A while ago, I read Where Art Belongs by Chris Kraus, in which he explores the position of art in our current society. Kraus discussed specific instances of contemporary art, such as installation galleries, political zines, music; he didn’t classify or make any arguments for why they were art, but rather just explored their political relevance in Western society in the late 1990′s and early aughts. There was no attempt at a definitive explanation of what art is, but rather what art can accomplish. This is why I’ve always loved literature and film: as an art form, they hold immense oppportunity to inform our cultural consciousness and perceptions. And consequently, this is also what I love about video games as well.
The other night I went to the launch of the Hello Amiga exhibit, which was…well, weird. While there were some pieces that I absolutely adored, there were more than one that left me cold. But beyond that, it really got me thinking about what video games can accomplish as an art form that other mediums cannot. I’ve talked about this topic before with friends, especially after I reviewed The Art Of Video Games. My point is this: some video games actively involve — and hinge on — the viewer in the political statements they are asserting, in a way that is quite unprecedented.
Think about Picasso’s Guernica. It’s a very moving painting, and through the colouring and chaos we feel the tragedy and the confusion of the bombing. Not just the confusion on the part of the civilians, but we, as spectators, can feel this also: the painting doesn’t entirely make sense. It is disorderly, chaotic and senseless — the same feelings we are meant to feel about the bombing and war. This feeling is stirred in us, and we have to be ready to see and accept this.
But with video games, we are active participants in the politics. It’s why the issue of ethics in video games is constantly being discussed, from Dishonored to Pokemon.
I had this moment the first time playing Bioshock. And I’m not even talking about the choice to save or harvest the Little Sisters, because that’s a pretty slap-you-in-the-face-are-you-an-asshole-or-not message. But right in the beginning half an hour, when you come across the splicer-mama standing over the baby carriage. I killed her without hesitation — as I’m sure most of you did, as well. We operate under a different set of rules while playing video games, but these necessarily entail us playing our part in a way that can be very political. We’re constantly making ethical/political decisions, and video games highlight our decision making process quite poignantly. Why we kill, what we kill, and how efficiently we do so calls attention to our relationships with violence and perceptions of otherness.
For example, I recently introduced my roommate to Dragon Age: Origins, and I remember her determination to find a solution that wouldn’t involve the slaughter of either the Dalish Elves or the Adorable Werewolves (as I refer to them, of course). Being relatively new to console gaming, this decision struck her quite forcibly: she didn’t think either deserved complete eradication, and ultimately found a solution that not only meant she didn’t have to commit genocide, but that also provided her with very strong allies.
And this is why I think video games are a unique art form. It’s not the screen shots or the cut scenes that qualify video games as an artistic medium; rather it’s the way video games highlight parts of ourselves as humans, i.e. the politics of interaction. How video games highlight particular issues with feminism is perhaps one of the best examples of this, as well. Video games and character customization is the perfect platform to discuss subjectivity and representation, and how these can reverberate from our gaming life to our every day life. As with Picasso’s Guernica, you have to be already thinking on this level. But unlike Guernica, you’re footing the bill, so to speak. It forces you to think and make the decision, enforcing a sort of political responsibility.
I’m not saying we should never shoot and kill things in games. I’m just saying that video games highlight our interaction with the message being sent in a different way from other art forms. It’s harder to ignore the politics of video games. I mean, I still feel bad that I gave Moxxie all the booze instead of Mordecai in the Borderlands 2 mission Rakkaholics Anonymous. But hey, I’m not a sniper, and how is a gal supposed to say no to gunzerking with a corrosive pistol?
…Maybe I’m a terrible person.
Which, coincidentally enough, is Patricia Hernandez’s summation in her recent article on Fallout and Vault-culture:
“Maybe we’re just all awful human beings—that’s what all these social experiments say, anyway. Consider this though: the Enclave might be the ones that set up the experiments, but we’re the ones practically eating popcorn while we read the results.”
For me, this is where the art of video games comes into play. They bring into focus these dilemnas and actively force us to engage with them. Are we desensitized to violence now that our gaming has made us killing machiens? Or are we more attuned to the repercussions of violence? It’s not a cut and dry answer, and that’s not the point. This isn’t even limited to violence or feminist issues: in the new Walking Dead game, I felt horrible for making a decision that neglected the little girl I was supposed to be taking care of (sorry Clem — I have zero maternal instinct).
The interaction we have with the politics in video games is what’s crucial: vidoe games necessitate a gamer, and this interactivity is key in the efficacy of any political messages. One of the pieces at the Hello Amiga exhibit involved the viewer’s participation (Mark Pellegrino’s G.I.R.L., which dealt with porn and the Internet), bringing to the fore the explicit role of the gamer/viewer in video game’s status as art.
With video games, we become implicated in an entirely new way. In The Art of Video Games, Warren Spector explains just this about video games:
“I believe we can get people to think about their lives in new ways.”
If they bring out the worst in us, and we recognize this, they’ve achieved something as an art form. Not all video games are political or trying to teach us valuable lessons about killing monsters and unnamed enemies, but this doesn’t exclude the potential for this. There are obviously different rules for video games and real life, but the intersections of how we play and what we think encompass the potential for so much valuable thought as an artistic medium.
This article is reprinted with permission from Kaitlin’s critical blog, Thatmonster.
Further Reading: The Hagiography of Phil Fish (Medium Difficulty)