— Ciccoricco, David. 2014. ‘Games as Art / Literature’. In The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media and Textuality, edited by Marie-Laure Ryan, Lori Emerson, and Benjamin J. Robertson, 220–28. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Ciccorico talks about the place of Video Games as an art form, and discusses whether or not they have been accepted as so over time. He comes to the conclusion that regardless of how one defines art, there is no avoiding the facts that video games possess qualities that are regarded as artistic and relevant to culture in society.
The article discusses elements of video games that can be argued as evidence of art. Just because one can identify individual elements, such as colour, animation and music, does not make video games an art form “in their own right”, however, these components are still relevant. It is stated that video games, initially, are not made to be beautiful or artistic, therefor they may rarely be considered as high art. The competitive nature of video games can be related to that of sports, but it is not so simple. Video games may also be compared to music and cinema, only the difference is video games require the player to be the the performer as well as the audience, making it interactive, immersive, as well as visually interesting. Video games are a mainstream, dominant form of cultural activity, simulations that require the player to enter the fictional world to participate, therefor they are more connected to the art.
Ciccoricco asks if simulations can be works of art, and questions who is the artist, the player or the creator of the game. Digital culture is so contemporary, it sometimes struggles to be taken seriously. This article discusses how video games have yet to be recognised as a new, fresh art form with one definition.
To clarify and explore the issue, Dennis Dutton’s definition of art is defined, where it is not narrowed down to a single ‘universal’ definition. This calls into question the authenticity of the work, the experience of direct pleasure involved in the art, display of skill and creativity, as well as intellectual challenge and imaginative experience. All of which are linked tidily to the form of video games. Ciccoricco also discusses a play-centric approach to video games, which suggests that the act of designing a game is an ‘artistic achievement in itself’. The article also discusses the idea of video games as literature, the bias around video games compared to that of digital literature and poetry, which has no problem of being taken seriously. In terms of the gaming community, however, aesthetic appreciation of video games is valid, and this article sees that we are aware of events such as The Art History of Games Symposium in Georgia and exhibits in museums dedicated to the art of video games.
Video games reached mainstream popularity in the 1970s. Most art forms throughout history have been condemned in their early days, and video games still struggle to gain respect from many people as actual art forms. In short, whether people like it or not, video games are already considered by many as a respected art form.
