[HN Gopher] Video Games as High Art? The Museum of Modern Art th... ___________________________________________________________________ Video Games as High Art? The Museum of Modern Art thinks they are Author : doomlaser Score : 14 points Date : 2021-04-22 04:50 UTC (18 hours ago) (HTM) web link (doomlaser.com) (TXT) w3m dump (doomlaser.com) | urda wrote: | I think so too. Video games are just another medium, and there's | nothing stopping someone or a group of someones from expressing | their artistic interests through it. | betterunix2 wrote: | Video games also involve gameplay design, which is an aspect | that separates video games from other forms of art (and thus | justifies video games as a distinct art form) and which is part | of what makes a great game "great." | Kranar wrote: | It's a perfectly good argument and I will admit that the | distinction isn't particularly meaningful, but I don't consider | video games to be art anymore than I consider basketball to | itself be an art. | | Video games make use of many arts, music, visuals, storytelling | etc... but a video game is identified by the goal it sets for | its player, its win condition, strategy, etc... the use of art | is mostly to keep the player engaged and entertained instead of | being the defining characteristic. | | That said I also agree this may not be a particularly useful | distinction and don't have very strong feelings about it. | chrisco255 wrote: | Basketball is the same game played over and over. The | objective is to make the court and gameplay setting as | consistent as possible across different locations so as to | set the best players against each other in a competition. | | Some video games fit this sport-like criteria and are | competitive in nature. Others are storytelling experiences | meant to be enjoyed for the sake of enjoyment. It's an | interactive art form and some of the talent that goes into | some of the most well-designed games is extraordinary and | should be recognized as such. | | People fall in love with some games based on their characters | and storyline. If making people fall in love with a creation | isn't art, then I don't know what art is. | kroltan wrote: | The classic counterargument is that _game design_ (or, more | broadly, interaction design) is the art medium, not the game. | The game is the result. | | A basketball player might not be an artist, but the person | who created the idea of basketball could be called one, under | this premise. | | Now, most computer games are way more complicated than | basketball due to what their platform allows, but the | argument remains that the rules of interaction and the | responses of the game to player's actions are designed to | provoke some specific response, or even used contemplatively, | even if you were to change what actual medium those responses | were in (for example, text-based dungeon crawlers versus | something more visual like For the King). | [deleted] | chrisco255 wrote: | Video games are one of the highest forms of art, in my opinion, | because it's a blend of so many art forms. The architecture, | level design, cinematography, character animation, storytelling, | the music, the voice acting, the game play mechanics, etc. There | are some beautiful games out there that have shaped culture and | brought people together as a bonding experience. It's high time | the world recognize that. I suspect it will more and more as | digital natives come of age. | xnx wrote: | Katamari Damacy was an excellent choice for their collection. I | have enjoyed a lot of games (Breath of the Wild!), but Katamari | is the only one that comes to mind that felt like it had a | message that was bigger than the game itself. | void_mint wrote: | Oxford's definition of art: | | > the expression or application of human creative skill and | imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or | sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their | beauty or emotional power. | | I would say that video games are inarguably "high art". The | greatest thing about the increased ergonomics that Unity/UE bring | is the ability for less specialized people to express themselves | via video games. Visual expression, storytelling, sound, etc. | It's all there. | | I am not involved with Fullbright, but the game Tacoma | (https://store.steampowered.com/app/343860/Tacoma/) I think is an | excellent example of video games as art. For those curious, I | would highly recommend taking a look. | notsureaboutpg wrote: | Sports aren't an art. Sure there's an artfulness to the way high | level athletes play their sports, but that doesn't make the sport | (or any specific sport) art. | | I appreciate all the arguments for video games being art. In fact | I lean to that side of the discussion myself. But I can't shake | the feeling that just adding a bunch of artistic things into a | product doesn't make that product art. Art is meant to be viewed. | A video game isn't... ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-04-22 23:00 UTC)