My simlple question: Is skyrim art?

A number of posts in my last topic chargoned out the usual video games can't be art line of thought when i compared it to other collabrative mediums.

I believe the piece in question is the sum of a team of technician and artists. When you pound out 200 plus hours into getting the arura effect on the northern lights to hit in just that right way you are workin on art. Not to mention the musicians, the character animators, the environment landscapers, the voice acting, the quest scripting, the dialouge writing, the light shading, the combat animators, the 'object placers,' book writers....

Every little nuance comes together to tell a story personal to the player in a singular experience that has one overtone, one pulse. A world with a life of it's own.

That leaves you with an impression. Changes your mood in the moment. Render your emotions to be swayed with it's momentum. Makes you think about more than just 'grab sword, kill skeleton'.

Ultimately it reassuring us that yes dragons exist and yes they can be beaten.

This is a profound thing. And it is art in my humble opinion.

Whether it is good art or bad has to wait until november.

Yes

the graphics alone is art. Yes video games are an artform. It's interactive art.

I do consider "Good" game design art, yes.

Yes. Skyrim is better art than what "professionals" consider art.

Absolutely.

Interactive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frederic_Edwin_Church_Aurora_Borealis.jpg

it's a common known fact that the ghost of Bob Ross possessed the artists that made the game. making happy trees with happy rocks along with happy rivers. psst. and that one tree right there. that will be our secret. :whistling:

beyond the ross, that went over my head

All TES I've seen to date is very artful. The music, literature, lore, and the visual ...motifs all combined make TES games huge techy works of art. Video games are a new artistic medium. Morrowind and Oblivion are and Skyrim will be proof of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A4LVnVcMKQ
Yes...yes it is.

Mr. Ross was known for saying "Happy trees, happy Rocks, Happy bushes, Happy rivers, Happy lakes ect."

The rolling fog and clouds along the mountains and forests alone give it an artsy look.

To say games are not art is like saying visual art + music + writing is not art. Because those are all elements of games. To say games are not art is idiotic. They require creativity and design, they can create emotion, they are art.

Skyrim is a doorway. (Is a doorway art?) Whether its an exit or entrance depends upon the perspective of the person who chooses to travel through it. What's on the other side ? A game. Probably a damn good one! And if you find you"ve lost track of the time, and hours have gone by, and you hate to leave, well... its now a part of your life. (Small or large, matters not) So now we have a game within a game........is that art?

Mmmmmm. Pretzel logic. Need another beer.

If it is creatively designed for reasons beyond pure functionality, yes.

Is poker art? Is Monopoly art? Is Uno art?

No. Skyrim is not a doorway to a game, Skyrim is the game.



Inapplicable anology.

Most definitely


I dont know hoe one could argue otherwise. The idea of art is broad to begin with and a whole bunch of rubbish could be thrown into that category. With that to think Skyrim isnt are just because its a video game is pretty bananas. So much creativity meshes in this game




Does poker, uno or monopoly have artists working on landscapes (paintings), characters (visual art), story lines (novels), voice actors (movies), animators (movies again), hundreds of pages of lore (novels again) or musical soundtracks (music)?

Terrible anology - you cant use just any "game" and try to relate it to something like Skyrim

"Wait a musician isn't an artist? where is your line at? The piece is question is the sum of team of technician AND artists. When you pound out 200 plus hours into getting the arura effect on the northern lights to hit in just that right way you are workin on art. Not to mention the musicians, the animators, the environment landscapers, the voice acting, the quest scripting, the dialouge writing, every little nuance that tells a story personal to the player and comes together in a singular experience that has one overtone, one pulse. That leaves you with an impression. Changes your mood in the moment. Render your emotions to swayed in it's momentum. Ultimately reassuring us that yes dragons exist and yes they can be beaten. This is a profound thing. And it is art. In my humble opinion."

I think you misunderstood my post. A musician is an artist, but calling someone an artist is just vague. They are a damn musician and should be regarded as such. People shouldn't worry so much about rhetoric like this. Why does it matter if someone else regards something as art? Is it any less enjoyable if they don't?

It is clear that video games fit the standard definition of art. If you disagree, it is clear that you don't know the traditional definition of art and have invented your own out of pretension or not having a strong grounding in reality (See Roger Ebert's response to this question once again).

Again, I don't mean to offend.

Why? They're all games. They all have or can have art assets incorporated into them. If Skyrim, or TES in general, or video games as a whole, are or are not art, why should they be treated any different?

Poker, monopoly, and uno are competitive sports. Cards and board games are not a medium through which a narrative is delivered. Videogames are, or at least can be.

Man, we have definitely run out of things to talk about. The forum is now asking philosophical questions.

You're assuming that just because something is classified as a game it can be compared to just about any other "game" and it must necessarily be incapable of having artistic elements that ought to be considered artistic as a whole. Skyrim has several artistic elements found in other works of art. Why would Skyrim be disallowed from being considered an art when it incorporates several aspects?

Just consider the fact that there are dozens of very real artists that have put tons of time into making Skyrim.

That just isnt sound reasoning. Refer to the previous page if you will

Shall we return to bawwing about how the video hasn't been released yet?