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[Glaiel-Gamer]

"Art Game" being used as a genre is kinda dumb sounding because it implies that only those games can be art. All games are art (good art or bad art doesn't matter). It's also an extremely vague genre and I've seen it used for many things, ranging from goalless sandbox games to games with a deep meaning, to games where all the elements used meld together to create one product rather than being a collection of sounds, pictures, story, and interactions.

These things don't need to be lumped together into the broad umbrella of the "Art Game" genre, it's a stupid term anyway.

We need to come up with a term that describes games with more meaning than is typically present in the mainstream games. This meaning can come from the presentation of the story and how it interacts with the game itself, the moods the graphics and sound create, gameplay being used as a story telling mechanism rather than a means to advance a story, or even just the statement that the game makes by existing in the first place.

[Inane]

"Stupid worthless piece of dick game"


see the inherent commentary, Glaiel?

[Tom Sennett]

If we had it my way, instead of calling artistic games "art games", we'd just call them "games".

[Cheater‽]

If we had it my way, instead of calling artistic games "art games", we'd just call them "games".

No wait, hear me on this one:

Videogames.

[Seth]

Well, I think the term "game" is unfortunate in itself, since it implies frivolousness.  I remember a while back some people were tossing around the idea of a game set during the Holocaust, from the perspective of Jew in Germany.  It would be like the father's story in Maus, and the player would have to constantly make difficult sacrifices and moral decisions to obtain things like food and clothing.  That would end up being an "art game," I'm sure, but if it were published it would doubtlessly receive a lot of backlash from the general public for turning horrific circumstances people actually had to live through into a "game."

[Türbo Bröther]

They should now be called wank games. All wank games should come with an option to change the hud colours to match your beret and short black.

[The-Imp]

Fart games?

[moi]

"Stupid worthless piece of dick game"

[kyn]

First you have to explain me what an art game is, so I can come up with a new name

[The-Imp]

First you have to explain me what an art game is, so I can come up with a new name

Braid.

gogogogo

[kyn]

First you have to explain me what an art game is, so I can come up with a new name

Braid.

gogogogo

Naming an example isn't explaining the definition, at least not in my dictionary

[Inane]

My definition of it is a game like Passage that isn't fun at all but people like it because it's got a 'message'

[TheBlackMask]

All games are art (good art or bad art doesn't matter)

I think right now the term "art game" exists because there are games that do and do not fit into what the general definition of art is.  When we start creating nothing but games that do fit into that, then maybe the term "art game" will become obsolete.  I think it is a generalization to say that all games are art.

[Seth]

My definition of it is a game like Passage that isn't fun at all but people like it because it's got a 'message'

Yeah, I'd say games that don't value that fleeting, insubstantial, quality of being "fun" as the end-all be-all of games is a good definition.

[policedanceclub]

Yeah, I'd say games that don't value that fleeting, insubstantial, quality of being "fun" as the end-all be-all of games is a good definition.

I totally agree on this!

[Inane]

Setheroni, games don't have to be about throwing bullets at everything that moves to be fun. Look't Immortal Defense: it's a fun game, but it also has a very strong message. Or Planescape, or uh, other games.

I just think it's useless to make a game about life, and then include the tedium and boringness of real life. It just makes a callous and boring game.




Of course I might have just misinterpreted what you said! :D

[Daniel Benmergui]

Yeah, I'd say games that don't value that fleeting, insubstantial, quality of being "fun" as the end-all be-all of games is a good definition.

This is a nice way to approach the definition, I think.

My definition of it is a game like Passage that isn't fun at all but people like it because it's got a 'message'

Thing is, if some people "like it", then it's worth considering.

[Seth]

Setheroni, games don't have to be about throwing bullets at everything that moves to be fun. Look't Immortal Defense: it's a fun game, but it also has a very strong message. Or Planescape, or uh, other games.

I'm not saying fun should be completely taken out of the picture (or, rather, that art games are trying to take the fun out of games), but that it's not the end goal or at times even necessary.  Games can stay interesting without being fun--look at survival horror games.  I wouldn't describe them as fun but they are wrought with tension.  Passage wasn't fun, I agree, but it had enough to keep my interest for the 5 minutes it took.

I just think it's useless to make a game about life, and then include the tedium and boringness of real life. It just makes a callous and boring game.

I can't think of anyone who would advocate this sort of game design, I associate tedium in video games with fantastical MMO's!  Real life has its tedious parts, but surely it has its interesting bits, too.

[michael]

i just call it storytelling

[Edmund]

"gay games" or "homo games for queer faces"