Video Games as Successful Art

Can video games be classed as art? This is the challenging aesthetic question I address in my new essay, Video Games as Successful Art.

Drawing on the work of Tom Bissell, I offer one definition of "art" that seems to fit very well with video games, as well as with literature and paintings. In this case, art is defined as a work which makes full use of the opportunities for expression that are available to it. Video games have available to them multiple media for expression (audio-visual, simulation, gameplay satisfaction), and this definition of art suggests that video games must satisfy a wider range of criteria for "success" than other creative forms. Usefully, this definition also means that we can still treat older games, which fully exploited the hardware of their own generation, as being artful in their own way.

The full essay is available here.

Labels: Game Studies, Photography and Art, video games

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