Live theatre is sometimes merely an exhibition, while some video games are just tech demoes.

Is there a clear definition of what art is?

Does it resonate within us and help us explore ourselves?
Does it possess a degree of literary excellence?
Does it open our eyes to the world?

Define art first.

Some game makers do so with the intent of being artists. Others just want to prove a programming theory, some want to further the development of AI, and some just want to make money.

If you consider yourself an artist, then find your canvas and paints, whatever they are, and make something. Otherwise, just do what artists don''t do, whatever that is.

Forgetting for a moment the textbook definition of art - the question should become "what is art to you?"

For me art is any creative work that gets me to react. That reaction can be a thought process, an emotional, a physical response - any reaction.

Someone in this thread said that the process is art, the reaction is entertainment; I''d agree with that on some level. I''d consider video games, and games in general, a form of art that is indeed meant to entertain - just as music, movies, and books are.

For those who disagree, ask yourself if you''ve ever sat down for the first time at a game and marvelled at the game play, the music, the graphics, the story...any aspect. Found yourself drawn to the game, excited about playing it, finding yourself looking for subtle nuances within the game that weren''t outlined in the book?

That''s art.

I think we can all agree that you can decorate a game with art.

If architecture itself is an art, then so is game design. So yes, I think so.

quote:

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Original post by TechnoGoth
Of course live theatre is art but I don't see how playing a computer game equates to watching a play.

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When watching a movie, or a theatrical play, there is a static storyline. The characters are moving to a script. When playing a game, yes, there (usually) is a static storyline, but you can move the character any way YOU wish. Here is a visual of what I'm talking about:



[edited by - Rob Loach on November 25, 2003 6:46:51 PM]

hmm alot of one line replies just saying yes, and while every answer is a response not all respones are answers, but I'll try and respond to them all.

gh_0_st:
Is creating a game an art form? Or is something closer to engineering you design and plan out the project and then its created based on the design. In many ways making a game is the same as building a bridge or a building. There are aesthetic elements to both games and buildings, but are those elements there for any other purpose then to make it pleasing to the spectator?

AP:
Could you explain further why you think there Not?

Ingenu:
Wouldn't know havn't been a member that long but this seems to first one that I know of. Your answer begs the question is something the sum of parts or the parts combinded? Just because something contains art doesn't make it art, I have a text book that contains many famous paintings and thoughts on them, but I wouldn't conisder the text book art. Is a wall with a mural a work of art? The mural is, but does the fact that it is on the wall thus make the wall art?

directrix:
Art has no set media and infact as new media are developed new forms of art can be created on that media. But just because something is created on a media doesn't make it art. For instance you can create computer generated graphics and they would be considered art, but at the same time word processor is not art even though it uses the same media. Over the eons many new media have arisen and art has been created on and for that media, from painting to sculpting to writing to film to computer generated to the next new media.

alnite:
True the play is the art but the audience goes to the play to appreciate the art in the same way as you would look at painting to appreciate the painting. That doesn't mean its not also a form of enterainment. Again is creating a game an art form? The fact that you need to be a skilled designer does not mean what your doing is artistic. In fact a socilogist with a math background would most like be able design very good games, but that doesn't mean they consider what there doing an art form.

momoMonkey:
According to the websters dictonary the defination of art I would use is thus

4 a : the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects; also : works so produced b (1) : FINE ARTS (2) : one of the fine arts (3) : a graphic art

I wonder however if most people are instead associating the following defination with computer games.

3 : an occupation requiring knowledge or skill <the art of organ building>

I agree that art has buisness aspect to it but that does not imply that buisness has an art aspect. If we go by the dictonary definition, we have to ask ourselves is a game an aesthetic object? Or are games technical endeavor with aesthetic elements. Are text based adventure games aestheic objects or simply games created for enjoyment value and then as such doesn't that equate to games as a whole.

Waverider:
All the points go in to determing wether something is art for an indvidual and as such the quality of art according to their perception. A works artistic value can be competely diffrent depending on the indvidual. And yet most people will still agree that something is a work of art wether they themselves appreciate it.

EricTrickster:
Music, story, and images are all art as such they are appreciated for their aesthic appeal but the fact that the game includes them doesn't make it art. Wether the audience apprecates the games story, music and images directly influces their opions on the game but that doesn't mean they do not enjoy the game nor does change the gameplay at all. It goes back to an earlier point on wether or not a games artistic value is base on the sum of its parts, or a combination of those parts. think about this for a moment is a brick art? If I wrap the brick in the mona lisa have I changed the brick? Does that now make it art? or is it still just a brick wrapped in a painting?


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Writer, Programer, Cook, I'm a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document



[edited by - TechnoGoth on November 25, 2003 10:25:09 PM]

quote:

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Original post by TechnoGoth

directrix:
Art has no set media and infact as new media developed new forms of art can be created on that media. But just because something is created on a media doesn''t make it art. For instance you can create computer generated graphics and they would be considered art, but at the same time word process is not art even though it uses the same media.Over the eons many new media have arisen and art has been created on and for that media, from painting to sculpting to writing to film to computer generated to the next new media.

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Very true. I stand corrected.

digital radiation

A leaf found in nature is not art. But that same leaf, mounted behind glass, and displayed in a building... is.

Clutter in the corner of a room is not art, but a photograph taken of it, framed, and mounted on a wall ... is.

Anything can be art if it is presented as art. (that does not mean it is good art, however)

...a game is art, only if the creator goes in with that intention.

---------------
Game Designer, Artist, Modeler, Animator

did only someone really know about are here???
i''m in an art school in france (i''m french it''s normal ), and the first thing we learn is that art is about conjuring meaning, making beautiful object are not in the scope

for art definition their is a least 4 points to get
A bstraction: question everythings
R eshearch: finding different things
T echnique: about how to realize
S ubjectivity: express something (idea, feelings, message)
i will discuss this later no time


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
be good
be evil
but do it WELL
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

quote:

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Original post by TechnoGoth
ld:
Of course live theatre is art but I don''t see how playing a computer game equates to watching a play.

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Art isn''t really about the consumer. It''s about the producer. Live theatre is a combination of elements from a variety of artistic lines. It works as art because the audience plays an active role in determining not only the level but also the direction of particular moments. This is very much akin to the way a video game works.

ld

The denifition of art from Webster''s New world Dictionary. At least the first 8 points apply to computer games.
art
n.
1 human ability to make things; creativity of man as distinguished from the world of nature
2 skill; craftsmanship
3 any specific skill or its application !the art of making friends"
4 any craft, trade, or profession, or its principles !the cobbler''s art, the physician''s art"
5 creative work or its principles; a making or doing of things that display form, beauty, and unusual perception: art includes painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature, drama, the dance, etc.: see also FINE ART
6 any branch of creative work, esp. painting, drawing, or work in any other graphic or plastic medium
7 products of creative work; paintings, statues, etc.
8 pictorial and decorative material accompanying the text in a newspaper, magazine, or advertising layout
9 a) [Archaic] learning b) a branch of learning c) [pl.] the liberal arts (literature, music, philosophy, etc.) as distinguished from the sciences
10 artful behavior; cunning
11 sly or cunning trick; wile: usually used in pl.