Games: Art or not?

In some senses I’m surprised that we’re still having to answer this question. It strikes me that the developer community knows intuitively that game making is a deeply creative process along the same lines as painting or writing. In fact, in most cases an indie game developer has to do both those functions.

The guys over at Wolfire blog put together a nice history of the debate, which I’ll let you read on your own. In my opinion it’s obvious that games are a form of art, and I think people such as Roger Ebert are appealing to some esoteric and neutered form of art when they claim otherwise. Furthermore, if you take seriously Ebert’s claim:

“Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.”

Then how do you square theater and drama. I’m not an art historian but I know enough to say that the chorus in Greek tragedies was not passive. Nonetheless, I don’t think that many people would be quick to discount the Attic tragedies as being art. And if we jump to the present day there are plenty of examples of plays which break down the fourth wall in an attempt to engage and challenge the audience.

Admittedly, by design games take things a step further when it comes to involving the player. However, does this really amount to a difference in quality and not simply quantity? I certainly don’t think so.

Related posts:

1. Game Art on the Cheap