Video games have been considered art for a couple of years. But is it possible to extend this term to mobile games?
In 2012, the Museum of Modern Arts added 14 video games to its collection as, in fact, examples of modern art.
The full list of them looks like this:
- Pac-Man (1980)
- Tetris (1984)
- Another World (1991)
- Myst (1993)
- SimCity 2000 (1994)
- vib-ribbon (1999)
- The Sims (2000)
- Katamari Damacy (2004)
- EVE Online (2003)
- Dwarf Fortress (2006)
- Portal (2007)
- flOw (2006)
- Passage (2008)
- Canabalt (2009)
The reasons for the introduction were different. For example, Portal was compared to Escher’s works, and the experience of playing Myst was compared to reading a novel. As for flow, its gameplay reminded art critics of jazz improvisation.
It would seem that this should be the end of the discussion about whether video games are art. But, it turns out, not everything is so simple. Now periodically it comes to the question of whether mobile games are art?
Another World
Considering that Tetris, Another World and Canabalt appeared on mobile platforms, the question, according to the idea, should be closed.
However, there is a difference between mobile and video games, which can even make the same game both “art” and something that does not fall into this category.
Firstly, the structure of mobile games consumption is fundamentally different. They mean short sessions that are designed, first of all, to entertain the user.
Secondly, they are aimed at the widest possible audience. Art was originally a thing for the elite, a narrow stratum.
Thirdly, art cannot be a service, it is an artistic act, a statement. At the same time, modern mobile games, as a rule, are distributed on a free-to-play model and are considered services.
The Croods
On the other hand, doesn’t the work of artists, screenwriters, musicians make even such games an art?
What do you think about this?
By the way, at Winter Nights 2014, which officially opens tomorrow, a round table Mobile Games: from Art to Business will be held. At it, the guests of the event will just talk about this topic.