Video Games Has Not Been Smooth Sailing

Tom Bissell, in his essay, “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” has described video games and how they are unique and different from movies, books, or even interactive films. Bissell says “I came to accept that games were incompetent with almost every aspect of what I would call traditional narrative.” This is showing the readers that even though there is a plot and story line, as characters can control and alter the story line or outcome by what you do or see throughout the game.

Aaron Smutz, a philosophy professor at Rhode Island College, in his rhetorical essay “Are Video Games Art?” asserts that video games are indeed art. He first puts forward three critically well-received games to be considered art, then determines what can be used to determine art by considering “sister media” like art and music as well as competition such as chess, football or ice-skating. After establishing an “informal” definition of art, Smutz comes to conclude that since the games he provided cover several facets of game-types and since those games can reasonably fall into the definitions provided of art, then most video games should be considered art. Smutz forms his essay in order to explore the artistic merit of games. Smutz also writes

The video games of today take many forms, ranging from immersive fantasy worlds, to simple point and click programs with little, to no plot. Some games aim only to demonstrate an educational concept in a fun and interactive way, while others allow the player to step out of reality and enjoy a world of their own making. It is this wide variety of game types that makes it impossible to judge "video games" as a whole. For this purpose of this essay, I will acknowledge video games as belonging to one of two camps - violent, nonviolent, or educational.

Playing videogames can be a social activity, gaming consoles have advanced overtime, it now allows us to play videogames online with our friends and meet new people. Videogames are also used by our generation to pass the time, like when a person isn’t busy one weekend so he spends that weekend playing videogames with friends who are also not busy; or if someone is in the waiting room of the doctors office, waiting for the nurse to tell him or her when the doctor is ready to see, they might play a game to pass the time. Videogames also give us things to talk about with one another. Many videogames have unique story plotlines with bizarre worlds that have their own lore; some videogames have scoring systems which creates competitivity. Some videogame even have characters that come with stats. So videogames gives us a lot to discuss about.

Video games have become a massive icon that has spanned decades, technology and even cultural boundaries. Whether you play on a computer, tablet, phone, or console: at some point in your life, video games have been a part of what you do. Strike up a conversation about games and you can make lasting friendships or bitter enemies. Even if they might not know the specific game, everyone knows what the genre is, and because of this, video games have taken their lasting place in our pop

The author of this essay, is not intending to persuade the reader to feel a type of way. What he is expressing ideally are his opinions on said games. Yet, one is somewhat persuaded, because of how he speaks, clarifies, and uses rhetoric in his writing. It really makes someone want to stop what they are doing and get on the nearest gaming system. In fact, it is consolidating to know that he isn’t characterizing the game as just a game, but an aesthetic and an art. Tom Bissell questions himself, “To what part of me do games speak, and on which frequency (361)?” We all would like to know the answer to this question, because there have been so many games, some good and some awful. However, we as a world continue to try and try again. Some of the appeals that Bissell uses in his argument were emotional and descriptive. Basically, in the entire article he described to the audience in intimate detail the world of

Due to this “possibility space,” people can not only imagine different scenarios, but they can be involved in and create them. Gamers expand their people skills learning “creativity, community, self-esteem, and problem-solving” because they are able to “create and interact with elaborately simulated worlds, characters, and story lines.” Thus, video games have become a vehicle for self-expression. Moreover, in the near future, these games will adjust themselves in accord with who the players are and what they like. “And more than ever, games will be visible, external amplification of the human imagination” (279-283).

Video games change the way people can interact with a narrative. Braid is a puzzle video game that communicates its narrative through snippets of text and game mechanics. Braid plays with perception and truth like other fiction novels but the medium also allows it to play with time and its affects on perception. This video game uses special game mechanics to deepen the player’s understanding of the given text in order to tell a story.

Video games are highly designed with artistic expression in the digital world. There is a

To quote the famous game designer Santiago Sir “Games are not just art, they are the most revolutionary form of art mankind has ever known about”. Video games are a hybrid form of art that brings together multiple forms of art. Video games are very aesthetic. They achieve this through the use of their realistic graphics, in depth development of the story, and the emotional attachment built overtime with the game.

In the article written by Roger Ebert, “Video Games Can Never Be Art”, he discusses his view on why video games should not be considered art. In the beginning Ebert explains why he thinks today’s video games can not compare to modern art, furthermore they will not ever be close to poets or filmmakers work (Ebert). Ebert then brings up the Ted talk with Santiago where he states, “No one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets” (Ebert). What he is trying to say here is that when gamemakers are creating video games they will never equal up to their artistic ability of these different types of artist. Then he mentions how video games are not art because

Video games were first created for the sole purpose of entertainment. We found that people loved to play video games and started to play them as much as they watched TV. Educators and game developers decided to use that to their advantage by implementing facts and details to help teach and fuel learning in video games. Even video games that have a sole purpose of entertainment have historically accurate stories. In this new age of gaming, video games are now able to provide entertainment and knowledge.

Martin explains how “videogames may only be regarded as an art form if movies are considered art. Is the Wizard of Oz art? Strong arguments indicate it is” (Clarke, 351). A similarity between movies and videogames is movies rely on special effects, unique acting, concepts, sketches, and much more, as do videogames. Martin continues “games continually strive to become interactive movies” (Clarke, 352). Through their unique stories and the way they tell them, videogames and movies are now extremely identical. “Videogame creators utilize many of the same processes that painters and movie producers employ. Concepts must be sketched out, characters modelled…. Landscapes rendered…. Narratives produced…. Music composed. In doing this, videogames compile all of the art world’s tools into one medium; drawing, painting, sculpting, design, architecture, creative writing…. acting all come together to create videogames” (Clarke, 350).

Many video games use visuals to mentally immerse gamers into a virtual world filled with seemingly living, breathing people, animals, or cities. According to Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey, game designers for Tale of Tales, video games increasingly develop into a true medium of artistic expression (Lamb). In just forty years, video games transformed from an abuse of the new computer for entertainment purposes into a sophisticated form of popular art. The development of video games recently produced results that arguably equal other similar, representational arts. Video games share many qualities with other forms of art, but they are also artistically significant in their own way. “This seems to be something

The video game industry demonstrates infinite variety. Each game belongs to a genre and consists of a theme. The genre is the form of presentation of the game content, for