Are Video Games Art?

Lately, Kylie’s been thinking about the artistic evolution of video games. [Read his thoughts here.] In our living room, we’ve been batting about the definitions of stages of literary and visual art: Realism, Modernism, Postmodernism. The question: do video games have to master Realism before they can evolve to Postmodernism renditions?

Our debate rests on a major assumption: Video Games Are Art. It surprises me that I have no qualms with this assumption. Two years ago, I would either have not cared or said that they are definitely not art. Since last summer, though, when I attended the symphonic event Video Games Live, I’ve been viewing video games as art. An art form that builds on all the other major art forms combined: visual art, film, narrative, music.

I entered first through narrative - the literary part: where literary criticism includes authorial intent as a valid interpretation, so does an interpretation of a video game. What does the designer intend in the game? The major question a designer might consider is how much choice, or agency, to give the player - the protagonist - of the story. Some games have rabbit trails built in that a player can follow, but that are not essential to the main storyline (I'm thinking of those secret rooms in Mario Brothers as I type). By pursuing rabbit trails, a player might create much of his/her own story within the larger narrative that the designer has created. And - just like a bestselling novel - one component of a bestselling game is a good narrative.

Through Video Games Live, I discovered game soundtracks. Kylie owns all the Final Fantasy soundtracks - and they're good. I've never played Final Fantasy and I don't associate the melodic themes with certain characters the way Kylie does, but I do appreciate the music and enjoy it in the background. Perhaps it was hearing the music via the Pittsburgh Symphony, but these gamer people invest a lot in their soundtracks - just like a movie.

For the sake of brevity, I'm going to combine visual art and graphics on the basis that graphics have evolved from visual art. I'm still working to understand the nuances yet. For instance, Kylie was frustrated with the graphics in Dragon Age, but I didn't see anything terrible about it. Prince of Persia, however, I could watch like a movie - it was mesmerizing. Even something as seemingly simple as Critter Crunch, however, relied on sophisticated graphics.

So - this literary faux-critic considers video games to be art. Like literature, though, video games have "pulp fiction" equivalents, and that's probably what permeates the stereotype of video games. Or perhaps I've just been converted by my video game connoisseur.

Next up: are board games art?