Video gaming is still a budding industry. Are games, at this point in their infancy, art? What does it take for a game to be considered art? Insert Coin(s) to Continue takes a look past the gimmicks and gives his analysis of the industry.

Video games can be seen as showcases of what man has accomplished, technologically. Each year designers are pushing graphics, memory, power, innovations upon the medium in what seems to be a race towards a non-existent goal. As with other mediums, video games will continue to improve as long as there are people producing them. The question, though, that some are already beginning to ask, though, is the question of, “Are video games art?”. There are certainly arguments coming from both sides of the divide and today I will attempt to view both in depth as we explore this relevant question.

An important clarification to make when asking this question is how one defines art. For the sake of this argument, I will take a fairly conservative definition. From Wikipedia, “Generally art is a (product of) human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind; by transmitting emotions and/or ideas”. I will also separate aesthetics and industry. Artistic direction or innovations created for the sole purpose of selling to new or established markets will not be counted. Artistic direction and innovation must be novel and created to leave a lasting impression upon players or the industry rather than solely attracting potential customers. This can be difficult to determine (as it deals mostly with the motive of the developers), but it can be assumed that a game like Quake 4 was not trying to make an artistic statement in its art direction as much as it was just trying to grab onto the established and well-received sci-fi, horror genre shooter standard model. That is not to say that games that fit within archetypes cannot transcend the stereotype. For example, I would consider Metroid Prime art even though it is a sci-fi shooter.

Video games are relatively young. The first video game was created only 37 years ago. People are still getting used to the idea of video games. It has not reached its maturity yet. Compare video games to film, a medium that most aesthetic philosophers consider to be an art form. In the early days of film (the late 1800s to the early 1900s) film was not considered an art form either. Early films, like the Roundhay Garden Scene, served only to display the possibility of what the motion picture camera could do. Works following were usually extensions of stage performances during the vaudeville era consisting of, at the time, revolutionary camera tricks filmed in such a way as to give the appearance of magic. It wasn’t long before artistic qualities of film started to emerge. Films by Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers can be seen as an early example of this. Of course, the evolution of film is readily available to anyone who wants to do further reading in other sources, but it is not the topic of my argument today so I’ll spend as little time on the subject as possible. My point is simple. Video games are still in their infancy.

For games to be art, in this argument, they have to have one or more of the following: a story or narrative conveying novel emotions or ideas and / or novel aesthetic art direction (in visuals, music, innovations, or other criteria). Under these criteria, most of the games released on and before the Atari 2600 would not be considered art. Story was virtually non-existent and the graphics served only to display boundaries of objects represented on screen instead of displaying things in a unique perspective. I’ll examine both of the requirements.

For games to be considered art, they, most of the time, must include some kind of a story. Notable exceptions may include games that serve as more of a “display of artistic accomplishment” such as the recent independent “game” The Graveyard or Rare’s Grabbed by the Ghoulies, whose value comes not from the simple gameplay or story, but rather from the game’s art direction and brilliant use of the Xbox technology. Games did not traditionally have stories attached to them at the beginning. It was not until 1981 that games started getting hints of story elements. 1981 issued in the releases of Nintendo’s Donkey Kong, which featured heroic carpenter Jumpman saving his girlfriend, Pauline, from an irate gorilla, and Ms. Pac-Man, which featured a tongue-in-cheek love story between established character Pac-Man and the titular hero, perhaps providing more of a commentary about the era’s video games than most gamers picked up on. Stories have certainly evolved since then. They reached the current standard of complexity with the release of Metal Gear Solid. Today’s games, such as Portal reveal characters and situations extensively and methodically in a style similar to modern film. Extensive character and plot development to ends other than creating new gameplay situations (sorry, Tony Hawk series) are one of the most common ways games can reach the status of becoming timeless, artistic classics. Take for example the Final Fantasy series.

A game’s story, like a film’s, may or may not have underlying messages. Famous films such as Dr. Strangelove and The Godfather show how important meaning is to plot. While not essential, most movies that make any sort of “Top 100” lists are generally driven by messages or ideas deeper than what is shown at face value on screen. Video gaming really hasn’t embraced this as much as cinema. Japanese RPGs will occasionally touch on issues, but novel ideas, for the most part, go widely unrepresented. Usually games that do try to get the player to think are well received by both reviewers and fans, though. Examples of such games are BioShock, Half-Life 2, Portal, and Fallout 3. Each have messages they creatively display somehow through their games.

Art direction seems like a given in an argument over whether or not games should be considered art, but not all art direction is novel. For every Doom 3 we get a Quake 4. Unique art direction is more than just pretty graphics. It is a new perspective or artistic movement. Extreme examples like Okami and Psychonauts make up a fairly small portion of this sampling, and it includes much more subtle examples like WarCraft III and Gears of War. This can include the game’s soundtrack and even its character design. As early as Mario Bros. and Balloon Fighter, fantastic worlds have been developed as settings for the games’ adventures. An early example of outstanding art direction was Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. Country’s unique graphical style, large and empty settings, and decidedly moody soundtrack made the otherwise typical platformer stand out from the rest.

Is the gaming industry ready for artistic games at this point? There have been many examples over the past few years of games that have creative aesthetics, such as Okami and Kameo: Elements of Power, and creative story development, like Grim Fandango and the Sam & Max series. An overwhelming majority of the time, these titles are praised highly by fans and critics but sell poorly on the market. One reason is that artistic style best manifests itself in slower, exploration-based genres such as 3D platformers, point-and-click games, or RPGs. While it’s not unheard of for more artistic games to grace the more popular genres (Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, XIII), they are much less common.

Personally, I think the gaming industry is waiting on a truly talented game director to pull the industry through an artistic revolution, of sorts, legitimating claims of artistic merit. We have not yet had an Alfred Hitchcock of gaming. We have had talented visionaries like Tim Schafer and Sid Meier, but no one that has been able to cause much of a ripple throughout the gaming industry yet. It is only a matter of time, though. Maybe the success of BioShock and Portal that we are seeing now is the first step towards making games a truly artistic medium. In an era of user-generated content and a demanding market wanting more than the previous generations, games are certainly moving in the right direction. Certain games can be considered art at this point, but it won’t be long until the large majority of them share the title. Until then, support the great artistic games already available. Go buy Psychonauts and Kameo: Elements of Power. Show the developers that we’re an audience intelligent enough to swallow more than previous generations of gamers.