Are Video Games Art - Research Paper Example

ies which immerses the player engaging them deeply in the real life problems they face like depression and living in an abusive home, or the Shadow of Colossus wherein symbolism comes into play and all the characters designed with complex details, the list of the games invoking a personal response from a player are endless. Aaron Smuts in his article “Are videogames Art?” uses the examples of games like ‘Max Payne’ (2001), ‘Halo’ (2001) and ‘Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2002) to explain how videogames posses the ‘aesthetic potential’ which engages the player implying it is a promising art.

‘Max Payne’ has a very detailed plot and touches upon the story of an unprincipled cop who sets out to seek revenge of the death of his wife and his child. The game engrosses the player as he controls the advances of the character; dealing with different conspiracies weaved in the screenplay, hungry for revenge. Similarly, Halo involves many twists in the plot and the player enjoys slowly uncovering where the army as crash landed. The game Splinter Cell has been designed to trigger a feeling of tension in the player as he hides around from the lurking danger.

Most of the game consists of hiding around in suspense. The game has the immense quality of having detailed maneuvers of different character, remarkable lighting effects and a prolific shadow play. All these details along with the suspense ridden story involving the player deeply are nothing a work of art. Smuts states that the games are the products of sophisticated technology and the graphics are close to real life, though it can not match the greatness of artworks in the history but it surely agrees with the definition by invoking some emotions in the player (Smuts 2005).

Videogames to be determined as art should possess the quality of emotionally involving the players. The game ‘Alice: Madness Returns’ tells a story about a girl who sees her whole family die as a result of fire and leaving