Misc > Debate

Are Video Games Art, or Entertainment?

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Dorchadas:
Oh, sorry. Meant to put in "older" here.
--- Quote from: Dorchadas on February 24, 2015, 20:28 ---Good examples can be found in several Final Fantasy and Fire Emblem games

--- End quote ---

Kerou 犠牲:
It definitely can be both, in the same way television or films can be too. Both have different layers and overlapping factors. I look at a game like Journey; extremely artistic and beautiful, but also entertaining due to how it all feels.

Plus games themselves have a number of things which can make it good, and each can be artistic and / or entertaining.

Milsap:
Games these days are almost like interactive films and can be works of art- Look at the latest Grand Theft Auto: Masterpiece.

Lord Raven:
That is not true.

Have you even played GTA V?  You can skip cutscenes and go straight to the GTA style killing sprees and car jacking.  There is nothing in GTAV that indicates its anything close to, say, Heavy Rain.

The Macintosh Ninja: SOH CAH TOA:

--- Quote from: Lord Raven on February 25, 2015, 16:40 ---Have you even played GTA V?  You can skip cutscenes and go straight to the GTA style killing sprees and car jacking.  There is nothing in GTAV that indicates its anything close to, say, Heavy Rain.

--- End quote ---
I'd argue that you're comparing apples to oranges here: GTAV is an open-world sandbox game while Heavy Rain is a narrative driven "interactive drama". A better comparison would be GTAV and LA Noire or Heavy Rain and Telltale's The Walking Dead (comparison in terms of gameplay, not quality. I have played none of these games and cannot make a statement regarding the quality in good conscience).

So: are video games art? Should the creator have complete control? Well that is what the ESRB/VSC/etc. are for: they look at a game and say "okay, based on our guidelines we think this game is appropriate for audiences of X age and above". If a game designer wants to make a game where you and other characters are in death traps and you have to figure a way out then the respective groups would rate it appropriately and some people would complain it encourages violence or whatever (because computer code being tortured is worse than actors acting tortured apparently). Designers have (almost) free reign over the material, but members of the public may not like what they produce (the controversy over every GTA game for example). Video games are a new artform: a film or book where you directly control a character and move through the story.


--- Quote from: Milsap on February 25, 2015, 11:33 ---Games these days are almost like interactive films and can be works of art-

--- End quote ---
I'd agree some games are. For example games like Lara Croft or some of the Resident Evil games, where there are action scenes (get past X monsters/enemies, open the door before the roof crushes you) and more calm scenes (platforming and puzzles) really make the game seem cinematic. Other games, like the Diablo series or Pokémon aren't as cinematic/film-like because their main attraction isn't in the story but in the gameplay: you're collecting better and better loot in Diablo and you're making balanced teams in Pokémon (mind you I love both series and have more hours than I care to admit in them). Then we have puzzle games and racing games and sports games, etc. that aren't too film like.

Thems my two cents. I have more to say, but I can't quite find the right place/way to say it.

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