Current Events > Are video games art?In

(+) Yeah! (+)

Roger Ebert infamously said no, what does CE say?


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no

everyone's interpretation of what "art" is is different, but for me, it is creating something that is made with the sole purpose of expressing aesthetic value.

video games are a commercial media product designed to be consumed and turn a profit for a company, so to me they're no different than a Burger King commercial.

the very nature of 99.9% of games on the market (you are designed to win/complete/etc a game, not enjoy it for its artistic merits) prevents it from being considered art IMO.

i'd say there are a select few indie games that meet what i'd consider is the criteria for games as art, but the majority of video games are mass market commercial products, and nothing more
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RDR isnt art and Disaster Movie is


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Generally no, but it's possible

It's sort of like movies. Transformers 4 is not art, but Close Encounters of the Third Kind is.

Overwatch is not art, but Undertale is.
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Games can be art, no more or less than movies or music. But more than 95% of games are not art.
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The question is poorly worded tho
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Yes. Anything can be art. When your parents made you that was art.
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Sure. I would call art any attempt to convey meaning in a more effective manner than simply speaking it.

I can tell you murder is bad, but if I make a video game that demonsrates how murder is bad, that's art.

Not really any meaning to Tetris though.
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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

When your parents made you that was art.

No, that was 3 am drunken sex, where Mom was only halfway on the bed and getting a headrush but Dad just kept on pounding her like a piece of schnitzel
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Depends.

Almost all video games contain art. This is without question. The only ones I consider debatable are sports games and simulators. Though even then, the objective of a simulator is to mimic reality which can be considered an artistic endeavor.

Some games are more focused on the artistic expression than gameplay. But it's also not a dichotomy. You can have both high emphasis on artistic expression and strong gameplay.

Overall I would say yes that games are indeed art, and that you don't have to broaden the definition by that much to include them.
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I've always found it interesting that so many people define "art" as "thing I think is good"
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Japanese games, yes.

Albel-Nox posted...

Japanese games, yes.

Weeb alert
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I feel like some are, but most now just feel like cash grabs to me.
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Video games are toys.

Some games are like looking at a painting.
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Any creative work could be considered art. What makes something art is that it was created, and that it invokes emotion or presents some form of beauty to a person.

A video game could be art to one person, and not really art to another person.
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Movies were once not considered art.

Games aren't Pong anymore.
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Vindris__ posted...

Any creative work could be considered art. What makes something art is that it was created, and that it invokes emotion or presents some form of beauty to a person.

A video game could be art to one person, and not really art to another person.

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weapon_d00d816 posted...

Some games are more focused on the artistic expression than gameplay. But it's also not a dichotomy. You can have both high emphasis on artistic expression and strong gameplay.

How are game mechanics inherently not art?
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