Following the release of Playstation 2's The Shadow of the Colossus in 2005, the discussion of video games as art gained great momentum. Although the topic was on the minds of many video game players, it was difficult to persuade those who were skeptical. Many people could not separate the notion of video games as sensationalized violence or digital escapism. This is not surprising considering the portrayal of video games in news media: horror stories of hyper aggressive adolescent behavior blamed on video games,obsessed players dying from neglecting food, and marriages torn apart by online game addictions. Moreover, video games have come under the criticism by many high profile politicians including Jack Thompson, Hilary Clinton and President elect Barack Obama. Given the circumstance, it seemed justified that "video games" and "art" were hardly familiar terms yet the contentious debate over video games as art has and is taking place.





I have two primary concerns in classifying video games as art medium. My first concern emerges from the video game industry as a corporate establishment. For the most part, the intention of the video game publisher is to sell as many units of their software as possible. The video game industry lives off the profit it earns and the consumers who pay for their product. However, just because video games are commercial entities does not mean they cannot be considered as art. As the Pop Art movement has shown, capitalism can be reworked into artistic expression that can be widely respected and appreciated. The music industry is also definitely guilty of this as well. Nonetheless, the production of video games and the motives of the publishers will always muddle the artistic value of the video game.





My second issue with classifying video games as art medium is that this would be a gross over generalization - not all video games are art. While I believe art and creativity play a role in all video games ranging from story boards, concept drawings, and music, the argument is focused on the finished product, the sum of the parts. Herein lies the greatest challenge: how does one measure the level of art? How do you decide the cut-off for which games are art and which games are not art? Blockbuster games, similar to blockbuster movies, are made to be a console's killer app. Compare that movie to an art-house film. Somewhere along the line, a decision was made. Even though I was trained in art history, I still cannot answer this question. If anything, my undergraduate years only further complicated my understanding of art. It seems pretty unanimous amongst the gaming community that several games are unquestionably considered "art": Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, to name a few. But I've been hard pressed to find out what is the crucial criteria.





I've had the opportunity to read through several Destructoid editorials on the subject but there is a sense of futility in writing this article. Not only am I preaching to the choir, the ideal target audience (skeptical non-gamers) will never have a chance to read the counter arguments. Even amongst the gaming community, there seems to be a division: on one side there are those who believe some games are art and some games aren't, on the other side there are those who thing art is in the eye of the beholder and everything can be considered art. Unfortunately, the latter does not bear weight on the argument because it shifts the focus away from video games and art to the individual. The otherside already knows you think video games are art - you are already living proof of your own statement. By that same token, the otherside may have an equally strong personal convinction that video games are not art. The aim of the debate is the convince the opposition that video games are art through reasoning and logic.





Video games as art medium is both an art and cultural debate. In the current art history paradigm, there exists a division of art work as Fine Art or Decorative Art. Many contemporary artists who work with multimedia resources are now fighting to rework the definition. And as rigid as the definition of art may seem, it has changed considerably over the centuries because its meaning is fluid and dynamic evolving alongside culture. In order for video games to be incorporated into the understanding of art, it needs to make a significant culture impact - something the medium has already done. That leaves the rest up to us. Consider this: our generation has already changed the English language incorporating both "muggles," "noob," and countless others into the English dictionary.