Are video games to be considered art?

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Art they are. Of course just like art you have stuff that will be held in high re-guard for decades to centuries.. if not for the length of all humanity. But on the other hand you also have that picture at Walmart that you see in every restaurant and doesn't mean a fucking thing to anyone other than being more than an empty wall.

Only time will tell of course. But sure some of them will go down as true master pieces of art. Mostly though they will be floating on top of a sea of garbage. Either way art is art.

[Malacrass]

Whenever this question pops up I think of Majora's Mask.

I don't claim to be an art connoisseur, but if this game isn't art then no game is in my opinion.

[tehealadin]

Yes, they are. Not everyone considers them to be so, I suppose it is open to interpretation as to what is considered art, and given the kinds of things I see created by the likes of Tracey Emin, which are considered art, then yes, video games should most definitely be considered art. Go play Shadow of the Colossus. Just because they require a high order of skill sets to create and are dependent on technology doesn't diminish them as art.

[Deleted]

They're a medium like any other through which art can be transmitted.

[Jtbrig7390]

Yep that's art

[Deleted]

“What can be labeled, packaged, mass produced is neither truth nor art.”

– Marty Rubin

To elaborate:
A game is both a mix out of art and technology. Art is the part when you listen to music and watch a well painted scenery and get told a story. But it is not art to create a game system, or to balance a game correctly. That is merely math and programming skill, which at the end is just crafting algorithms to make a game work. Or in short: Games are a mix out of crafting and arts.

If you are a game system designer, dont ever believe you are an artist. Artists are only those who create a story, music or graphics.

[Deleted]

So the moment we copy Mona Lisa into chocolate wrappers, Mona Lisa stops being art?

Yes, as it is commerce, and not art anymore. The original Mona Lisa in the louvre is the art part.

[Deleted]

Yes, as it is commerce, and not art anymore. The original Mona Lisa in the louvre is the art part.

Damn right!
Art died with the printing press. Shakespeare was a sell out. And movies and photography are just copies of the actual pieces in the real world.

[Deleted]

Damn right!
Art died with the printing press. Shakespeare was a sell out. And movies and photography are just copies of the actual pieces in the real world.

Capitalism and pop culture like to mix up art with commerce.

[Deleted]

anything that is pretty is not always art, and art is not always pretty.
As to games being art, Well art is is a pretty personal expereince and in my experience games are not, and never will be an art form.
Enterainment, Definitly. Artisitic, some can certainly be classed as artistic, but pure art ? No not in my opionion.

and when it comes to what art is, or is not it is your own opinion that counts.

[Lady Dragonheart]

That would depend on the viewer as well as the game in question. Some people consider literally everything as art, no matter what it is. "Be art" is a trait that anything can possess as it is an opinion of the onlooker, an opinion that has no real tangible description, where it's more like a feeling of appreciation than fact.

[Deleted]

There is no doubt that video games are a form of art.

Some people here are considering that art is "something that has to be deep on some level to be considered as such". That's why some people consider that only games with high artistic direction are a piece of art and being rare in games the whole media is not art, just some piece in the media are.

However that is simply not what art means. Art is a form defined by the ability to express/convey emotion (among other things but mainly that). A crappy noodle necklace is crappy art but art nonetheless, as a child show dedication and try to bring satisfaction to his public (mother).

A game like tetris is art, because and it is the case for most games is to create joy for its user and some mental challenge. If a game is not able to convey anything to its user like the simple pleasure of playing, the fear in a horror game, sorrow and beauty in adventure games, it fails as a game and won't be used. I don't see where games differ from movie, performance, artistic beauty and litterature when it comes to being an art form.

There are two main difference with most art form : money and collective work. A game can take several people to make with different vision and many of them don't do art, but the same could be said about movies, theater and to some extent litterature. A piece of art is not something pure, the product of one mind without any material interference, it is a product whose goal is to be the best at conveying whatever we want.

[Wavebossa]

Anything that is created for more than just a mechanical function/purpose can be considered art.

A wrench is not art, but a wrench painted and designed can be art. The paint job does nothing to further the wrenches mechanical purpose, it is purely aesthetics

That being said, video games are clearly art.

[Allybeboba]

Some people consider cooks "artists". That doesn't mean that the local fry cook is an "artist" per se.
"Art" is truly an opinion. And that would make it's creator an "artist".

[Deleted]

A wrench that is perfectly designed to fit its function can be seen as art.

The artists in this case was a wrench-assembly line in a wrench factory.

For some reason your understanding of art collides with commerce and crafting.

Do you pretend to be an artist yourself?

[ComputerNerd]

I consider video games art when they make a game with an artistic vision.

And what meets that vision or not is just as questionable as many physical items labelled as "art".

There is no simple answer here, as to what specifically is or isn't art as it is very much down to the opinions of the audience.
Can video games be art ?
I think so.
Doesn't mean they all are.

[Shadowferal]

Planescape: Torment could have easily been a long theatrical play

When I saw the thread title I immediately thought of Planescape Torment.

[GennGreymane]

And what meets that vision or not is just as questionable as many physical items labelled as "art".

There is no simple answer here, as to what specifically is or isn't art as it is very much down to the opinions of the audience.
Can video games be art ?
I think so.
Doesn't mean they all are.

I can see some games made with an artistic vision, and some that are not. I would not say COD is made with an artistic vision, not to knock it, because if one was made with an artistic vision, it could easily be art. Same with battle field.

[Powerogue]

Absolutely. Though this means they have the same diversity of quality as other art mediums. This is technically an artistic painting.



With that in perspective, everything from Flappy Bird all the way to Journey is a genre of art.

[Docturphil]

Video games are not a form of art, they are a combination of several forms of art.