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Negotiated Response - Can video games be considered as an art form?

To survey the art within the game ‘Journey’ developed by Thatgamecompany, via the PlayStation Network, two key theories must be analysed.

The main theories which will be evaluated are postmodernism. Expanding on the idea that if video games are art, they undergo some postmodern phase where they question form and subjectivity. Games are meant to be escapist entertainment whereas Marxism would contradict that idea. I’ll look at how video games are perceived via the two theologies chosen. The concept of video games as a form of art is a constant debate within the entertainment industry. Though the creation of games include a variety of expressive features like, graphics, storytelling and music. Nevertheless, philosophically, video games being considered as a work of art still remain ambivalent. Even when art based games such as ‘Journey’ are critically judged even though it is a highly praised game for its visual and auditory art. I first encountered the game through a ‘let’s play’ video on YouTube, after watching several minutes of the walkthrough I found myself lost in the aesthetically pleasing world and character design. Unlike many games, ‘Journey’ focuses on controlling a robed figure in a vast desert, on what feels like a self-given quest to travel and explore towards the mountains in the distance. Though what made the game unique was that you can encounter other anonymous players that are on same journey, meaning players can assist each other and their only means of communication being musical chimes. ‘Wintory chose to base all of the pieces on one theme which stood for the player and their journey,’ The orchestral tones when activated turn the dull pieces of clothing on the figures into a vibrant red which also affects the world around the player as you progress through the levels immersing us in a sea of electronic sound. The short twenty-minute video I previewed was enough to make me buy the game myself. As I started playing, what occurred to me was the idea that when I played it felt as if I was a part of a concerto where I, the character, was the soloist while the rest of the environment around me represented all the other instruments, starting off with a solo which slowly then builds up to obtaining the full orchestra. As you progress through your journey, the story expertly reveals a cryptic tale on both the backstory to the world and its many desolate ruins, and some bearings of the mystery on your identity and why you are traversing towards the mountain in the first place. In journey, the story is described without the use of words or text, ‘this narrative remains up for interpretation through its conclusion and is likely to frustrate those looking for more concrete answers’. Though the real plotline is all about the locations you have explored in the vast world. However, as you venture through the game it evokes you to feel the sense of isolation. Journey’s most innovative feature is the way it lifts that sense of loneliness through cooperative play. You can interact with other players if you play online as you go around in your travels. Join them as they advance, or separate and leave them behind. Adventure together by taking them to hidden secrets you discovered, or solve puzzles together. When playing cooperatively, you can achieve objectives easier and also you will quickly notice the way you can help to recharge each other’s energy by working together and you will have an easier time moving through the world. ‘It is not a subtle metaphor, but it is a powerful one.’ Furthermore, linking to my choice of theories, ‘Journey’ displays some postmodern creativity through their structural features which include variability and unpredictability, the blurring of subjectivities between an embodied player and a virtual being. Additionally, before asking the question ‘is a particular game postmodern?’ it is not at all made clear that when we discuss about games we only really know precisely what it is we are referring towards. ‘However, just how much ground is shared between different video game specimens? A game of bowling on the Nintendo Wii might best be understood in terms of its real-life counterpart, as a sport that coincidentally happens to be digital rather than embodied. But if Wii bowling is best understood in this way, why is it that Call of Duty, which is also a simulation of a real-life activity, cannot be understood as a straightforward replication of actual war? When thinking about game styles, we must acknowledge that different games, though superficially similar, may be better understood according to different models, sometimes from outside the field of video games entirely. Even as we do this, though, we should not impose metaphors from other fields unreflectively. In particular, we need to be especially cautious not to over-extend terms like “narrative” or “text.” A game like Mass Effect, with 250,000 words of dialogue, might well be studied logically, but if so it offers a very different type of “narrative” to that of Minecraft in which the only story is that which the player writes for themselves through their own methods of creation.’ This possibly links amidst the media objects that video games challenge our efforts to judge between different stylistic and formal qualities so that we can, say, ‘judge one artefact as modernist, another as realist, and another as postmodernist’. So the precise question is centered towards the evaluation of whether ‘Journey’ is just another example of many games, that are basically just for aesthetical pleasure, distraction and relief from unpleasant realities or is it just there to fuel the unquenchable culture industry? Will games ever have revolutionary potential or is it just an act of escapism? Likewise, Asserting the idea that all video games are postmodern then that means this indicates that through dissimilar examples of games, averagely, there is a decrease based on which we can judge depending on finer aesthetic differences between other examples, or can we conclude that games are, in general, examples of postmodernist ‘texts.’ I say that games don’t need to have a specific unique gaming system nor complex storyline to be considered entertaining. ‘The basic idea for the game, as designed by Chen, was to create a game that moved beyond the ‘typical defeat/kill/win mentality’ of most video games. ‘In addition, the most popular games are exclusively rated on their complex battle systems, intricate puzzles, or branching upgrade systems and if players are looking for that sort of feature, then, Journey is likely a disappointment. Though if you are open to just plain aesthetical player experience and also to the ‘nebulous realm of how a game might elicit emotion and the artistic potential of interactive narrative.’ Then Journey is the game for you. In addition, I say that story/aesthetic driven games are more pleasurable and more worthwhile than gameplay driven games, ‘If the game is story driven then it will probably have a strong initiative factor for the player to start playing the game (if the story has a good start and also a strong motivational factor to keep the player playing until the end (of the plot is interesting). At the end of the story, the game may also have a strong publicity because the player will be recommending the game to his friends for its really great ending.’ However, the disadvantages are if the game is so limited to small mechanics with little to no evolution at all then it’s most probably better off that the game is produced as a visual novel or movie. On the other hand, casual players (people who play for the sake of having fun) prefer gameplay driven games which are focused on the main game mechanics and developing it according to the game experience. ‘It is easier to create a story that matches a game mechanic than creating a game mechanic which matches a story. It is also easier to add the fun factor to a game when the gameplay is being thought from the start.’ Which concludes, that I defend both the importance of story-telling in the games design because it is a strong factor in which motivates me to complete the game. But, at the same time it is also important for the game to have the ‘fun’ included so that’s why gameplay can’t be fully ignored either. Postmodernism: The study of video games to a large extent have mainly been ruled by a debate between narratology and ludology; and that the main discussion is that whether videogames are an evolution of an established narrative form, or if they are a ‘revolutionary rupture’ that insist on an entirely brand-new analytic model. Ganzala Frasca approaches the ludologist’s approach, ‘Video games imply an enormous paradign shift for our culture because they represent the first complex simulational media for the mass’ When in fact this is taken from a different approach by Jan Simons who considers that the ‘freedom’ that the ‘ludologists’ simulation’ brings are proposing that narrative stories are limited by the creator, only ‘as much as computer-generated simulations are constrained by the algorithms written by the designer of the model’ In-between these two keypoints are where video games reside as of now. As we experiment existing notions of fixed narrative production along with the steady subject-object areas spread among modernity, still in different ways, we are still not able to fully break away from them either. Though somewhat, the recent system of interactive narrative grants access to a certain quantity of negotiated meaning development through play and ludic experimentation. Furthermore, even though there is a predefined set of rules, videogames can as a result be viewed as a part of a larger movement which is greatly popular in the new media. Gradually wearing down the old top-down monocratic systems of meaning production, whereas outside a familiar position it is simple to engage with. Marxism: Since Journey does not have a clear plot line, it mirrors a Marxist utopia. ‘The multiplayer component of Journey was designed to facilitate cooperation between players without forcing it, and without allowing competition. It is intended to allow the players to feel a connection to other people through exploring with them, rather than talking to them or fighting them’ Furthermore, the game doesn’t follow a clear traditional set of game rules such as ‘protagonist versus antagonist’ with the ‘saving the day’ plot. But in saying that it does borrow elements of traditional gameplay structure like puzzle solving and multiplayer questing though this is also something that would occur in a Marxist utopia since the game has no struggle of conflict since there are no opposing teams ‘The plan was to create a game where people felt they are connected with each other, to show the positive side of humanity in them.’ So the other players you meet within the game are entirely an individual and is defined by who they really are opposed to who society dictates that they should be. Therefore, everyone is an individual and there is no social status and players can truly achieve equality. In Conclusion the two theories, post modernism and Marxism on the indie video game ‘Journey’ developed by Thatgamecompany displays postmodern creativity through their structural features which include variability and unpredictability and a Utopic Marxist idea of players that can play and enjoy aesthetically pleasing games that don’t exactly need to be gameplay or story based to be enjoyable. I find no fault with simple, accessible design, and the simplicity over the course of the game expands on the impact of the journey’s conclusion. That players go through an arduous quest with the feeling of achievement and ordeal in the pursuit of highly scripted moments of beauty. At the end of the day, it is a worthy playthrough, though the less linear pathing through the events might have increased my involvement in the experience. Bibliography Alluvium, 2013. Are Video Games Narratives Postmodern?. [online] Available at: http://www.alluvium-journal.org/2013/05/13/are-video-game-narratives-postmodern/ [Accessed on 04 December 2015].Wikipedia, 2015. Journey (2012 video game) [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(2012_video_game) [Accessed on 05 December 2015].Gameinformer, 2015. Journey [online] Available at: http://www.gameinformer.com/games/journey/b/ps3/archive/2015/07/21/journey-review-beauty-trumps-complexity.aspx [Accessed on 06 December 2015].Gamasutra, 2010. Story Driven vs. Gameplay Driven Game Design [online] Available at:http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/GabrielLievano/20100527/87415/Story_Driven_vs_Gameplay_Driven_Game_Design.php [Accessed on 02 December 2015].Metamodernism, 2010. The Limits of Postmodern Theory (from a gaming perspective) [online] Available at: http://www.metamodernism.com/2010/11/07/the-limits-of-postmodern-theory-from-a-gaming-perspective/ [Accessed on 02 December 2015].Karl Marx. Capital Volume One, 1999. Section 2 [online] Available at: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch03.htm [Accessed on 06 December]. Frasca, G (2003) ‘Simulation versus narrative: Introduction to ludology’ in Mark J.P. Wolf and Bernard Perron (eds) The Video Game Theory Reader. London: Routledge pp 221 – 236 McLuhan, M and Fiore, Q (1996) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects (Digitalized edition. 1st edition 1967). San Francisco: Hardwired Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991). Print.

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