The definition of art in gaming

[vaio]

The definition of art in gaming  

Since years games strive towards being art and being recognized as such. Despite developers trying hard, there hasn’t been any notable progress. Maybe their approach is wrong and that’s why they fail. What exactly is art anyway?

The main problem I see is that developers are orientating themselves at other mediums. For example, games trying to be more like movies and getting the desired result that way. The question is if that is really the right way for games. There’s nothing wrong with looking at other mediums for educational purposes, but it’s also obvious that different mediums have different benchmarks for what is considered art. Music excels in totally different ways than paintings or literatur do. What is considered art differs from medium to medium, but are there any things that all those highly regarded works have in common?

Probably that art is timeless. People still listen to classic music centuries after it has been composed. They still pay to hear orchestras playing this very music. True art stands the test of time. In some cases true art is ignored or downplayed at the time when it is originally made, but recognized as such afterwards while highly regarded works of the same time are quickly forgotten afterwards.

That last sentence may be fitting for today’s video game critics. In several years nobody will care for most of the games that get high marks and praise for being art from them today. But once again, what exactly is the definition of art in games? Certainly it has to be something that makes games timeless.

My best guess is that art in games is refinement of controls and level design, possibly atmosphere and original ideas being brought in. It’s not games being like movies like too many games try to be nowadays. It’s games being games. That means to accomplish things that other mediums cannot and for games that’s interactivity with the game’s world and not watching cutscenes.

Would this mean that a game like New Super Mario Bros. Wii is closer to being art than Metal Gear Solid 4? (Note: I am not saying any game is art, the medium is still very young after all.)

It looks that way. It rarely happens that a game gets better with each subsequent playthrough, especially nowadays when you play through most games only once and afterwards either sell them or put them on your shelf forever because you are a collector. The more you play NSMB Wii, the better it gets. You start to notice the love that went into this game. While previously you took your time to complete a level, now that you mastered the controls you can speed run through the levels. You get amazed by yourself at what kind of things you are able to pull off. Things you didn’t even think of when you played the game for the first time. This sort of progress is something you don’t experience in any other medium and maybe that should be the definition of art in gaming.

Then again, maybe gaming shouldn’t try to be art at all and be just like board games or television. Fun entertainment and nothing more. This isn’t a bad thing after all.