an art form, at least in the way it's being used which is a money making cow for Nintendo to "extort" money from consumers with an over-rated console with few really good games (shovelware galore!), but then again the Wii isn't pointed at the hardcore gamers, but rather tapping into a previously untapped audience that had money to spend no one had gotten into yet.

So taking all this into account, what's your take on the theme of this thread? Speak your mind freely.
 
Robby

Robby

Los Doyers!
Yeah I think some games can be considered art.

Some games have a really good storyline and back it up with great graphics.

Bioshock for example. I loved the story and the presentation of the game was awesome. They could have made a movie out of that and I would have loved it. Fallout 3 and its beautiful landscape that is so huge and open. Gears of War campaign could have been a summer blockbuster, like an action movie :p

So yes, I do think games can be considered art. And about that "if you play games, youre considered an immature kid", that is bull. I am a very mature young adult and I enjoy my hobby of playing games. The same can be sad for alot of people, although on Halo 3 there are alot of kids talking about how much vagina they get everyday when they sound like they are 12 and you can barely make out if they are male or female.
 
Sinfulfate

Sinfulfate

Member
Games are art regardless of what other people say. Wikipedia defines art pretty perfectly by saying "Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions." A game doesn't need a deep storyline or anything like that to be art since the whole purpose of games is to appeal to the emotion known as enjoyment.
 
Riorio99

Riorio99

New Member
Of course they can, games such as Ocarina Of Time, Chrono Trigger and Okami have already reached that pedestal. They have visuals and story that are fantastic and would fit easily into any other sort of art, like film and music.
 
F

Fives

New Member
Adiuvo

Adiuvo

Active Member
All games, are technically, a piece of art. It is expressing creativity and ideas, just in a different package than, say, a painting or piece of music.
 
KezraPlanes

KezraPlanes

Just some dood
Adiuvo said:
All games, are technically, a piece of art. It is expressing creativity and ideas, just in a different package than, say, a painting or piece of music.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree with that... But it's not accepted as such (not that I know of at least) which means the industry should strive to get that same acceptance? Over the years many have proven we also have a place as art but still we carry tons of stigmata's that keep us from reaching that level...
 
Adiuvo

Adiuvo

Active Member
The industry doesn't really need to strive to reach a level of acceptance. It already has, in some cases. Eventually games will be recognized on their own, without industry help.
 
M

mnky

New Member
Biggest difficulty IMO is back compatibility. You buy a book and you can read it for hundreds of years before it collapses. Not so much with movies as the media does need to be compatible, but pretty much all movies will always be available in the current format or online. Music, too, can easily be transferred.
Games are different.
You need to have the right system for it even to run. To play the entire Metal Gear series you need a dozen systems, some of which are not still being made and therefore require emulation. This doesn't just apply to console games either, many PC games not 10 years old won't run on a modern system. Proprietary formats are the bane of games, just as they were of music until consumers forced the music industry to stop.
 
january39

january39

eXo Staff
Has anyone played ICO for the PS2, i would consider that art in the true sense of the word. I really did care about the characters and wanted the hero to win and the nightmare to be over.

Shadow of the collousus was almost as good but not in the same way.

Not many titles could be considered art but that could, almost as good looking at it as playing it. I have not experienced that in any other game i have played before and since.

The wider question i think is; Surely art is subjective to the individual anyway irrespective of format or platform?
 
spitfireuk

spitfireuk

FRAGSTATIC!!
as a ex art student everything is art. scrapyards and their heaps of rusting metal is art so on and so forth and games yeah i guess they are as well but games such as Noby Noby Boy, Metal Gear Solid, Katamari and of course that "game" Linger in the Shadows (and anymore that people can think of) are definitely art
 
J

JWebster

New Member
Well, I think that games, of course, be art, especially fro the creator, it is the way he expressess himself. Really, think about it, you can tell what kind of person someone is by the games they play, just lie you can tell who someone is by the things they paint.
 
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