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Posted: May 09 2011 06:05 pm

From The Escapist:
The US National Endowment for the Arts now considers videogames eligible for artistic funding, legally recognizing them as an art form.

The "games as art" debate will likely continue raging for years before videogames reach complete cultural acceptance, but at least one important organization now officially considers games art: The US Federal Government. Or, rather, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) considers games art - which technically amounts to the exact same thing.

For those not familiar with the NEA, it is a US government organization-slash-program which funds artistic projects around the country which will "enhance the public good." If you're an artist who wants to make a beautiful sculpture for a public place, for instance, and you don't want to sell it commercially - but you would like to continue eating - you can apply for a grant of up to $200,000 to make your work of art. There are all sorts of regulations and scrutiny in the application process, but that's the basic idea, anyway.

The NEA opened its application doors this week for 2012, and announced that it would be changing its criteria for what counted as art. Most significantly for our chosen pastime is that the category formerly known as The Arts on Radio and Television will now be known as The Arts in Media. It will include film, television and radio artistic projects, but will also add satellite-based and internet-based media (as opposed to just landline-based broadcasts) and, you guessed it, interactive media:

Projects may include high profile multi-part or single television and radio programs (documentaries and dramatic narratives); media created for theatrical release; performance programs; artistic segments for use within an existing series; multi-part webisodes; installations; and interactive games. Short films, five minutes and under, will be considered in packages of three or more. (Emphasis ours)

Of course, any developer who wants federal funding for his or her next game will be competing with filmmakers, TV producers, radio stars and now internet productions too. Still, it means that an aspiring game-maker with an idea for an artistic game - which would have to be available for free, mind you - might have a shot at making it without being beholden to a larger publisher.

Naturally, this wouldn't just be the AAA-style of game that we're all accustomed to. Not only is $200k laughably small to the sort of money that goes into your average Call of Duty or Portal, the NEA only offers grants to projects which it deems for the public good. It's a safe bet that whatever game projects it approves - if any - will likely be different from what we see on shelves at GameStop.

But really, whether or not this grant will fund the sort of games that you and I would play for fun in our free time is ultimately irrelevant. What matters is that the NEA now officially considers videogames worthy of artistic merit, which is pretty damn cool.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: May 09 2011 07:39 pm

There are some video games that deserve to be recognized as art. I know it's cliche to say, but Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are right at the top of the list.

I do hope this inspires more games like that, instead of the latest slash-em up war shooter sims.

Posted: May 09 2011 07:53 pm

UsaSatsui wrote:

There are some video games that deserve to be recognized as art. I know it's cliche to say, but Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are right at the top of the list.

I do hope this inspires more games like that, instead of the latest slash-em up war shooter sims.

The games from "That Game Company", Flower and the upcoming Journey for PS3 are also good examples for atmospheric games.
Objectively are video games the highest artform because they combines all of the prior arts.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

i'll_bite_your_ear wrote:

UsaSatsui wrote:

There are some video games that deserve to be recognized as art. I know it's cliche to say, but Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are right at the top of the list.

I do hope this inspires more games like that, instead of the latest slash-em up war shooter sims.

The games from "That Game Company", Flower and the upcoming Journey for PS3 are also good examples for atmospheric games.
Objectively are video games the highest artform because they combines all of the prior arts.

Eh," highest form of art" is a bit too friendly to the medium at this point, not to mention that saying it combines all prior arts or should combine them limits the possibilities that games have as an art form. In the past several years we've only begun to understand what's truly possible with the medium as an art form, and gamers are going to have to help elevate it as much as developers and publishers do.

Games like Braid, Psychonauts, God of War 1 (not counting the others, rant for another time), Silent Hill 2, Limbo, Team Ico games, and Portal are all games that cleverly used great art, sound, narratives, gameplay, and symbolism that brought the medium to the level that it has reached today. I do welcome the grant as a way to encourage gaming or all budding artistic movements, but if we're going to legitimize video games as art, we as customers are going to have to demand more, publishers are going to need to take risks, and developers are going to need to steel up and be ready to stand behind their visions. It's exciting, but it still has a long way to go.

Posted: May 10 2011 01:36 pm

There is no legal definition of art. A single federal institution recognizing them as art does not art make.

The definition of art, for all intents and purposes, is the same as the definition for obscenity: I know it when I see it.

Most pornography is not obscenity, and most video games are not art.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

Syd Lexia wrote:

There is no legal definition of art. A single federal institution recognizing them as art does not art make.

The definition of art, for all intents and purposes, is the same as the definition for obscenity: I know it when I see it.

Most pornography is not obscenity, and most video games are not art.

They are undoubtedly an art, but it will just be interesting to see what the government will decree as grant-worthy.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

This better mean more pornographic sex scenes with the leading ladies as achievements for completing highest difficulty.

Posted: May 10 2011 07:40 pm

I agree with Greg. Videogames need time to grow. In 20 years maybe there will be simulated alternate reality parks. or shit like that.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

Most people say video games aren't art and i can see why they say that.

They think of art as something of extremely high quality and required a large amount of skill to produce i.e. famous paintings, classical pieces, influential novels.

When you compare something like the Mona Lisa, the works of Beethoven and say George Orwells novel to the graphic style, 8 bit tunes and virtually non-existant story of Super Mario Bros, the idea of calling it art is laughable.

In a respect i agree with this but i also disagree if i was going to be all "post-modern" about it. It depends on how you define art.

It's similar to beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To some people a game like Super Mario Bros could be described as a masterpiece. After all do things have to be complex and of an extremely high standard to be enjoyed? They don't.

As a musician i see this a lot and it's quite similar to this art problem. With guitar and drums some people seem to think the ability to play fast (by shredding or double kick) makes you a good musician.

Take for example someone most of you may be familiar with: Steve Vai. He is regarded as one of the best guitarists out there with regards to technical skill.

Just because he is technical proficient doesn't mean every piece of music he writes is a masterpiece. I find his music to be dull apart from maybe the Reaper Rap (i think its called) from Bill and Teds Bogus Journey.

This is the same for video games. Just because in the case of SMB the graphics are outdated, the music is simplistic and the story is a bit lacking doesn't mean it isn't art.

SMB is an old game though so it's expected to be looked down on (and it is by the countless 12 year old cod console kiddies) by people today.

Maybe when there is progression within other arts the work of Beethoven etc. may be looked down upon as being crap as well, i doubt it will happen within my lifetime. However look at say Futurama as it parodies stuff. In the future what we hold dear today is looked down as total crap.

EDIT: Wow my english was pretty bad here.

Posted: May 10 2011 07:59 pm

I would be more likely to consider something like Super Mario Bros art, because it never intended to be art, as opposed to something like Heavy Rain or L.A. Noire, which were made by pretentious douchebags who pat themselves on the back and talk about how brilliant and artistic their games are. They showed off L.A. Noire at the fucking Tribeca Film Festival for Christ's sake!

Heavy Rain isn't art. Heavy Rain plays out exactly like a James Patterson novel. And James Patterson novels are cheap supermarket pulp trash.

Joined: Jan 09 2010 Posts: 29

Syd Lexia wrote:

I would be more likely to consider something like Super Mario Bros art, because it never intended to be art, as opposed to something like Heavy Rain or L.A. Noire, which were made by pretentious douchebags who pat themselves on the back and talk about how brilliant and artistic their games are. They showed off L.A. Noire at the fucking Tribeca Film Festival for Christ's sake!

Heavy Rain isn't art. Heavy Rain plays out exactly like a James Patterson novel. And James Patterson novels are cheap supermarket pulp trash.

Would you say that the same logic about art applies to movies?

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

I agree with Syd, but for different reasons. I feel like I was one of the few gamers put off by L.A. Noire being announced for the film festival, because it was trying to be a film. Remember games like Indigo Prophecy, the Metal Gear Solid series, and Final Fantasy games made after X? Remember how fun the gameplay sections were, where they weaved the story into gameplay to make an interactive narrative experience? Of course you don't. All you remember is some gameplay broken up by dry, boring cutscenes where you skipped at least one out of frustration.

One of the problems of the medium is that developers are trying to legitimize it to the mainstream by mimicking other art forms such as movie or text, when there are games that have done a good job of incorporating an interesting narrative and world without resorting to hearing the disc whir while it loads a new cutscene before it can start telling a new story.

Posted: May 10 2011 10:40 pm

I think the same is true for movies in that those who set out to make art rarely do. It is those who set out to tell stories for their own enjoyment who end up making art.