So Roger Ebert has finally confessed that games may be considered art, eh? That’s not surprising at all. Game design itself, is a form of art and expression. The definition of art is thus according to Encyclopedia Brittanica: "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others." This can be achieved in many forms whether it be in writing, sculpting, painting, movie making, game design. Creating games is no more different of a form of expression than any other medium. Instead of canvases, they have consoles. Art is anything that is created by an individual, regardless of the medium used. Art does not have to conform to a particular idea or even have to tell any sort of traditional story with characters and a plot. Many paintings don’t tell any story in any traditional sense, yet they are conveying the painters feelings and those feelings emerge from the painting and are expressed to the viewer. Game design often achieves the same effect when a game is played.
Game design is like a fingerprint. Most of the prominent game designers have a stamp on their games where the player can say “this game was made by this person.“ Because game designers, just like anything that is created, often draw upon things they enjoy in real life and transfer that feeling and emotion into their games. It’s very easy to tell a Sakaguchi designed Final Fantasy from that of the contemporary ones designed by Nomura/Kitase. Even guys like Tomonobu Itagaki leave some sort of a fingerprint so to speak. For as much as we roll our eyes and say things like, “Oh God, Team Ninja and their boobs”, there’s an element there where we recognize his stamp on his games. Shigeru Miyamoto has stated on several occasions that many of his inspiration for videogames comes from his childhood. He mentions growing up in Japan and playing in the fields, wondering what was underneath a large rock or inside a large cave. Thorough his game design he transfers those feelings he has a child onto his games. In his game creation he tries to convey that same feeling he had as a child, the sense of wonder and exploration and discovery into his games. Hideo Kojima always has a commentary on philosophy and how he views human interactions and relationships in the world. Joke about Metal Gear Solid 2’s plot all you want, (and honestly, it was pretty out there) but the game had some very interesting commentaries on society as a whole. All of his games attempt to convey this emotion he tries to express, only his other works achieve this in a much more subtle and graceful fashion, not resorting to a proverbial swift kick to the nads to make sure you got the point. David Jaffe’s fingerprint is all over God of War. He has stated on many numerous occasions that game design for him is a way to lash out and vent his frustrations. God of War is likely the ultimate expression of that. His anger, his hate and frustrations with life’s issues all live vicariously in the form of Kratos. For all the God of War bashing I do and as much as I simply do not like those games very much, I will concede that with every eyeball gouged, every harpy wing ripped and every minotaur throat skewered, Jaffe achieves his idea of venting frustration and transferring that visceral emotion of simply just wanting to kick the crap out of everyone that we sometimes get perfectly. Koji Igarashi’s Castlevania games all find that artistic way of finding beauty within chaos. Sure you’re maiming and killing hideous monsters within a queer and grotesque castle, but it’s always done with a Phantom of the Opera-esque sense of beauty and style. The game looks and sounds beautiful while you’re doing it.
Ever since the days of Pong, game design has always represented a form of expression. Games have always been a form of art. Just like any other medium, those ideas can be better expressed with the improvements of technology. No one contests that the early silent films of at the turn of the century have no less artistic merit than say, American Beauty. No one would dare be foolish enough to argue that Casablanca is any less artistic of a film than No Country for Old Men. High value production stage plays on Broadway hold the same artistic value as anything Shakespeare wrote in the Globe Theater. The poetry of John Updike typed on a typewriter is taught in schools alongside poetry written by Robert Browning likely written with ink and paper underneath a candle light. No one contests that it isn’t art. Ever since Miyamoto created Super Mario Bros. he has tried to capture his vision of childlike innocence and wonder. Kojima has always tried to make some sort of social commentary; the very idea of Metal Gear, use your brain and only use violence as a last resort is often expressed in most of his games. David Jaffe has had a bone to pick with life ever since he decided shooting rockets with a mad clown truck was awesome and a great way to vent after a bad day. Castlevania has always had a sense of making normally grotesque things have a sense of beauty and refinement and of course Itagaki has left his….off beat style in his games ever since the first boob bounced in the original Dead or Alive.
Games are art. It’s often a debated subject that apparently still rages to this day, but honestly, this discussion should never even had taken place to begin with. Games have always been art. From the day Ralph Baer created his “Brown Box” he was creating art. Gaming has been and will continue to be a form of art and expression and deserves as much respect as any other form of media.
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