Video Games And Art

    Cicero once said, “Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.” I have always found this to be an interesting quote because of what it implies. If art is born from observing nature, then art must be a part of nature. I would go so far as to say that art is a part of our human nature. Look at any culture in the world, no matter how old or new, and chances are that they have their own form of art. It is a part of us. Humans seem to have a call within them to produce art. Because of this we have developed many mediums to express this art within us: paintings, sculptures, gardens, music, even things like writing and film have been classified as art. There is one medium, however, that is not usually considered art. I would like for it to be looked at as a form of art, though. I think you will see why by the end of this post. This medium is video games.

    One of the things that I like about video games is that some of them have inspirations in them from other artists. An example is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. In this game there is a race of sky beings called the Oocca. These beings seem to have been based on M. C. Escher’s  Another World .

The Oocca from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

 

M. C. Escher's  Another World 

    There is actually inspiration from art in video games. But video games are not only inspired by art, they are art themselves. They have a beauty to them that a lot of people seem to miss. Here I will show some examples of the art within video games. I hope it shows you how art can take various forms, including forms not expected.

 

 Here is the colorful world that is seen as you talk to the Illusive Man in Mass Effect 2.

 

Here is a scene from The World That Never Was in the game Kingdom Hearts 2.

 Here is a shot of Hyrule from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. 

 Here is a scene from the forest in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

    These are just a few examples of how video games can be art. There are many more games that I would consider to be artistic. But the art of video games is more than just screenshots of beautiful areas. The art also comes with the creativeness of the games, the beauty of the world, the wonder of exploration, the magic of the story, and the power of having your own adventure. All of these things add to the artistic nature of video games. Video games allow you to travel majestic fields, climb mighty mountains, soar through wondrous skies, swim through vast oceans, and explore mysterious forests. Who could say that this is not art? It is because of the increasingly artistic nature of video games that games are slowly being looked at as a form of art. An example of this is an exhibit that was at the Smithsonian American Art Museum called The Art of Video Games. This exhibit ran from March 16, 2012 until September 30, 2012 and showed the art of video games from the days of old arcade games up until the modern day. It is currently traveling across the country, hopefully showing the people who see it how artistic video games can be. My point is that video games can be art, and this is being shown more and more as video games have become more popular. We have recognized many mediums as art, including books and movies. So why not video games? The artistic nature of video games is powerful. It is amazing and inspiring. It is magical and beautiful. Video games can be art, and I think it is important to recognize this, as well as recognize how important video games are to our culture.