Gaming as Art

  I wrote this for school and decided to post it here.  Here goes:

Today video gaming is one of the largest forms of entertainment.  My question is, why is not considered art?

With controversial issues, political statements, and abstract forms of games, one might think that games could easily be labeled art.  However, most film critics and people of the like say that games can’t be called art.  Yet nobody denies that hip-hop is art when it quite obviously isn’t.  There is no such thing as artistic when all it talks about is drugs and women.  At least games cover a variety of subjects, although titles like Grand Theft Auto don’t help my case.

Many people fail to look past the bad and see the beauty in the simple yet very complex experiences in games like the Guitar Hero series, or The Legend of Zelda.  The list goes on.  Video gaming is not all corruption, as people like Jack Thompson seem to think, calling games like Halo and Counter Strike “murder simulators”.  He’s quite a character as he has consistently attempted to link video games and school shootings such as the Virginia Tech rampage and the more recent Illinois shooting only to be bluntly disproved on every count.  People like him are the reason gamers feel unrest with the media.  We can no longer trust the television news stations like Fox who seem to be on Jack’s side every single freaking time.

But back to the point, video games can be an emotionally compelling experience, and that’s what I call art.  Final Fantasy VIII was my first role-playing game and I have a true connection with that game. Many aspects of the game were very moving including the fantastic original score by acclaimed video game composer Nobuo Uematsu.  I know every nook and cranny and I am very comfortable with it, though not in the typical serial killer developing way.  Why isn’t that art?  It was a beautiful and moving interactive story that has affected me emotionally more than many books or movies.  Yet still the contemporary media has to focus on the games that mean nothing, the ones gamers eventually just leave behind.  Games like Bioshock are also very artistic but get no credit from the media.  It had a vivid environment, award-winning story, and a fantastic and award-winning (once again) soundtrack.

Gaming has inspired a massive culture of people willing to spend money not on “murder simulators” or cheap thrills, but instead socially complex and very stimulating experiences. The multiplayer aspect of Xbox Live or the sentimentality and general fun of classic games on the Wii.  There’s not a lot of art forms that can capture the magic of revisiting something 20 years old and feeling the magic of childhood coming back to you, like still not being able to shoot that dang dog in Duck Hunt.  Games are a fantastic alternate art form for anyone tired of the cliché of movies or television.  And while it may be considered an escapist hobby, gaming can’t be denied as art once you try it with an open mind.  If only the mainstream could see that…

By Link2126