As a video game fanatic, I may be biased, but I believe that video games are one of the most important mediums of art that humanity has ever produced.
Art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination” and “the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.” (Oxford Dictionary). When most people think of Art, one naturally assumes drawing, painting and so on. But thanks to technology, the canvas that artist can able to utilise has expanded. As an art form that solely exists in a digital space, video games are the results on unity between art and science. They can include many forms of art; from created 2D assets, 3D models, illustrations, writing narrative stories, powerful music – these art forms all on their own, combine into something that transcend just a single art form type. Video Games are a collaborative effect of all these different art forms. It is a hodgepodge of art.
Video games are so varied as well – you can have cute simple games like Stardew Valley, incredibly narrative games like Undertale, or games that captivate fantastic visuals, music and storytelling all in one, like the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (or really any Zelda game honestly – yes, I’m biased). Video Games are so personal to those who make it, and even more so to those who play it. If you can observe the work of another and find in it a personal connection, then art has been achieved. (Chris Melissinos).
I think there is still a misunderstanding among most older people that video games are nothing but a waste of time. I still have vivid memories of my friend and I literally defending video games to our parents. “Read a book instead” they said. Why? I’m getting a much more immersive and interactive story playing video games. I have learned so many things from video games, it honestly shocks my parents whenever we watch quiz shows like the Chase, and I know a majority of the answers due to me learning about it from video games in some way. When our parents were young, they didn’t have this expansive digital age that the rest of us grew up in. But Video Games are a natural evolution of what human’s have always done growing up, play. While our parents went outside and explored their surrounding areas, we simply turn on our consoles and get teleported to whatever world we feel like, play in our own story.
I think by todays standards, a majority of the general populace would consider video games an art form now. There have even been major exhibits in well renowned museums such as the Smithsonian. Universities have established archives of historic titles and hardware, and even offer doctorates in video game studies. Video games have become a significant engine of culture, and a potent economic force. (Brian Moriarty). People can sense the passion, dedication and skill put into video games, just as much as you can sense those when looking at any painting in a gallery. There are of course people who would disagree that video games are an art form, such as Roger Ebert, a film critic who proclaimed that “No one in or out of the field (of video games) has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets.”
I obviously disagree with Ebert’s statement. Times and video games themselves have evolved drastically since the mid-2000s. Today, video games are viewed and critiqued the same as any other art form. Not all video game titles art “artist masterpieces” but the same can be said for any other art form, we’ve all seen trashy books and terrible paintings. But I think what holds video games higher than any other art forms are the reactions/experiences from the players/audience. When we play video games, we act and react to the story unfolding around us. I can confidently say that I have played quite a few games that have taken me on emotional roller-coaster. The sadness at a character’s death, the adrenaline that pumps through my whole body as I fight a difficult boss, the immense joy I feel when I finally beat said boss. There is no other medium that does this. As Nathan Deardorff states: “No one reads a book or watches a movie and claims that they themselves harpooned Moby Dick or defeated the soviet boxer in Rocky IV. But when a player talks, they say might say something like, “I unlocked the chest and found the treasure,” or “I beat the boss, but the princess was in another castle, so I had to keep going.”
The medium of video games has evolved so much since it’s first conception back in 1958 with the game Pong. What was simply a digital tennis match between players has evolved into so much more. First Person shooters on an alien planet, a ten-year-old travelling the country to become a Pokémon Master, a rag tag group of hunters protecting their village from monsters, you name it. I have barely scratched the surface of video games. The amount of time, talent and dedication put into even just a single video game is mind blowing, and I am so glad that video games are getting the recognition they deserve as a piece of art in modern times.
Dr. Laura D’Olimpio (January 2019) Ethics Explainer: Aesthetics. The Ethic Centre. https://ethics.org.au/ethics-explainer-aesthetics-what-makes-something-art/#:~:text=Art%20defined.,%2C%20novels%2C%20dance%20and%20music.&text=The%20creative%20nature%20of%20art,exclamations%20of%20'That's%20not%20Art!
Chris Melissinos (September 2015) Video Games Are One of the Most Important Art Forms in History. Time. https://time.com/collection-post/4038820/chris-melissinos-are-video-games-art/#:~:text=As%20an%20art%20form%20that,that%20transcends%20any%20one%20type.
Brian Moriarty (September 2015) It’s Becoming Harder to Deny Video Games ‘Art’ Status. Time. https://time.com/collection-post/4038821/brian-moriarty-are-video-games-art/
Smithsonian American Art Museum (2011) The Art of Video Games. https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/games
Roger Ebert (2010) Video games can never be art. RobertEbert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/video-games-can-never-be-art
Nathan Deardorff (October 2015) An Argument That Video Games Are, Indeed, High Art. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/berlinschoolofcreativeleadership/2015/10/13/an-argument-that-video-games-are-indeed-high-art/?sh=4debf1447b3c
Ernie Tretkoff (October 2008) October 1958: Physicist Invents First Video Game. APS News. https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200810/physicshistory.cfm#:~:text=in%20Physics%20History-,October%201958%3A%20Physicist%20Invents%20First%20Video%20Game,Brookhaven%20National%20Laboratory%20open%20house.
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