The unrecognised art of video games

“Video games can never be art,” commented the late film critic Roger Ebert in 2005. However, over the last decade and a half, game makers have proved him wrong over and over again.

Extraordinary fantasy worlds, gripping storylines and punchy scores of music have evolved beyond our imagination. At first you may agree with Ebert, art is something that hangs in the Tate or dances across the cinema’s widescreen.

That definition is changing. In the past art critics have been reluctant to change. Widely-read American magazine Appleton’s Journal rejected artists such as, Monet and Degas calling impressionist art “crude” and suggested the pieces were incomplete. Today, these men are household names and inspirations to modern artists.

For centuries we have worked with paints, brushes and chisels but since the rise of the digital age we can swap our paintbrushes for Microsoft Paint (RIP 1985-2019). This development in technology has led to people utilising the evolution of our tools and applied them creatively, creating a new genre simply called, digi art. Just because the tools are now computerised rather than traditional pen or paper does not mean that we should reject them as art.

This argument seems to imply that those who work digitally do not have the same level of prestige; both require nurturing skills, talent and creativity. Art critic for The Guardian Johnathon Jones supported Ebert’s claims by saying that for art to be considered art there has to be ownership of the work, stating: “No-one ‘owns’ the game, there is no artist, and therefore no work of art.”

This may suggest that art cannot be interacted with, however, if we only think that a piece should have a single purpose then we lose the value of it completely. Everyone engages with it in many different ways, evoking different emotions for each individual, the artist may guide them but ultimately do not decide how it makes someone feel.

A lot of video games are a form of escapism, much like art is – a place to retreat from current realities and enter a place of fantasy and exploration. One game in particular caught everyone’s attention in 2020, Genshin Impact.

This open world role-playing game (RPG) has been called ‘the most beautiful game’ by numerous experts and selected as Apple’s ‘Game of the Year 2020’. Graham Smith of RockPaperShotgun.com said, “Every part of Genshin Impact has such a lovely sense of place that I’ve even started listening to its orchestral soundtrack around the house, something I never normally do, out of a desperation to conjure a little of its atmosphere in the moments when I’m not playing.”

Video games are multifaceted, aiming to ensure that every single one of your senses are ignited while in the alternate universe, curating them all carefully to achieve the intended feeling, whilst also allowing the freedom of interaction.

“Gaming opens up this world where everyone can own a bit of art in the home for less than £100, sometimes even for free”

This can also create a sense of community that isn’t as obvious as art’s; you get to create your own experiences in whichever way you choose but have the shared knowledge of features of these virtual worlds to share amongst friends.

Traditional art has been seen as somewhat elitist, not accessible to the masses, typically appealing to only those of ‘higher class’ due to its formality and inflated price tags. Not everyone is able to afford a Warhol for a measly $24million. Gaming opens up this world where everyone can own a bit of art in the home for less than £100, sometimes even for free.

Not only this but from the game itself you can build a franchise, much like an art collector’s collection, with TV shows, additional games, soundtracks, comics and much more.

It is likely that this trend will also grow alongside our technological developments, exposing more opportunities to evolve the storylines across multimedia platforms ensuring there are hundreds of points of engagement for fans.

Currently, video games are not considered art under traditional definitions and restrictions, however we will see these definitions change as they did in the 20th century, with gaming getting recognition for its beauty.