I wrote this a long time ago. It’s about the whole video-games-can’t-be-art debate. Look, I’m as sick of hearing about it as you are. But after I wrote this, several people told me that it was insightful in regards to this argument in a way that they had not seen before; that was the highest compliment. Some people that I know might not have read it yet, so I wanted to give it one more go before I send it off into the sunset. Why? Because it’s a matter I feel is important. It’s not the same tired argument, it’s not me playing toward an agenda because I simply like to play video games. As you’ll see, there’s a deeper meaning here.

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There’s been a debate recently regarding a blog written by Roger Ebert, a person that I have a very profound respect for. This debate concerns the eligibility of video games as art. Roger Ebert flippantly contends that due to their interactive and objective-focused nature, that games can’t be considered art. He fails to see what countless many feel, that games can be beautiful works of art both in a narrative sense and a visual sense. Art, as expressed in countless other blogs, is a nebulous concept. Art is subjective as it’s interpreted by the viewer. Universally, the definition of art retains that a work is more than ordinary, something beautiful or appealing. Again, this is determined by the one viewing it, but the video game medium, like with film, sculpture, et al, has its high-end examples that are universally acclaimed as artistic examples within that medium (by its proponents). But there’s a million articles in response to Ebert’s blog that will tell you the same thing. We don’t need to prove to ourselves that games can be art, and we don’t need to prove it to Mr. Ebert either. If he hasn’t come to understand in the five years we’ve been trying to convince him, he probably never will. Where countless other articles have defended video games as art, this one will focus on why it’s important to gamers. This is in direct response to his query, “Why is it so important to gamers that video games be considered art?” This is something I’ve yet to see answered at length, if at all, within any of those articles.

Why is it important to gamers that video games be considered art? A fair question and a good question. Unfortunately it has gone largely unanswered. Artistic expression within a medium is an artist’s attempt at evoking some emotional response from the viewer. This isn’t always the case, but it often is. So much so that I don’t think anyone would disagree with the point, not even Ebert. This is where other articles would lose track of the question and trail off into some ‘emotional response’ tirade. But to answer Mr. Ebert’s question, we’ll stay focused. In short, credibility for the medium. When video games were in their infancy, they lined the shelves of department stores in the toy section. Right off the bat, video games were viewed as children’s things. Long has the medium carried this stigma. Surely nobody would argue that there’s no artistic quality to be found in a Bratz doll, or a G.I. Joe action figure. These are toys, children’s things. The idea here is that children aren’t mature enough to appreciate art so anything designed to interest children must be something other than art. While this doesn’t mirror Ebert’s opinion exactly, it does answer part of his question. Why is it important to gamers that video games be considered art? In typical artistic mediums, creators are given more freedom to create content for mature, art-appreciating adults. As gamers, we want to see the medium we love evolve and grow as opposed to simply stagnating where it is. Several games now have broken that mold. We live in the age of Bioshock, Braid and Shadow of the Colossus. These are games that move beyond interesting gameplay and present themselves as compelling works that can only be defined as artistic. Coincidentally, they don’t appeal to children, nor are they marketed to children. Here, the developers were given freedom to explore these concepts and the results were touching and memorable. If games could definitively classify as art, then we might see further freedoms given, and more exploration on these concepts. That’s why it’s important.

Another reason, art is cared for, it’s nurtured. It’s catalogued and recorded. It’s accepted as a whole for it’s place within a culture. How could a gamer NOT want that for the video game industry? We want the industry to leave its mark, we want the industry to be accepted by society as an important part of our culture. We want the industry to become part of our heritage. Art has all these things. Video games don’t. More than a simple label, a classification as art would help us see the video game industry reap the rewards that other mediums have seen. There once was an establishment in St. Louis, Missouri called the National Coin-Op and Video Game Museum. It shut it’s doors about fifteen years ago due to a lack of financial capital. There are similar stories of video game museums closing down in cities across the US. For a lot of gamers, it’s a painful thought that several of these classic video games might be lost forever to time. I wonder if Mr. Ebert has ever considered how he’d feel if Kurosawa’s ‘Seven Samurai’ or Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ were lost forever. There are several institutions that raise money to fund museums, but that money is only ever received by museums that stock art. That’s why it’s important.

When I was young, I saw the film Citizen Kane. Its intricate plots weaved around the film’s central premise in a very delicate and beautiful way. This was art! Mr. Ebert agreed with me when he referred to it as the “greatest film of all time.” Why is Citizen Kane remembered as one of the great film classics? Because Orson Welles was allowed by RKO Pictures to create his vision. He was allowed by the studio to develop his own story, hire his own cast and crew, and edit the final cut of the film. In other words, he was given complete artistic control over his production. Film is an iconic medium, and when made properly and with an artistic edge, movies are capable of great things. They can transport you to another time, another place, you can even learn from them. Video games do these things too, but we don’t hear about that. We don’t hear about the bond of Ico and Yorda. We don’t hear about Atrus’ struggle with his sons. If the label ‘art’ were to lend mainstream validity to these plots, we might hear about them. For fifteen years, Citizen Kane was considered a flop. The reason it became popular was due to several French critics recognizing its greatness years later. What if the French press ignored Citizen Kane? It would have been forgotten. If art is something a culture values, and something well regarded by mainstream society, then that ‘label’ would help to keep these experiences in our collective memories. That’s why it’s important.

Why is Mr. Ebert so casual about his question? “Why is it so important for gamers that video games be considered art?” It’s as if he doesn’t understand the weight the word ‘art’ carries, like it’s something that can just be written off, like it shouldn’t matter one way or the other. It’s a very influential word, it’s a legitimizing word, and it’s a universally understood word. People know what art is; that it’s something that moves you, something that makes you cry or something that makes you happy. It’s even more than that, it’s something you feel. Sometimes it’s simply something you see, or something you hear. Sometimes it’s a mixture of these things. Yes, people know what art is, it’s such a universally understood thing that it doesn’t even need to be defined. People know what art is, unfortunately, people don’t know what can be art. But it’s that word, that simple ‘label’ that gets applied to these great works. When someone hears that a painting is a work of art, they know without even seeing it that it must be something special. That’s why it’s important.

We gamers seem to know a thing that nobody else does; video games can aspire to be greater than point and shoot, point and shoot. But a lot of games have already done this. So many games are universally hailed as art, I wonder if Mr. Ebert considers it a coincidence that so many of the video games he’s been told to try are the same ones. When people consider games as art, their minds jump to Braid or Shadow of the Colossus. This is because, within our community, these games are already considered art. What is it about the medium that makes people who don’t involve themselves in it so ignorant of its content? If one doesn’t read books, surely he’d be aware that books can be art. If one doesn’t watch movies, surely he’d be aware that films can be art. But why not video games?

Mr. Ebert, I don’t know if you’ll ever read this. Perhaps, if you see it, you’ll write it off as just another rebuttal to your now infamous remark. But if you do, hopefully you’ll come to understand that we don’t view the word ‘art’ as lightly as you think we do. In fact, I’d guess that we gamers hold it to a higher standard than you yourself, as we seem to be the ones pushing for the classification as opposed to disregarding it and wondering why that act offends. Imagine if the situation were reversed. What if video games were the critically and socially acclaimed medium of the 20th and 21st century and film was viewed as a low-rent two-bit medium respected only by its patrons? What if Citizen Kane were relegated to the toy section? Would you not pursue an agenda to establish film as eligible for consideration as art? Wouldn’t you want film to be treated with the same regard? That is what we gamers want for the industry we love. You’ve referenced the firestorm of responses you’ve received from gamers making the argument for games as art. It’s because we love video games as much as you love film. We want our beloved medium to be recognized as one of the great artistic mediums, and frankly, we feel it deserves it. I didn’t set out to make the argument of why games are art, that argument has been made to death. Rather, I set out to answer your question, why is it important. I would never be able to convince you of something you don’t believe, but perhaps I can get you to understand why it’s important to us.