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Debate Rages on about whether Video Games and Slots can be considered Art

The July 09, 2023, By Bernard Lamoth

The great debate over whether video games, online slots and other gaming forms are to be thought of as art reached a new zenith.

It’s a discussion that has been going on for some time but was accelerated back in April via a videoed TED talk given by Kellee Santiago, a designer and producer of video games. Santiago advocated that video games, which is an umbrella term used to include online casino games too, are a modern day art form.

"Art”, she argues, “is a way of communicating ideas to an audience in a way that the audience finds engaging." She takes viewers on a journey through time; looking at the evolvement of art from primitive cave paintings through to modern day masterpieces. She also retraces the simple, crude roots of today’s sophisticated, high tech film industry.

Gaming, she affirms, is simply a media in its early years: still developing, both in its creation by game producers, as well as in the expectations and appreciation of its audience. Whilst once players purely enjoyed games for their challenges and rewards, their increasing morality encourages the contemplation of social and cultural issues. This, argues Santiago, appeals to the emotions, makes them thought provoking and ultimately classes them as art.

She uses several gaming clips in her presentation, highlighting how they embrace topical issues and provide message and stimulation.

Games, she states are becoming more refined and growing up with their audience – they are becoming more serious, have deeper emotional content and not only tell a story that can be interacted with but encourage learning and emotional growth.

Games as a media, she argues, should not be confined to the superficial; we should recognize the power of gaming and allow it to naturally develop into its own art form in the 21st century.

The arguments put forward by Santiago may well be persuasive but many disagree. Famous film critic and blogger, Roger Ebert, begs to differ with Santiago. He says, “One obvious difference between art and games is that you can win a game. It has rules, points, objectives, and an outcome.”

The three clips she streamed also failed to leave a mark on him. He remarks that they, “do not raise my hopes for a video game that will deserve my attention long enough to play it. No one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great painters, filmmakers, novelists and poets."

He also ponders, “Why are gamers so intensely concerned, anyway, that games be defined as art?”

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