I’ve never really considered a game to be an art form. Sure,
the production of games and art is similar in that they are both a creative
processes, but I’ve never thought that the intentions behind them were similar
(art: to express, game: to win). I think that the idea of a game being art it
is a relatively recent idea, which emerged out of conceptual art movements of
the 20th century.
I think that in order for games to be considered art, the
act of playing or the end result of playing must fulfill some conceptual goal,
in the same way that finishing an artwork cements an idea or a goal. The
methods/guidelines for this goal are obviously quite ambiguous and are part of
the creative process.
Another similarity between an art-game and more traditional
artwork is in the variables that exist within their respective processes. The
results of both are dependent on variables such as: circumstance, personality
and skill.
But despite common variables, the main difference between
the two is still chance. Chance is what consumes games and is what makes them
what they are, while the ideal in traditional artworks is more often than not,
to remove chance.
I do agree with the fact that having a goal is what makes a game art. Although I also feel that the way we played these games made it art regardless. We took pictures and sent and received them. The fact that the pictures were involved in the game made it art. In every game we played we were able to document it through pictures and words. These games could have went on none stop but the documentation that we got from them was what really made them art.
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right that the popularization of games as art is defiantly a more recent development. (Even the idea of Video games as art didn't hit a positive opinion in any community till the last few years)
ReplyDeleteNot all games are chance, i have been seeing a large emergence of video games where chance is not a part of it, rather they are designed to be like an interactive movie or painting. Rather than skill and timing being required, it moves along on similar ability's that a viewer in a museum should use. paying attention to composition, form, space, themes, and more.
However, back to a traditional style game. I'm a believer that art isn't always something tangible. a lot of times art comes and goes with little to remember it by, but it is still art. The act of everyone in our class disrupting the norm of the OC can be seen as a form of art (when forgetting about the photo aspect of the game). It shakes the viewer and asks them to paunder what is happening, if only for a brief moment.