Ok, this is quite a heavy topic so allow me to word it a bit more.

I can’t exactly remember when it all started, but I feel it’s been about 15 years since video games started to shout aloud their wish to be considered as an art form.

While I certainly cannot say that I don’t want them to be or think they can’t be, I have a hard time justifying ALL of them as pieces of art.

Of course, they are the product of the joined forces of many artists : modelers, animators, programmers, sound designers,… Therefore, it could sound unfair not to call video games an art form.

However, while one aspect of a given game could be artful, it being the visual style, the sound direction, or any other piece of it, I think a game has to be considered as one whole, pretty much as we judge movies. If the game doesn’t feel like it’s coming from a desire of going beyond pure entertainment, its eventual artfulness will necessarily be local to one of its aspects.

That’s where I’m introducing an idea that might not make everybody happy so keep in mind I’m just speaking mine, right now, and that I don’t consider the present train of thoughts as The Truth.

As much as art is a difficult word to define, I consider that any created piece that comes from an intention of going beyond the primal function of said piece is an art piece.

As an example, take a chair. A basic chair, with no particular thought given to its look is a tool. Something you sit on. No art here.

A very nice-looking chair, that still is only meant to be sat on, is still just a chair. We, there, fall into craftsmanship. The visual aspect of the chair is artful, but the chair itself serve no other purpose than its basic function.

Now, take, say, a chair designed by Wim Delvoye, or any other contemporary artist. While I’m lacking a precise example right now (sorry…), such a chair would be made as a frame to express an idea, an potential critic, would perharps be hard to sit on, but would still be a chair. That’s art. The object has been transcended, used as a support to something else.

I believe that video games that aim to not only entertain are artful. Jason Rohrer’s “Passage” is, Jon Blow’s “Braid” is, Quantic Dream’s ” Heavy Rain somehow is, for trying a particular direction in game design.

That says not all games are art. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Like some movies are “just” entertainment and others are more trying to explore either mind, society or cinema’s codes, games are sometimes just meant to be fun to play, and sometimes are trying to use entertainment as a frame for a larger reflection.

The point of this -long- post is to move the debate from whether games are art or not to the responsibility of game creators in that fact.

I think more games could be art pieces, but it won’t come by itself, just by shouting that they are. It takes creators, teams, willing to produce something more than flashy pixels and heavy weaponry.

(go see the hi-res vesion on Deviant-Art)