Video Games Can Be Art

The word art is defined by dictionary.com as the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. In a nut shell, I believe what is being said is that art is whatever is beautiful to the one viewing it, or whatever is created by skill or expression. Roger Ebert who is an American film critic and screenwriter believes that video games however, can never ever be considered art. I would have to disagree with him 100%. I believe videogames could be beautiful to some people and I also believe they take skill to create and are created through expression.

Roger Ebert argues that video games could never be art because art is a creation of one artist. But then does he believe that art in the form of music truly isn’t art? Or that art in the form of language isn’t either? Does he believe that buildings and statues could never be art too? I find his point interesting because there are so many loop holes inside of it. Language for instance wasn’t created by just one person, why do you think we have so many of them today? Music also is rarely written and composed by the same person, but yet it’s art. Yes, many famous works of art have been created solo, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some out there that have been a dual effort.

The Statue of Liberty for example was an effort of many, although only one designed her, she was built by the city of France. The building of The Statue of Liberty took nine years to complete and is now one of the most well known symbols of the United States. Back to the definition of art, is it a symbol of expression and did it involve skill? Yes. There is no arguing the fact that something so famous and so strategically built, could not be art.

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is labeled as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Are any of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings? No. The great pyramid was man-made and took lots of skill, time, and effort to create. And yes Roger Ebert, it was built by more than one artist. The play Romeo and Juliet is also a type of art that once again cannot be performed with just one person. It takes the same skill and desire that creating a painting does.

Video games are produced with the help of more than one person, that’s what makes them so special. The creators of video games use knowledge and the right technique to create the exact outcome that they want, just like painters and sculptors create works of art by using certain techniques. Just because some of the most famous artists work by themselves, doesn’t mean that every artist has to to be considered one. There are many murals created that have been done with several people, is that also not art? The list could go on and on to why Roger Ebert’s point has to argument behind it, but that’s because more works of art are created with four hands instead of two.