Counterpoint: Games Have Art In Them, But Are Not Art Themselves

This is the first installment in a recurring series I'll be doing called Counterpoint.  It is where I focus on a particular argument against video games as an artistic medium in order to hopefully provide a decent defense against it.  I think it is important that we understand the ideas fueling this notion rather than simply write them off.  Besides, maybe it will help you out a bit next time you encounter someone who staunchly claims no artistic value in video games.

This particular argument is an interesting one to me. Most of us have probably heard this at some point. Music is art. Graphic design and computer animation are art. Storytelling is art. But while a video game may have these things, the game itself is not a work of art.

The Louvre: a metaphor for video games.

I have heard games compared to an art museum. A museum houses multiple works of art, all connected by a common theme, be it location, era, or medium. However, the museum is not in itself a work of art. Of course the works contained are art. Even the building is a work of architectural art. But no one considers a museum and its contents to create a single cohesive work specified as “art.”

There is but one fatal flaw in this idea; a museum does not try to create a single work of art. It is expressly a building in which many different, separate artworks are contained and displayed, a collection of separate artworks. There may be a common theme, but this does not unify it into a single, cohesive work; one can enjoy and appreciate the Mona Lisa without also viewing The Fortune Teller. The collection of paintings in the Louvre is just that: a collection of separate paintings. When combined, they do not make a single artistic experience but a collection of multiple experiences. A trip through the Louvre is a single experience, but it’s an experience comprised of multiple, exclusive experiences. The presence of The Fortune Teller does not somehow enhance the experience of viewing the Mona Lisa because they are two entirely separate artworks.

A video game, as well as any other storytelling medium, uses many elements to create a single, cohesive experience. It is not a collection of separate artworks, but a single artistic experience comprised of many interwoven artworks.  Proof of concept: immersion. The very concept of immersion is the combination and integration of each and every element of the game; everything about a video game contributes or detracts from the factor of immersion. So for the sake of comparison, let’s take a look at Bioshock.

Would Bioshock have been as immersive with no music, or a metalcore soundtrack? Would the ruin of Rapture seem as real without junk strewn around, or if it had the graphics of Deus Ex (nothing against Deus Ex, it's awesome, it's just old)? Would players have been as deeply impacted without the philosophical elements or the famous plot twist? Bioshock was the immersive, memorable experience it was because each of these elements combined to create a single experience. One could possibly enjoy each individual element of Bioshock without the others, but they would not experience Bioshock. Each of the individual elements that make up Bioshock, or any game, have meaning that simply cannot be understood outside the context of the other elements.

The strongest example of this principle in this particular game is the use of old music like Beyond the Sea. It is a beautiful piece of music, not terrifying in the least. But put in the context of Rapture, a ruined world violently tearing itself apart, it becomes haunting and atmospheric. Meaning is added to this single artwork because of the other elements in the game, meaning that simply does not exist outside of that context. This is what cohesiveness does; uses multiple artworks to create new meaning for them all, weaving them into each other to create a single, unified artwork.

Film has done the same thing for a long time. Even radio and literature do this, if to a lesser extent due to the comparative lack of media variety involved. Yet none of these get this complaint. Film has been considered an art form for a long time now, to the point where many of history’s great filmmakers graduated from film school (and by the time the academic world accepts something, it’s probably been a long, long time coming). No one argues that the soundtrack and cinematography are art, but the film itself is not. This is not the only double standard video games must deal with, but it is no less dangerous.

Video games, like most other art forms, are made up of many different artworks, but rather than simply being put together as separate works to be enjoyed individually (such as a museum), they are interwoven to make a single, cohesive experience (an artwork). This interweaving of artistic elements creates something new entirely, something that could not exist if each artwork is experienced apart from one another. Next time someone tells you otherwise, ask them if listening to the Beyond Good and Evil soundtrack is the same as playing the game.