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Are Video Games art?
Topic Started: May 8 2008, 05:17 PM (954 Views)
- Razberi -
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Who told Nintendo it was a good idea to Cel shade Link? It turned out to be a bolder move than even Nintendo thought it would be. A large amount of people didn't like the idea of the hero being 5. But was it about opinion and likeability, or was it about the art behind it? Shigeru Miyamoto classed Wind Waker as his masterpiece, yet a lot of people didn't like it, he wasn't fussed. Cel shading is just another artistic technique used to give a character or place feeling and depth, the different techniques are used to convey a certain type of art.

But let's step away from what we all know for a moment and consider different genres of games. A mere puzzle game doesn't need art to make it addictive and catchy; taking Zoo Keeper for example, fine game but dire graphics. Shooting games need tension, anxiousness and atmosphere to do the genre justice, without the killer's shadow moving around the next corner, you wouldn't be quite so worried. This proves that games can be art, as art conveys feelings, and certain games do this well.
So, what makes this art? Code, seemingly random strings of letters and numbers make up the beautiful sunset, or the shimmering water. Whilst these things can be art, surely code is nothing but monotonous garbage?

A beautiful painting set to canvas, for an eternity, a creators pride - a game is unique to its designers, much as a painting is to the artists, so surely this fact alone qualifies games as art? Then of course there is the morality of recreating something (however beautifully done) that can or did kill a lot of people, I'm pretty sure death isn't a form of art.

What difference would it make if games were accepted and Mario in all his 1986 glory was in an art gallery next to some impressionist's piece?


The best comments will go on the blog. You might like to answer some of my seemingly rhetorical questions.
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picollo no.
Wolfos
Well the best videogames require an imaginative and creative mind to make them great, whether it's an innovation in graphics or gameplay it still requires an artistic mind to make the concept before the code is made so I do class some games as art. Though I'm not sure sequals or games with similar formular to the originals can be seen in the same sense as simply emulating what has been put down before it is hardly using creative intelligence, unless of course they do something to particularly set themselves apart.
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Dark Lugia 2
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I wish my lawn was an Emo, so it would cut itself. :D
They can be art, Okami proves it ^_^
Posted Image
I dont think of WW link as art, its just cel-shaded :p Okami is really art in motion, though ^_^

I dont think of games as pieces of code too, in-game models are made using 3d mesh programs by people or something like that, theyre made to look good on purpose (art is obv) its not like your typing numbers and a random game model comes up. :p
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PJI
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Wolfos
If the game is intended to be a piece of art, then it is art. In fact, anything can be art, if intended to be. The coding in games is much like the paint before it has been put on the picture; both seem meaningless in their "raw" form, but are limitless in there possibilities as to what they can create. Art shouldn't also be limited to visualisation. The technique to code together anything you could imagine, and using the paintbrush in a way others can't, this is a form of art itself. This can also apply to video games. As you metioned, Zoo Keeper isn't known for it's graphics. But art in video games shouldn't solely be limited to how good the game looks, either. The way you have to crack, master, and solve the puzzles is art, just as well as the cel-shaded beauty of Wind Waker is art. And the only difference a classic 8-bit Mario masterpiece would make in a museum is how it would influence its spectators. They may come to realise, and appreciate what games really are. Art.
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Noolsey
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Sextbook: By Order Of The Admin
Everything and anything can be considered art these days. I suppose most media has always been considered a form of art. I wouldn't say games are art per se, but the art in the games is very important. Like in the ongoing gameplay vs. graphics argument the graphics, or art style has to be reflected in the gameplay otherwise neither will be any good. The Legend Of Zelda has the simple, square graphics to go with the simple, square world, and it works. Crysis creates a living, breathing, stunning enviroment and it's breathtaking. Of course a WW2 game with amazing graphics may be about as fun as cutting up kittens.

You want art? This...this is art...

Posted Image
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Takoa
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Gacha is a terrible mistress.

There are several games that have beautiful styles and colours in their graphics (Mario Kart Wii - Such beautiful racetracks! Tales of Symphonia - Brilliant anime style graphics. Zelda: Twilight Princess - I love Hyrule Field. It looks so vast and it's a beautifully designed area. Final Fantasy IX - Terra looks so shiny, bright and mystical, just like another world in such an epic RPG should.) Every style and polygon/pixel of graphics has been designed by someone. That means that people have taken their time to carefully put each piece of the games' visuals together. That's sort of what artists do. Also, art isn't simply restricted to paintings and things like that nowadays anyway. If acting is an art, then surely voice acting in games (in games that have it) would be an art in it's own way. Plus there are many other aspects of games that could surely be considered art.
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- Razberi -
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Anyone else want to be on the blog?
/bump
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Dino Dan the Dinosaur Man
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What is a man?
I think games can be art. I'd say Wind Waker looks, plays and sounds great enough to class it as art. To a certain extent I think TP also could be said to be art, as well as Mario Galaxy. Some scenes in RPGs are like movies, full of drama and great acting (voice acting).

Music is art, film is art, drawings are art. So in a game like Wind Waker (in my opinion) where it's thorougly enjoyable, the music is great, and you could take any screenshot (not literally any, but certainly a lot of scenes) and it'd look like a painting, I think the game could be classed as art. They bring all these forms together and make the product an interactive piece of art.
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Blaze
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Art?
Video games are art if you think it is.
Everyone has different views towards art.
I personally think that some games have an artistic feel.
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Highlander Monkey
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That's a smashing blouse you have on.
If original music, classic films and beautiful pictures are art then games are the ultimate combination.
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GarydosRC
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Resident Nintendo advocate
That's a bit of a general question, it's similar to asking 'Are paintings art?'
The answer being, they can be, but if a 2 year old splashes paint on a page it's hardly art. Likewise when a game company decides to make a game where you pick outfits for some virtual barbie and then go around riding a horse that's just a 5 second clip looping, that isn't art either.
Art is when a true genius puts his ideas into some kind of media, be it canvass, film, radio or computer games.
Thankfully there are plenty such people in the video game industry balancing out the rest of the rubbish that's put up with.
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Loki
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God of tricks and folly!
I like art and I like video games. I don't like modern art and modern video games suck. Ergo, video games aren't art.

Is a severed cows head that has been preserved art?
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PJI
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Wolfos
Loki
May 11 2008, 02:23 AM
Is a severed cows head that has been preserved art?

If it is intended to be art, then it is.
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Dark Lugia 2
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I wish my lawn was an Emo, so it would cut itself. :D
Loki
May 11 2008, 02:23 AM
I like art and I like video games. I don't like modern art and modern video games suck. Ergo, video games aren't art.

Is a severed cows head that has been preserved art?

If you dont like modern video games, it doesnt change the fact that they are art :p
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fullbleed
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He died how he lived, in a noisy car.
Yes, they can be and no wind waker isn't art. For me, personaly for a video game to be art then it has to be what it does and not just what it looks like.

Deus Ex is art, in the same way that a book is art or a piece of music. You'll never get it until you play it and you really should because it's incredible.
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GarydosRC
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Resident Nintendo advocate
Loki
May 11 2008, 01:23 AM
I like art and I like video games. I don't like modern art and modern video games suck. Ergo, video games aren't art.

All you're really doing there is showing a similarity between the two, not a difference.
And if your argument is it's not art because you don't like it that's just ridiculous.
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Loki
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God of tricks and folly!
GarydosRC
May 11 2008, 01:42 PM
Loki
May 11 2008, 01:23 AM
I like art and I like video games. I don't like modern art and modern video games suck. Ergo, video games aren't art.

All you're really doing there is showing a similarity between the two, not a difference.
And if your argument is it's not art because you don't like it that's just ridiculous.

Hey I'm always right, what more can I say!? ?:/
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falco_the_watcher
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The fluffy one
You could have a go at responding to Gary's post intelligently, but don't strain yourself...
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Loki
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God of tricks and folly!
falco_the_watcher
May 11 2008, 04:50 PM
You could have a go at responding to Gary's post intelligently, but don't strain yourself...

oooh sorry captain intellect!

I could embark upon a debate about the philsophy of art but would only come to the conclusions of the fact that what we define as art or not is purely subjective. So it's personal what we call art ;)
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falco_the_watcher
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The fluffy one
'Captain Intellect'?

Anyways, I believe that art is anything created by man in any way. Now, what's TASTEFUL art, that's where a real debate lies.
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