Games and Art
As usual this is going to be a rushed post scratching out a basic idea before I rush of to try and keep my the rest of my life above water.....
whilst working on a possible piece of work for the games fringe a colleague asked how the basic game I'd designed could be made to be more "arty". To begin with i thought the answer was simple, we'd just give it an arty theme or atmosphere...
But then, being of the belief that games are an art form in themselves without having to be "arty" I started to wonder why there's an expection that a fringe game should be *more* arty. Well, this is just in the brief so no need to argue it.
Looking at much art/games, these works lack a real game structure. What I mean by this is that that the player is often thwarted....the goals and rules are purposefully unclear/broken and the game aims to produce a sense of surprise, shock and to raise questions but does not in my opinion end up achieving the flow or fun, a sense of achievement that you get from a traditional game. They've broken the game to make a statement. In my mind these aren't art - yes, but games - no.
So I went on to think about Blast Theory: in my mind one of the most successful art/game groups. Their *games* are very simple in terms of mechanics -Uncle Roy is a treasure hunt, Can You See Me Now is chase game and as such are really fun to play.
What makes them *arty farty*?
Well, they interject the experience with questions for participants which encourage reflection on the nature of their lives and relationships with others. That's pretty simple, it could be done with just about any game - the game is just a framework. And it's true to say they've used the same game mechanics and game engine to produce a number of different works. So far there doesn't seem much art involved...
However I think it's their use of technology that makes them powerful pieces, each work involves two players working together, anonymous to one another, one online one offline supports their exploration of modern society and alienation, but is there any more to it? BT use the same basic gaming structure to create a variety of diff art works...whereas Blast Theory, I'd argue are making true game art. A question of the medium is the message in this case...but is it always the case? I really don't know!
PN: Here's a great, clear article on current thinking on games as art at gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070316/ochalla_01.shtml