Essay Planning

What makes a game artistic?
When does a game stop being a pastime and become a work of art?
What does artistic mean when its used to describe a video game? (aesthetically, emotionally etc?)


I plan to base my essay around artistic games. Games that're created with the specific goal of portraying a beautiful art style or perhaps inadvertently are seen as purely artistic games. I also want to talk about games that have unique styles of playing, something that breaks the mould of an RPG/RTS/FPS etc. I would also consider a game artistic if it experiments with how you play it.

Video games also inspire artwork, UDC (User developed content).

I strongly believe that games are works of art. Knowing exactly how they're made the pipeline of work that creates the end result, I can say teams of people making a video game are creating art.

Games creating emotions within players, making them feel something. They're works of art and should invoke feelings.

It's been established that video games are a work of art but in this essay I want to explore why they are. What elements make a video game  a work of art. Comparing a video game to a painting or a piece of music, that can make someone feel something, art isnt just about how something looks its about how it can make you feel. That's what I want to explore a little more within this, which games make the player become attached to characters and how they do so.
Also with the artwork, what do we find aesthetically pleasing, is it personal taste or is there something to it. The way a game can flow as it's something interactive rather than static like a painting. Yes games have an objective and art should just exist to exist, but games have elements of that.

~ Bibliography ~

http://www.legendo.com/fortune-winds-ancient-trader/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Shaddai:_Ascension_of_the_Metatron

http://www.okami-game.com/

http://teamico.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia_(2008_video_game)

^ Links to games with beautiful styles.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2007/07/31/top-10-tuesday-games-as-art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_games_as_an_art_form

http://www.gamingdebugged.com/2013/10/18/10-great-video-games-with-unique-graphic-styles/

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-art-of-video-games-101131359/?no-ist

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4038606/ns/technology_and_science-games/t/bringing-emotions-video-games/

http://othello.alma.edu/~diels/alex/Site/Introduction.html