Are video games art?

Videogames have been part of our lives for many decades (more than we imagine a priori). Many generations of children have enjoyed themselves through this popular form of entertainment, and we cannot deny that video games have given us all many hours of play and distraction. Now, can we consider video games as a form of artistic creation?

This is a question that, lately, has given a lot of talk. Many video game designers have reclaimed their place in the art scene and, really, they are not without reason. Because, although video games began as very basic computer programming, for years they have been a prodigy of imagination and creativity: from the tremendous graphics used to the fast-paced stories, which could perfectly be the plot of a movie (and, in fact, we find many films based on video games).

In this article we will analyze if videogames are art, and because.

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Can video games be considered art?

Although this question seems easy to answer, it is not. Because, although there are video games that, as we have already pointed out, are true wonders of creativity, it is also true that others present a much more basic argument.

The historical moment in which each video game is developed has a lot to do with this. Because the first videogames of the 50s (yes, you read correctly, the 50s!) are not the same as the current ones. So let's start by doing a brief journey through the history of video games.

What was the first video game?

Well, it depends on the expert you talk to. Because not even today the international community agrees in this regard. It is almost unanimously accepted that the first video game was the famous pong, developed by Atari and released in 1972. But this is not exactly so, since this game was preceded, only by a few months, by the magnavox odyssey. And here we have the first controversy.

But the issue goes further, because many experts go back to the 1950s to locate the birth of video games. The video game that marks the beginning of this entertainment would be, in this case, Noughts and Crosses, designed by A.S Douglas and launched on the market in 1952. This game was a simple and basic tic tac toe, in which the player could interact with the machine. This video game would be followed by tennis for two (1958), developed by William Higginbotham and which would be the first to allow the game between two people.

For others, the date of the first video game is 1951. To affirm this, they rely on the existence of the Nimrod, a machine created by John Benett that was presented at the Festival of Great Britain that year and offered visitors mathematical games and puzzles. For many, then, that is the first video game in history.

It is? Well… technically, no. Because if we travel back to no less than 1939 (just when World War II was beginning), we find that Edward Uhler Condon, a renowned nuclear physicist, designed he nimatron, the first machine the player could compete against. He nimatron it also offered mathematical games, and was featured in the 1940 Westinghouse Exhibition. In fact, it seems that the Nimrod de Benett was based on this early prototype.

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Were these early video games art?

It can be said that, obviously, these first video games were not art. It was about very basic computer programs, where there was no room for any kind of creativity. For example, him Noughts and Crosses, also known as OXO, was a simple black screen that featured noughts and crosses (a tic tac toe) in green. Of course, we are talking about 1952; computing was still taking its first steps, especially in the field of home gaming.

Actually, these first games were not intended to be kept in the home.. It was not until the 1960s, with the appearance of the video game Fox and Hounds, which starts the home game revolution. This game would evolve, already in the 70s, in the aforementioned magnavox odyssey, the first home system that connected to television. The game was developed by Ralph Baer, ​​nicknamed the "father of video games", and is considered the first video game console in history.

So, were these first video games art? It depends on what we understand by art. If as such we also include everything created by the human being beyond creative expression, then we can say that yes, these first games were art. But strictly speaking, and taking the definition that the RAE gives us of the word art (in the next section), we cannot consider these primitive computer designs as an expression artistic.

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So, when do video games start to be art?

The RAE defines art as: "manifestation of human activity through which the real is interpreted or the imagined is captured with plastic, linguistic or sound resources". Based on this definition, it is clear that we cannot consider these primitive video games art, since they do not imply any personal interpretation of reality or what is imagined. They are simply machines that allow you to interact with a computer.

But little by little, designers are perfecting their video games, and then new and great possibilities open up. The 80's was a real boom in this sense; and later, in the 90s, video games reached their golden age.

The 90s suppose the 3D revolution. Video games begin to be designed with three-dimensional environments, such as the famous Doom (1993). This new interpretation of video games is highly creative, as the designers refine not only the settings, but also the characters and stories. And this is when we can start talking about the video game as an artistic expression., since its development implies, as we have already commented, a good story (in the manner of movies or novels) and good graphics that involve the player.

In the 1980s, some art museums exhibited video games that were already obsolete at that time, making it clear that video games are indeed part of artistic expression.

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Early video game artwork

These are some of the first titles that can be considered art forms in the world of video games.

loom (1990)

Among these first jewels is, without a doubt, Loom (not to be confused with the aforementioned Doom), developed and released by the company LucasFilm Games in the year 1990. Loom was a turning point in the world of video games, since it is a true artistic revelation. The game designed by LucasFilm Games perfectly combines wonderful graphics, a story unforgettable at the level of the best adventure novels and an enveloping background, based on music inspired by the swan lake from Tchaikovsky. Really, can a video game with such characteristics not be considered art?

loom it's pure fantasy. It was the fourth game to use the SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) engine. This engine made it possible to support Loom's graphic adventures, just as he had previously done with the no less magnificent Maniac Mansion (1987), also from LucasFilm Games. The story of loom it is as sophisticated and elaborate as any novel, drawing on elements of Greek mythology as well as a fantasy-filled Middle Ages. The graphics add to this wonderful world with truly magical settings, very different from the rest of the offer of the time. These graphics, developed by Mark Ferrari and Gary Winnick, manage to capture, with the precarious pixel technology of the time, amazing detail.

The creator of Loom, Brian Moriarty, put it this way in an interview with adventure and company: “I was enthusiastic about the possibilities that it offered. What if we made the programming and story of these games much more sophisticated? What if we put them in boxes and sold them like books? We believe that these phrases have an obvious connection to artistic expression.

Monkey Island (1990)

Since then, the world of artistic possibilities in video games has expanded considerably. The second jewel of the video game, also released by LucasFilms Games, was the successful Monkey Island, created by Ron Gilbert, which would be followed by no less than 4 more games. This time, the story revolved around a young man, Guybrush Threepwood, who wants to be the best pirate in the Caribbean. The plot is a prodigy of occurrences and originalities, seasoned with a very peculiar sense of humor that gives it his personal stamp.

Monkey Island represented the continuation of graphic adventures, which allowed designers to sharpen their imagination. Once again, it's impossible not to talk about art when we refer to these types of games, since they perfectly combine good stories, good designs, and excellent soundtracks. What difference is there, then, with a film, framed, by the way, in the so-called seventh art?

Video games as a cultural interest

In 2006, the French Ministry of Culture ruled that video games were a good of cultural interest. This is not only true in that they are part of human artistic expression, but also because they are a very successful vehicle for the transmission of values ​​and cultural heritage.

In 1996, Cyro Interactive launched Versailles 1685, an adventure game set in the time of Louis XIV in the iconic French palace. The video game was just another graphic adventure, but it had a peculiarity: as the player progressed through the story, he could talk and interview real characters that existed at the time. Not only that; The absolutely fantastic graphics reproduced the Palace of Versailles with absolute fidelity and realism, so that, in reality, the player was making an interactive visit at the same time. The background music also consisted of musical works of the time, baroque jewels on which information could be consulted.

All this made Versailles 1685 a very complete game, since it not only allowed you to live a hectic adventure (in which the player had to unmask a plot against the king), but, in turn, immersed him in a specific historical moment and allowed him to visit one of the most significant monuments in France.

Video games, imagination and creativity

Throughout the decades of existence of videogames, we have witnessed an improvement of the designs and arguments, which turn this type of entertainment, on occasions, into authentic works of art. art. As in all artistic sectors, in the world of videogames there are works of higher and lower quality, but that is only related to the creators, which are, in this case, the artists.

Video games allow, like painting, literature or music, to let the imagination run wild. They have gone from being simple programming, like the machine that Edward Uhler Condon presented in 1940, to being authentic prodigies of creativity and design. Given such results, how can we not consider video games as one more artistic expression?

A study conducted by Michigan State University and led by professor of psychology at faculty, Linda Jackson, concluded that boys and girls who play video games are more creative. This is related, of course, to the design of video game developers, who are increasingly involved in stimulating the creativity of children (and not so children) with their work. The study makes it clear that, within this stimulus, the massive use of computers and smartphones is not contemplated, which may have the opposite effect.

conclusions

In recent years, there have been many countries that have established sentences that consider video games as an artistic expression. This is the case of the United States, whose Supreme Court ruled, in 2011, that video games were an art form and, as such, they enjoyed protections. Also Germany, in 2018, officially considered this type of entertainment as art. And we have already commented that, a little further back in time, in 2006, the French Ministry of Culture considered them cultural assets, as well as artistic expression.

These considerations at government levels do not appear, as we have already seen, out of the blue. Throughout the article we have been verifying that video games are another way of expressing ideas and creativity, as well as a stimulus to the imagination, so they should indeed be considered art, in the same way that a good movie or a good book.