Are Videogames Art?

Philo has gone to Brad's house to play the latest video game – "Postmodern Warfare"

Brad: Haha – take that Philo. I'm the best Postmodern Warfare player there is. You stand no chance of winning!

Philo: You have beat me again Brad! You're just too quick and nimble with that controller.

Brad: Quite. I love this new game. Imagine that – literally boring your opponents to death? That's so much more inventive than shooting them like in all the other games.

Philo: Indeed, it's very creative

Brad: Don't you feel a little down you haven't won a single game today?

Philo: Not really, I've had the pleasure of spending time with you. Besides, games are just a little bit of fun. My value comes from being an artist – my literature. I get an awful lot of value out of writing stories that scratch below the surface of what it means to be human. That is my art. Video games aren't art.

Brad: Now wait there a moment! Video games are art.

Philo: Are they? What makes you say that?

Brad: Well, they have stories just like the literature that you write.

Philo: But Postmodern Warfare has no story to speak of at all. We just play rounds of boring each other to death. If having a story makes something art, then you would have to exclude this game from your definition, which I wager you are not willing to do.

Brad: I suppose you are right. But, video games hire artists to make the graphics. That's not much different to a painting – and I doubt you would say that painting isn't art.

Philo: Oh no my good friend, I love painting. In fact, I dabble in oil painting myself. I'm nowhere near as good as the masters of old though. Certainly, the graphics themselves may be art. However, if graphics is what makes video games art, then you would have to exclude text-based games and rogue-likes from your definition. Again, I wager you would not be willing to do this?

Brad: I suppose you are right. But, video games hire musicians to make music. That's just music – plain and simple. That's art as much as Bach is.

Philo: Indeed, the music might be art in itself, but if music is what made video games art then you would have to again exclude many games from your definition, which I don't think you are willing to do.

Brad: Indeed, that is the case. What about games are art when they contain at least one artistic element?

Philo: But then that eliminates Postmodern Warfare itself!

Brad: This is very true.

Philo: Here's something to consider – perhaps video games a collations of art in the same way as art galleries. After all, we've established that video games contain art. Galleries also contain art. Perhaps the video game is like a new kind of container for a new medium of art – digital art.

Brad: Something about this rubs me the wrong way. Don't you have a big collection of mp3 files because you claim to like listening to albums?

Philo: Why yes, that's true. I find these newfangled streaming services are too focused on songs and playlists. I like the album as the solid unit of music.

Brad: And is it not also true that sometimes you say that the album could be improved by moving around the order of the songs.

Philo: Most certainly! Imagine if Fleetwood Mac put Gold Dust Woman as the first song on Rumours! Now that would have made it a truly terrible album!

Brad: But does that not imply that there's a kind of artistic expression in the collation of art? Each song alone is art, is it not? And if the album as a whole has artistic expression which is beyond just the sum of its parts – can we not say the same for video games?

Philo: Perhaps we can but -

*Enter Brad's Mum, carrying the laundry, a baby, the cooking, a kitchen sink, a book, a bath and a half flanged quantimux*

Brad's Mum: Are you kids still playing that silly thing, what is it, Modern Warfare?

Brad: No Mum it's Postmodern Warfare. Modern Warfare is just sooo last decade.

Brad's Mum: Well anyway, why don't you go outside instead of playing those silly things?

Brad: What would we do if we went outside?

Brad's Mum: Well just like when I was your age you go outside.

Brad: But… do what?

Brad's Mum: *visible confusion* Well, you, go outside…

Philo: Excuse me Mrs Brad's Mum (you do have a strange name…) but do you think video games are art?

Brad's Mum: Certainly not! I'll tell you what is art though is how shiny this new quantimux makes the floors around here!

*Brad's Mum exits, talking the laundry, the baby, the cooking, the kitchen sink, the book, the bath and her half flanged quantimux with her*

Philo: How strange. Brad's Mum was not even willing to entertain the idea that video games are art!

Brad: You know her name isn't "Brad's Mum" right? She's just my Mum…

Philo: *visible confusion*

Brad: Well you see she has a real name and… forget it. I would never consider floors shined by a quantimux to be art but my Mum certainly seems to think so.

Philo: Quite! Me neither. I never even heard of a quantimux until now.

Brad: Oh yes! It's a cutting-edge data compression and data transmission technology.

Philo: How does that help you shine floors?

Brad: *visible confusion*

Philo: Well, if it's just transmitting data… nevermind. It just occurred to me that we never defined art.

Brad: Oh no, here we are doing philosophy, and we didn't even define our terms. This whole conversation has been totally meaningless!

Philo: How about another round of Postmodern Warfare?

Brad: Splendid idea!