Are games art? Do you care?

[Azimuth]

I wrote a similar article to this in NAG last month - don't know if anyone here read it.

My point, however, was asking why it is that people seem to think that something being "art" somehow legitimises or elevates its status in some way. I mean, if this wasn't true, nobody would bother arguing about it.

Personally, I think "art" is such a nebulous, subjective concept, it's just not worth the effort of debating its definitions or subscriptions at all. It's a stupid, pointless argument, ultimately terminating in nothing more meaningful or significant than a necessarily inconclusive "yes, it is" or "no, it isn't".

[Xero]

No Azimuth, you should know no one reads your articles :P
Art ? Who cares, only yuppies that think having THE UGLIEST paint spatters that adorn canvas in their living rooms seems to care about what is considered art and what isn't
Games are Games

[Tsar]

No Azimuth, you should know no one reads your articles :P
Art ? Who cares, only yuppies that think having THE UGLIEST paint spatters that adorn canvas in their living rooms seems to care about what is considered art and what isn't
Games are Games

+10000
yuppies make me sick.

[tehNihilist]

My point, however, was asking why it is that people seem to think that something being "art" somehow legitimises or elevates its status in some way. I mean, if this wasn't true, nobody would bother arguing about it.

Personally, I think "art" is such a nebulous, subjective concept, it's just not worth the effort of debating its definitions or subscriptions at all. It's a stupid, pointless argument, ultimately terminating in nothing more meaningful or significant than a necessarily inconclusive "yes, it is" or "no, it isn't".

People just like to think they are awesome by association. So if games = art, then they think they are complex and cultured, when we actually know the truth about many gamers out there. You just need to log into any competitive online game to see the caliber of many a gamer.

Personally I don't give a toss. Not even sure why I posted

[kosovohp]

I like it . Thank you

[Maplassie]

I like it. Thank you too.

[Raven Gold]

Are games art? Yes, they all are, even the crap ones. Anything that you create is art, even mappy's body count. But do I care? Not so much.

[jasong]

I wrote a similar article to this in NAG last month - don't know if anyone here read it.

My point, however, was asking why it is that people seem to think that something being "art" somehow legitimises or elevates its status in some way. I mean, if this wasn't true, nobody would bother arguing about it.

Personally, I think "art" is such a nebulous, subjective concept, it's just not worth the effort of debating its definitions or subscriptions at all. It's a stupid, pointless argument, ultimately terminating in nothing more meaningful or significant than a necessarily inconclusive "yes, it is" or "no, it isn't".

Why become a gaming critic if you don't want to engage on the most significant discussions? Avoiding the debate just allows uninformed critics writing wildly outside of their domain to make damning pronouncements without correction.

The core of it, as I said, isn't of the nature of what art is - that's quite frivolous - it's whether gaming is capable of producing real, lasting art. And while there may be no consensus on the former definitions, there are certainly acknowledged masterpieces within every other medium.

Great art has certain characteristics: it deals with highly complex, mature themes, it is of an outstanding aesthetic composition that withstands critical scrutiny, it lasts beyond the age in which it was created, and so forth. So with that in mind, what metrics should be applied to videogame criticism? When does a game transcend its medium? Which games until now have attained to real art in some degree? Those are significant, debateworthy questions IMO.

Videogaming needs to mature as a medium - an attitude of contempt towards any attempt at serious analysis rather than just points out of 10 is doing nothing but retarding gaming from ever reaching its potential.

[DenSweeP]

Videogaming needs to mature as a medium - an attitude of contempt towards any attempt at serious analysis rather than just points out of 10 is doing nothing but retarding gaming from ever reaching its potential.

That and the fact that serious art critics/snobs will most probably never accept that something like videogames can be considered art, much less masterpieces.

[jasong]

That and the fact that serious art critics/snobs will most probably never accept that something like videogames can be considered art, much less masterpieces.

The same could have been said for movies at one point - then Citizen Kane changed all of that, opened up moviemaking as a legitimate artistic enterprise.

And believe it or not critics aren't actually just elitist snobs - most of the time they have a more trained artistic sense than the average consumer. They wouldn't be critics if they didn't treasure the things they critiqued.