Jay Barnson on Games as Art

Jay “Rampant Coyote” Barnson, of Frayed Knights fame, has penned a blog entry on what he sees as a dangerous tendency with game developers and journalists to focus more on games as “meaningful” artistic endeavors and less on games as games. Here’s a snip:

So here’s parallel number three. As video games slowly, painfully gain acceptance as art (if not capital-A Art) and prove their relevance, I’ve seen the temptation particularly amongst some journalists and indies to argue the case for really focusing on the artistry, messages, social relevance, and (indirectly) the artistic legitimacy of video games. I hear arguments about whether or not it’s even important for games to be (fun.) Or, at least, not just fun. This combined attitude particularly amongst the indies is probably mocked more often than it is actually employed, and I’m not really worried at this point about game developers stampeding towards some mirage of artsy-fartsy relevancy. I’m not against games having deeper meanings or meaningfulness. Quite the opposite.

I would just caution indies that pleasing their true audience on whatever level is most (awesome) should come first, and feeding their own creative desires should either be tied with, or come in a close second to that. Appealing critics should be a distant third. Trying to be (Art,) or trying too hard to resemble a different media (like movies or TV, the biggest temptation in gaming), or to please the cultural gatekeepers who don’t even like games are false goals and possibly self-destructive at that. Games do not have to steer themselves towards old-fashioned definitions of art and critical acceptance. Screw that pretentious crap. Those things have to catch up to gaming. I think there are enough parallels in other media that we can see where trying to conform to conventional standards set by different art forms leads, and hopefully avoid the worst pitfalls as an industry. Let games be games however that gets defined by the creators and the audience. Theirs are the only opinions that truly matter.

Let games be games, and we’ll sort out the definitions, standards, and questions of artistic legitimacy later. Just don’t be boring.

I can understand telling developers not to think about pleasing critics, but putting a perceived audience’s desires above their own seems to me like a recipe to hold the medium back. Planescape: Torment would have arguably sold more if Chris Avellone, Colin McComb and the creative folks at Black Isle had thought of the fantasy RPG audience first and foremost, but I’m not entirely sure it would have been as memorable as it is. Either way, let us know what you think in the comments.