Is wall jumping a piece of art?

Role-playing survival game is willing to take risks

By  Apr 28th, 2008 7:33 pm UTC

A few entries ago I talked about story as a form of art in video games and movies, since then I started thinking about something else. Can game play be elevated to art, not the graphics of story just the actual mechanics. As someone who focuses his attention on game design this is a very interesting idea for me. Game play is the most important element of video games in my opinion, and there are many games out there with exceptional gameplay (Mario Galaxy, the GTA series, X-com, among others), but can we say that the process of creating interesting challenges and gameplay is an art form?

It may surprise you that someone like me who focuses on gameplay will say this, but I don’t think gameplay can be considered art. Of all the elements of a video game, the actual gameplay is the most subjective to review. If gameplay wasn’t that debatable, we wouldn’t have dozens of game reviewing sites and magazines. I found games like God Hand and Shiren the Wanderer excellent examples of gameplay, while review sites blasted these games for the very same elements .

When it comes to graphics and story telling, those elements are less subjective we can tell when a game looks great or realistic. A great story while subjective , still has recurring themes in them. Gameplay is being constantly rewritten and evolving, look at how the MMO genre has grown from the early days to now with World of Warcraft. Grand Theft Auto has had an amazing effect on both the gaming industry and the sandbox genre. I just can’t think about how the purple coin challenges in Mario Galaxy are so amazingly created that they are art.

I can’t really go on anymore without repeating the same things, I would really like to hear what game designers have to say on this topic.

Josh.

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  • So your contention is that gameplay can’t be considered art because it’s too subjective?

    Nonsense! Art is highly subjective. The element lacking from most video games is the use of game mechanics in a meaningful fashion to communicate story in some fashion. That, more than anything, is the reason most game mechanics aren’t art–they don’t intentionally express anything about the world or the character(s) you control.

  • So if I understand you, your saying that in most games the mechanics and visual aspect (story art, sound) are kept seperated from each other.

    In that case if a game has the player in a lost in the wilderness scenario, and tasks the player to find food, create shelter and explore their surroundings. The player would look thin to the point of sickly until they got food, and then you can see color in their face, and just look overall better then before. In essence a more successful version of the Lost in Blue series (I haven’t played them but have read previews and reviews on them.

    Would that be a meaningful connection between mechanics and story? I do agree that I’ve seen alot of games where the mechanics don’t stick with the story or mythos of the game. In your opinion do you think that the God of War series has that connection, as you play bloodthirsty baddass, which is being told to you thru the story?

  • Having not played GoW after spending an inordinate amount of time falling off tiny beams connecting ships, I don’t feel qualified to comment.

    Your example gets closer to the point, but for it to really work, your relationship with the environment would need also need to change depending on your energy level. And change in a way that went deeper than a dialog box constantly reminding you that you were hungry.

    Take a look at Okami for a moment. Several of the game mechanics reinforce Amaratsu’s role as sun god. She feeds animals, brings plants back to life, heals blighted areas, calls forth the sun and moon, summons healing breezes, commands cascades of water, etc. These actions define her and her relationship with her environment.

  • It’s sad that I didn’t even think about Okami considering it was one of my favorite games of 07.

    I thought up another example. In Oddworld stranger’s wrath the way the character moves is actually a hint to his big secret, and as the story changes so does his movement and abilites.