"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
While games have a programming part as well, large parts of it are obviously art.
Namely gaming development consists mainly of artists, with a few programmers in between, which could of course possibly be the same people who create the art.
Many games also have characters and thus speaking parts, which are sometimes even spoken by famous Hollywood actors.
The way I think of art is a creative medium to transport you to another world, or state of mind. Games do that in spades.
Anything can potentially be a gateway to another world, or state of mind, like a doorknob or hairpin, and that's because our mind is fundamentally creative. Maybe some people shutdown their imagination more than others, but they can't kill it completely--it'll be expressed somewhere somehow. Games are different though in that they're deliberately assisting you, just like art does.
Games are art however the industry is turning them into recycled garbage or even addictive gambling. It's sad what happened to the gaming industry. WoW is a large reason for the bad trends, as is whoever invented lootboxes.
The problem is especially game companies that are public (stock traded). Such companies are often run with "profit at all costs" attitude, even disregarding ethical practices such as just making a beautiful product that gamers will love (and instead going with lootboxes, addictive mechanics, etc).
There are however some exceptions in the pack. For example most Japanese public game companies like Nintendo or Square Enix, still care for profit massively, however more often than not, there is still a crazy attention to quality, which I guess is symptomatic of the Japanese attitude & market in general. Simply put, Japanese gamers will not tolerate a bad product from a company like Nintendo, so they probably calculate that releasing cheap garbage will be less profitable than making a great game (Zelda franchise is an example).
Ultimately I wish that customers would be better educated and really hit back at companies producing garbage, like EA, because then companies would adapt and the game industry wouldn't be in the sad state its currently in.
Art is a passive medium you enjoy. Game is an active event you participate in, unless you are passively watching someone or others play a game. Any game that is more art than game isn't much of its root word. Anything else said claimed is hyperbole and semantics.
I don't play games because I want my movies to have slightly interactive parts between the movie. I don't play games to have something arty to look at. I play games because I enjoy the game part of games. I want the game part to be good, not art.
That's you and doesn't reflect millions of gamers. It only reflects the gutter level gamers (sorry to say it as such). You think millions played games like Planescape torment, Diablo 1/2, souls franchise, final fantasy franchise, etc. and did not enjoy the artistry in those games? Of course millions also play games that children can play, but I don't value such gamers much.
Many people including me care as much about beautiful writing and characters and music, as mechanics/graphics and other superficial garbage.
Comments
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
The problem is especially game companies that are public (stock traded). Such companies are often run with "profit at all costs" attitude, even disregarding ethical practices such as just making a beautiful product that gamers will love (and instead going with lootboxes, addictive mechanics, etc).
There are however some exceptions in the pack. For example most Japanese public game companies like Nintendo or Square Enix, still care for profit massively, however more often than not, there is still a crazy attention to quality, which I guess is symptomatic of the Japanese attitude & market in general. Simply put, Japanese gamers will not tolerate a bad product from a company like Nintendo, so they probably calculate that releasing cheap garbage will be less profitable than making a great game (Zelda franchise is an example).
Ultimately I wish that customers would be better educated and really hit back at companies producing garbage, like EA, because then companies would adapt and the game industry wouldn't be in the sad state its currently in.
That's you and doesn't reflect millions of gamers. It only reflects the gutter level gamers (sorry to say it as such). You think millions played games like Planescape torment, Diablo 1/2, souls franchise, final fantasy franchise, etc. and did not enjoy the artistry in those games? Of course millions also play games that children can play, but I don't value such gamers much.
Many people including me care as much about beautiful writing and characters and music, as mechanics/graphics and other superficial garbage.