video games as art - presentation

8/12/2019 Video Games as Art - Presentation

1/38

Video games as art

\

MIT 3371 - February 10, 2014


2/38

Agenda

The debate

What is art?

Games as art

Mid-semesterevaluation


3/38

The debate:

Ebert

Games are not art in principle

Competitive, goal-oriented, and can be won

Focus should be on experience, not winning

Should improve or alter nature through the

artists soul Taste we know


4/38

What is art?


5/38

Art is the process of deliberately

arranging elements in a way that

appeals to the senses or emotions.

Wikipedia (via Kellee Santiago)


6/38

The use of skill and imagination in the

creation of aesthetic objects, environments,

or experiences that can be shared withothers.

Encyclopedia Britannica


7/38

The quality, production, expression, orrealm, according to aesthetic principles, of

what is beautiful, appealing, or of more thanordinary significance.

Oxford Dictionary


8/38

What could make a game into art?

What games might be

considered art? Why?


9/38

Art

Common ways to consider games as art

Relies on traditional artistic forms

New lively art

Tool or inspiration for art


10/38

Traditional art

Smuts According to most major theories of art,

many video games should be considered art

First concreative mass art

Games can be considered art based on:

Elegance in competition

Narrative

Visuals / graphics

Audio


11/38

Elegance in competition

Sports are evaluated on

aesthetics

Competition doesnt

preclude elegance

Art can be competitive

Includes competition

Entered in competitions

http://www.spike.com/video-

clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-

dance-dance-revolution
http://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolutionhttp://www.spike.com/video-clips/u98wwu/grandmas-boy-dance-dance-revolution


12/38

Literature

Games rely on:

Literary / narrative conventions

Literary storylines

Offers different narrative experiences Interactivity makes stories changeable


13/38

Literature

Narrative

A story that follows a sequence of events

Games follow narrative conventions Beginning, middle, end

Events, actions, plot, characters

Games also borrow from films

Camera techniques

Narrative devices and cut scenes


14/38

Literature and film

Max Payne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4amtGiPpvhQ

Dantes Inferno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOZRRU_Dyg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4amtGiPpvhQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOZRRU_Dyghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOZRRU_Dyghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOZRRU_Dyghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOZRRU_Dyghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4amtGiPpvhQ


15/38

Music

Games can:

Use existing music

Create new music

Generate music


16/38

Music

Eternal Sonata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owrBn3S1_3o

Rez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EFNWe4m

Cc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owrBn3S1_3ohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EFNWe4mCchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EFNWe4mCchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EFNWe4mCchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EFNWe4mCchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owrBn3S1_3o


17/38

Visual art

Artists create game worlds

Art developed

through designprocess

Borrow artistic and

aesthetic styles


18/38

World of Warcraft


19/38

Halo 3


20/38

Half-Life 2


21/38

Bioshock


22/38

Traditional art

Gravity Bone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdt-lboxt7Q

Okami

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuz0-IF1MAk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdt-lboxt7Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuz0-IF1MAk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuz0-IF1MAk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuz0-IF1MAk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuz0-IF1MAk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuz0-IF1MAk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdt-lboxt7Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdt-lboxt7Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdt-lboxt7Q


23/38

Do you think video games can beconsidered art given their relationship to

different art forms?

Is this enough to allow them to be

considered art in their own right?


24/38

New lively art

Jenkins

Games are a new livelyart

Focus on valuingpopular culture

Great Arts:

Express universal andtimeless values

Lively Arts: Focus on popular

aesthetics

Give shape and form to

immediate experiencesand impressions

Embedded in everydaylife


25/38

Art

Games still need to evolve to be art

Technical challenges and industry pressure arent

excuses

Games need:

Memorable momentsand emotional intensity

More experimentation and innovation Ongoing criticism


26/38

New lively art

Lively arts:

Then: jazz, Hollywood films, comic strips

Now: Hollywood films, cable tv, video games

Games are a lively art because they:

Are popular and accessible

Have to be relevant and novel

Innovate and push boundaries

Are embedded in everyday life and experience


27/38

New lively art

Passage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3o0HFXPfco

Flower

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3o0HFXPfcohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1Ehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1Ehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3o0HFXPfco


28/38

What games might be goodexamples of a new lively art?

Do games have the potential to be

great art, or are they more likely to

be lively art?


29/38

Tools and inspiration

Inspiration for fan art

Inspiration for fine art

Into the Pixel

E3 (2008) The Art of Video Games - American Museum of

Art (2012)

Art installations

Games as tools


30/38

Halo fan art


31/38

Warcraft fan art


32/38

Fallout 3 - Into the Pixel


33/38


34/38

Tools and inspiration

Dance, Voldo, Dance (Soul Calibur)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k08gjJbxG-A

Red vs Blue (Halo)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-ts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k08gjJbxG-Ahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-tshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-tshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-tshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-tshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k08gjJbxG-Ahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k08gjJbxG-Ahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k08gjJbxG-A


35/38

MineCraft Imperial City


36/38

ArtIs Not The Opposite

OfFun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f

LKVg-2d54c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKVg-2d54chttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKVg-2d54chttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKVg-2d54chttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKVg-2d54chttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKVg-2d54chttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKVg-2d54c


37/38

Are video games art (or could they be inthe future)?

Ebert questions,Why are gamers so

intensely concerned, anyway, that

games be defined as art? Why do you

think it might be important for games tobe considered art?


38/38

Take away

Games may be considered art because of

their:

Use of traditional art forms

Status as a new lively art

Use as inspiration and a tool for art

video games as art - presentation

Documents