Games +/- Art: Stage 1-2: Please Continue?
Thought I’d lead this off with an exerpt from a 2005 interview by user ”Cacophanus” for a U.K. gaming mag, <a href=”http://forums.insertcredit.com/viewtopic.php?p=281726#281703″ mce_href=”http://forums.insertcredit.com/viewtopic.php?p=281726#281703″>with Kazuma Kujo</a>, of IREM (R-Type III, Delta & Final, Bumpy Trot)
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Q: “Would you deem games as an artform, if so why?”
Kujo-san: “I think defining Art itself is difficult, but I prefer to call games as public entertainment, or something enjoyable. Viewing games this way, I think, fit better. When I am working on a game, I try to prepare something users want to see or touch rather than conveying my opinions to others. And if such game can surprise users, that would be best.”
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Interesting viewpoint! And, admittedly with this author being a crazed shmup fan, it’s always good to hear from the sages. Anyways, I’d like to find more creator quotes and words from industry professionals instead of relying on random conjecture and shaky definitions. People like David Jaffe (God of War), Lorne Lanning (Oddworld series), Toru Iwatani (PacMan) or Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Lumines) all have very different ideas about both what constitutes a game, and where that intersects with the arts.
I leave the investigations to you, readers. Got a game you stand by as ‘art?’ Heard or read a philosophy that speaks to you as a noble direction for game development? Or should I say, did a game director just say what you were thinking?
Give us some feedback!
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January 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
When this “debate” came up a few months ago, I was kind of agreeing with the games as art side, but the more I think about it, I’m not sure I do. I think I kind of agree with Kujo-san there.
Games contain art, and present it to a person. Be it imagery (characters, textures, modelling) or music, it’s more of a collection than what I consider art proper. Kind of how I see an artbook, or CD. It doesn’t help that as I can tell, games include at least 3 of “the arts” as I can find explained on Wikipedia: drawing, literature, and music. Then again, their general definition is preceeded with “A precise definition of the arts can be contentious.”
Honestly, the more I read about “art,” “art forms,” “the arts,” it really seems to get increasinly vague. To me it really seems that it’s all about everyone’s personal opinion. Something that’s seemingly impossible to convey on the Internets without either provoking someone else.
Uhm. I could also be rambling and talking out of my ass. This is one of those things that I don’t think I can explain well.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I don’t know why we’re even bothering debating this, Game Makers make fun games, and in turn I shall play those fun games, the point is to make the game fun, and if the game maker chooses to do so by expressing himself in an artistic endeavor, then so be it, there will be people who will appreciate this ( slightly recent examples can be seen in Killer 7, No More Heroes, Persona 3), but the equation (games = Art) is not a definite statement.
To sum all that up in one phrase:
Games Can be art, but not necessarily.