| Video Games as an Art Form |
| Every form of art originates from entertainment. Paintings were meant to decorate a room, | Párr. 1 |
| music filled the void with appeasing melodies, literature engaged readers intellectually, and | |
| movies turn what lies in our imagination into a tangible reality. However, a relative | |
| newcomer, the video game, has not yet been recognized as worthy enough to take its place | |
| 5 | in the world of art. The problem arises when video game developers try to express their | |
| artistic vision, but the general public remains almost completely oblivious to their | |
| existence. In essence, video games cannot prove themselves because no one is listening. | |
| Nevertheless, video games should be promoted as a valid form of artistic expression | Párr. 2 |
| because of the potential they have to creatively express an idea that no other form of media | |
| 10 | can claim to accomplish. This uniqueness is found in the video game's direct interaction | |
| with the observer. A way to promote videogames as art is to have increased positive | |
| coverage of video games by the public. A possible method of doing so could include | |
| introducing games in libraries, or perhaps even having interactive exhibits at museums | |
| dedicated to artistry. In essence, the only way to experience a game is to become directly | |
| 15 | involved with it. | |
| Unfortunately, the virtual world of video games is only a reality to a few. In his | Párr. 3 |
| article titled "Is it Art?", John Lanchester states that "books, films, TV, dance, theatre, | |
| music, painting, photography… are all part of our current cultural discourse. Video games | |
| aren't" (18). Even if a person does not partake in or even joy one of these artistic subjects, | |
| 20 | at least he or she knows that the artistic medium exists. Additionally, the public's exposure | |
| to video games in the media often only involve a connection between violent video games | |
| and various shooting tragedies that occur throughout a nation. If this is a person's only | |
| knowledge of video games, it becomes very easy to dismiss video games as a negative | |
| influence and a waste of time. | |
| 25 | Before video games can be promoted as art, the argument must be made that video | Párr. 4 |
| games have the attributes to qualify them as an art form. However, the difficulty arises in | |
| finding succinct definition of art. To obtain a greater understanding of art itself, Adams | |
| offers a description of the evolution of art. He proposes that art was initially meant to | |
| "portray an object" but in this current generation, art serves "as an expression of the artist's | |
| 30 | thoughts" (68). In an article published in the journal At the Interface/Probing the | |
| Boundaries, Jef Folkerts suggests a distinction between what is truly artistic and what is | |
| simply aesthetic. The aesthetic quality of something only involves its outward experience, | |
| while an object's artistic properties involve its content (103). | |
| While video games of the current-generation boast life-like graphical engines that | Párr. 5 |
| 35 | often surpass any visual effects present in movies, it is not the only aspect of games that | |
| define them as an artistic medium. Most, if not all video games have music uniquely | |
| orchestrated for them and could be analyzed completely on its own as a form of musical art. | |
| What differentiates a game from its closest relation, film, and other forms of art is its | |
| completely interactive form of narrative. When we are truly part of the "artistic experience" | |
| 40 | in film or literature we constantly associate meaning to what is presented in the movie or | |
| book. A film or piece of literature ceases to become art when "what we see is what we get" | |
| (Folkerts, 103) where there is no substance beyond the medium's outward appearance. By | |
| making the player directly involved with the narrative, even to the point where the player | |
| has the ability to shape it into his or her own unique experience, the video game effectively | |
| 45 | evokes this meta-reflexive nature ofour minds. This ability of the video game to allow us | |
| to constantly interpret in-game events and associate meaning to them is what can define it | |
| as art, and the distinguishing factor of video games is that the observer has direct influence | |
| over the narrative. This level of interactivity would ultimately lead to a greater | |
| understanding of any artistic message that is present in the video game. | |
| 50 | An observation Lanchester makes is that what undermines the validity of video | Párr. 6 |
| games to non-gamers is the difficulty of learning the game mechanics. He proposes that | |
| "the whole package of conventions and codes and how-tos which become second nature to | |
| video-game players, but which strikes non-players as arbitrary and confining and a little bit | |
| stupid" (19). It is important to point out that artistry is often accompanied by difficulty. The | |
| 55 | various works of Shakespeare are often off-putting to students because of the difficulty of | |
| language. It takes time and patience to understand how Shakespeare is read before one can | |
| understand his literary meaning. | |
| There are games out there that are worthy enough to earn the distinction of being | Párr. 7 |
| art, and as technology advances, developers are able to create richly detailed creative | |
| 60 | worlds that can further immerse the player. However, these games are virtually nonexistent | |
| to the average citizen. Consequently, it is imperative that video games be promoted as a | |
| form of artistic expression because of the immeasurable benefits it could bring to our | |
| society. Even now, there are many connections between games and literature. Spec Ops: the | |
| Line, for example, is a third-person shooter which involves a three-man squad infiltrating a | |
| 65 | conflict somewhere in the Middle-East. However, Spec Ops does not fall into the trap of the | |
| glorifying of war as many shooters do. | |
| If educators had a chance of recognizing the literary elements of games, they could | Párr. 8 |
| provide connections to the texts that they are teaching students. The interactivity level will | |
| let students develop a greater understanding of difficult themes since they are directly | |
| 70 | involved in how the story progresses. This interactive experience could be applied to a | |
| more general audience, and it could improve society as we have the potential to learn very | |
| complex themes in a relatively simple manner. It will take an undoubted lengthy amount of | |
| time to change the mindset of any culture, but a greater amount of exposure is needed | |
| before any significant change can occur. A possible method in doing this is to make video | |
| 75 | games free and accessible. Libraries are a great resource of free knowledge, and | |
| introducing certain video games in this system will expose this medium to a greater amount | |
| of people who could not financially afford video games. Currently "… 15% of all libraries | |
| now check out video games to anyone with a library card" and in those libraries even | |
| "books are being checked out at a rate that exceeds what it was before gamers arrived" | |
| 80 | (Navarrette). | |
| Fuente: Robles, M. (2014) "Video Games as an Art Form," ESSAI: Vol. 12, Article 32. | |
| https://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol12/iss1/32 | |