The debate over whether or not games should be considered art came up several times this year, and it became a central point of discussion for many in the industry.

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Number 8:

Games as Art

Is a game like Rez art? What about Viva Piñata?

The question has come up plenty of times. “Are games art?” Some say yes, others say no. Towards the end of 2005, film critic Roger Ebert chimed in with his two cents, and said that they weren’t. This, as some might suspect, set off a storm of responses from the game industry, and this continued right on into 2006.

Leading the charge was Gods of War creator, David Jaffe, who gave a few talks early in the year at shows like DICE, and GDC, as well as commenting to the press on the notion of games as art, and various conceptions of what the medium is and “should be”. While Mr. Jaffe has been one of the more vocal high-profile individuals from the game industry discussing the matter, there have been plenty of others that returned to the topic this year.

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Unfortunately, this will likely be a topic that comes up for years to come. What may prove the most annoying is that by its very nature games are creative works. Sure, some of them may be drab, uninspired creative works, but they are still art nonetheless. The real debate should be whether or not games can be classified as high or low culture.

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People want to figure out whether games should be classified similar to Schindler’s List or Police Academy. Is there substance, or is the whole experience a quick, but entertaining, distraction? The division already exists, and becomes obvious when one compares something like Rez with a game collection like Wii Sports for example. The former requires a certain level of appreciation for aesthetics, and combining music and interactive entertainment in a certain way, the other is a straightforward sports game collection that people can figure out in a few minutes.

The argument of games as art in 2006 in some cases seemed to take a pretentious, self-important look at the industry, and more than anything suggests that many within it are no surer as to how to define it as onlookers looking at games from the outside.

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