Since the beginning of time, human beings have sought to create things not just for pure survival but also for aesthetics or maybe just for the hell of it. Bear with me, I’m not an art expert or anything. In any case, I know that art has evolved over the millennia with the technology of that era. For example, in Michelangelo’s day, art was for skilled artisans who spent years literally perfecting their art with specialized art supplies, whereas in Van Gogh’s day, thanks to industrialization, art supplies were easier and cheaper to come by. The same thing can be seen with film and photography. But what does this have to video games? A lot, in my opinion, for one very simple reason. Video games are only a very recent addition to the number of ways people fulfill their creative desires through created imagery. You may be thinking, “OK, that still does not really answer my question” but let me answer your question with another question. What IS art, anyway? The answer to that question is more complicated than you might think. In fact, many artists in the twentieth century were puzzled by very same question. Some found an answer, such as Andy Warhol and his Marilyn Monroe prints. Was THAT art? Many people said no at the time and yet his art is seen everywhere, especially on college dorm posters.
Even before Warhol, there was a man by the name of Marcel Duchamp who bought a toilet, signed it, and called it art. Surely this can’t be considered art, can it? Some people also thought so but when you consider this piece’s context its artistic merit is actually pretty obvious. Duchamp created it at the end of WWI as a criticism of more traditional European art which had suddenly been tainted with hateful nationalism. The long and the short of this pretentious tangent is that art is subjective. If a signed toilet can be considered art, there is no reason why it can’t be for video games. However, I will admit that video games frequently do not have a strong artistic presence. What with all the Italian plumbers and dudes with an implausible amount of muscles created merely for entertainment. Though anyone who is a film buff would know that early movies were not impressive artistically. One of the first films was of a man who was sneezing. There is no Academy Award category for “Best Sneeze”. And video games have evolved in a similar way. This brings us to the inevitable question, how has gaming changed art? For one thing, it has given people a way to be more interactive with their imaginations which is always good. Another thing is that video games provide a new and interesting medium where you could express yourself. A fair number of games are specifically created as art such as the independent game Limbo which features a boy looking for his kidnapped sister in a world of ambiguous shadows.
As someone, who has played this game very briefly, I have no idea what the significance of that imagery is but isn’t finding the answer to that question something that more traditional art asks of the viewer.
In Conclusion
There is still a huge debate on whether or not video games count as art. I personally think that they do count as art but if you have any thoughts on the matter I encourage you to leave a comment. I also ask that you check out my contact page and get the latest posts.