It would be hard to argue that any human creation that possesses the power to evoke a strong emotional response in many people is not art.
Video games as a medium of presenting an idea to the masses is an incomparable historic mark for humanity. Allowing an individual to experience a creation through an experience that is so immersive that I believe it is unparalleled in our time.
The core of why electronic gaming is so popular in our society is, I believe, the same reason it has produced such magical experiences for its users: Agency.
Figure 1, “The walking dead”. Image taken from:
Agency is the ability to act or choose what action to take. The developer of any said game has given you the power to play the game how you see fit, interact with their creation as an individual.
The emotive response that a piece of fine art will summon within someone would be as unique as the person experiencing it. The Story of the last of us demonstrates themes of Guardianship and grief. Through showing the user early on the strong relationship between the protagonist Joel, and his daughter, the developer makes the eventual death of his daughter at the hands of the catastrophe facing earth in this universe, entirely more devastating to see.
I fail to name a single form of art that could encapsulate such great aspects of human life, in a way that the viewer can experience remotely moreover let them interact with the art directly while still retaining the artist’s original design.
Figure 2, “The Last of Us cover art” Image taken from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/46/Video_Game_Cover_-_The_Last_of_Us.jpg/220px-Video_Game_Cover_-_The_Last_of_Us.jpg
Figure 3, “Telltale games logo” Image taken from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Telltale_Games_logo.svg/1280px-Telltale_Games_logo.svg.png
Tell-tale Games is a company best known for their interactive “Choose your Adventure” style story games. Their most popular works are their Walking Dead series and the Wolf Among Us.
While playing these games the player will be prompted to make decisions that their character will take that will shape their experience of the game.
For instance, choosing to go with one character could realistically mean that the other will die.
The user will make their decision based on who they will save, or help based on how they feel about this virtual character the same way they would decide if they like a person in real life.
Through this use of agency within the game the developer or artist can control your emotional state as they see fit, if you have chosen to save an individual many times this can show you care about the character; and these can lead to some very emotional character deaths.
By Evan Shepherd
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