I usually consider art to be abstract self-expression- having something to say. Working off that idea, it's safe to say that almost anything can be art once you're fluent in it.
That being said, I make games, and I know I personally am no artist- the label I do use is /craftsman/. It doesn't really matter whether the core premise is my own or someone else's; my focus is on running with that concept and implementing it in the best way possible.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Games as art- yea or nay?
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5 comments:
I think the whole question of whether games are/can be art is something of a waste of time. As far as I'm concerned that they can be goes without saying, and it takes either a tortured definition of "art" or strange ideas about games to say otherwise. Whether many of them are, or whether that's something game designers should be worried about are another matter though. Mostly I just try to make games that appeal to me enough to actually stick with them long enough to finish them.
I think the discussion it sparks is healthy, though I wouldn't have brought it up on this blog of my own initiative (this was a Formspring question, if that's not apparent).
At the same time, there's plenty of pitfalls you can fall into when you try to deliberately make a game that's art. There's a quote I love that sums it up nicely: "We're largely past the idea that games are solely for children, but many people are consciously trying to give their games more intellectual depth. Works of true brilliance are rarely motivated by insecurity."
Sometimes it is happen that we become fluent in some work and that thong become our art to represent to others.
. . .Well, I suppose someone who made thongs could manage to have it be art. Not sure you'd want to get your thongs from someone who was that passionate about them, though.
Art is defined so broadly sometimes. Even an engineer building a bridge could be called an artist. I think you should not be afraid to use the word artist for yourself, but I also usually use another label. However when it might benefit or enlighten someone, I try to talk about games as art, and what I do as art.
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