Can videogames be art?

Purpose of this document

We want to investigate whether videogames can be considered a new form of art, and under which terms they can be considered a new form of art.

Characteristics of videogames, as of year 2004

Videogames are a new and unique medium to deliver action, music, stories, colors and drawings of some kind. All videogames have these elements mixed together, adding one additional element, interactivity. Interactivity is not a completely new thing: it has been used in other relatively new forms of art, such as multi-media installations. Similarly to these new art forms, the "audience" is not simply watching, or listening, or reading, but is also actively participating - using - the art piece. One is in control, being able to control some aspects of the work of art.

Videogames use interactivity in a specific, almost uniformed way: ultimately, they give the user the possibility to change the content of the screen, in a wide variety of ways, like shooting enemies, moving elements around, etc. Sometimes the user is put inside a fictitious story and is able to develop it.

Videogames were born with one purpose: to entertain the user. The key element in this kind of entertainment is interactivity. Without interactivity, the user becomes a watcher: it can still be entertained by such a thing, but "such a thing" won't be a videogame anymore. A videogame, to be considered so, must be interactive. The other elements listed above - action, music, story, colors, drawings, graphics - are not strictly required to build a videogame.

As of year 2004, videogames are an industry product created with the only user purpose of entertaining. Videogame players want games that are funny and absorbing, and this is what the industry is giving them in exchange of money. Moreover, this is the only trait that is present in all (good) videogames, from Pong to Final Fantasy: all (good) videogames share a fun factor, that special something - depending on the user's taste - that makes them fun to play. Beside the fun factor, we have other variable factors: beauty of graphics or sound, depth of the plot (if any), the level of partecipation that a player can delve into, the originality of the concept, and so on. Currently, all these additional factors are not essential to define a good videogame. They are simply elements, facts: like the colors in a movie, they are not required to make a movie; some movies have colors, some have beautiful colors, some are black and white. If there is a videogame that has oustanding graphics but is unusable, we consider that videogame like a waste, a bad videogame.

Going beyond purpose (Art requirements)

Like every form of art, videogames need to achieve one fundamental thing: they need to go beyond their original purpose, that is, entertainment. Thinking about art, one thinks, "What is the meaning of this?", "What does it mean to me?" "What did the author want to tell me?". Some other times, art is simply mesmerizing, an enchaning mechanism, an enlighting medium, a way of communicate at a higher level.

Art achieves all of this because it goes beyond its purpose. That is, a painting is not simply a figurative description of a subject. It is possible that mankind started painting to depict life-scenes, situations, objects. Today, a painting communicates much more than that. A painting becomes an artwork when is able to communicate something more than its original statement. Someone will feel it, someone else won't. Someone said, "art talks to the soul". Therefore, a videgame should not just talk to the senses: it should not simply provide amusement. Amusement should only be one component in the design of a videogame.

The Art of Videogames: examples

There are just a few videogames who made me think of videogames as something more than simple games. Let's think about them.

The latest example is Ico, for PS2. There is a mystical peace in Ico. Silence, darkness, and light. Lots of light rays coming out while we move in the lonely castle. Then all of a sudden we find the girl, and everything seems different. We care for her. We protect her, we grab her hand and run. We run a lot. We run and run and run, our footsteps echoing in the light. It seems magic. I don't really care anymore of amusing myself, I am just there, somewhere, and I am there with a girl, another human being to share my experiences. And there is so much more than I wish to say about Ico but I can't. It makes me wish I could have a look at the source code. Not simply to learn from it, but because I believe that code must written in a poetic way. I imagine its data structures as elegantly assembled, and depicting a marvelous castle of logic light.

Another example is Xenon 2 for the Amiga. It was fantastic. Hard as hell, but I still remember, after maybe a decade, I still remember those little creatures coming out from the side and making my life harder. As it wasn't already enough hard. And the music. Unstoppable. Big beats. I wanted to buy an Amiga just the play Xenon 2, with Bomb the Bass at full blast while I was moving around those bio-mechanical worlds. Bomb the Bass' soundtrack spreaded into Xenon, and sprouted into the air. I would become air, and metal, and flesh, floating around, shooting, head banging. And Xenon 1, was just as good. Harder, if possible. More metal.

All Jeff Minter games are artworks. Nobody can deny that. Minter is maybe an unprecedented example of someone who can bring the videogame form to a new level. All his unconditioned love for peaceful animals such as llamas, sheeps, camels, cows bring a special addition to his games. Behind the simple concept of the games there is so much more. There is love. And a good man. And again, lots of light on a black background. If your life doesn't have light, it will if you play Jeff's Defender, Tempest 2000, Llamatron, Super Gridrunner, and The Revenge of the Mutant Camels.

And I can't forget about Elite. Elite was maybe the first videogame that made me think about videogames as an artform. Elite was actually something that made me grow, back when I was a teenager. I was able to travel around the galaxy, and feel at home, probably for the first time. That is, my home was somewhere inside that world, between the abstractions, the vector lines and the black. I would feel the sense of loneliness and magic, and suprise, hovering and staring into the void, and docking into base-stations. And I could choose what to be. A good merchant, or a bad motherfucker. I chose the 2nd option and it was a lot of fun. But I remember feeling the guilt. The guilt of my choice. The excitement.

I think there are more, and I can't list them all here. Of course, those are just my opinions, and everyone is rightfully able to disagree. Because in fact, there is nothing to agree on. Art is something very personal. But hopefully, I described what it means for a videogame to be a work of art.

Imaginary developments

Unfortunately, I believe the videogames that can be considered a work of art are too few. It's not a matter of ideas, or lack of new concepts, but it is a lack of emotions. I think the majority of today's videogames give very trivial, simplistic emotions to the player. I feel they are the equivalent of the big movie blockbusters in the movie industry. But the movie industry have many other different channels and varieties, beside the blockbuster stupidity: it goes from the masterpieces of the Neorealism, to the French Nouvelle Vague, and the rigor of the Russian school, and even innovative experimental works, and so on. Can we say the same thing for videogames? Not really.

And another, very important thing: each movie inside all those different schools, is a world on its own, that is, is completely different from anything else. It is unique. This does not exist for videogames. Videogames are not so diverse. They all share the same schema: (pretend to) give some fun to the user. Yes, there are complex and simple games, "musicals", educational games, etc, but unfortunately all of them seem to exist for the same reason.

To save videogames from blockbuster stupidity, we need:

1. (1) independent distribution channels
2. (2) the ability and the will to think at the videogame as something more than just a game
3. (3) independent teams who embrace 1 and 2

We already have (1) : the internet.
We almost have (3) : free software and open source software development.
We need them to embrace (2).

Conclusions

da fare

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