Video Games as Art Part 4: Minecraft

Okay, I promise, this is the last one. I only do so many posts about video games as art because I feel that right now it's a fairly large topic.

So, the game in choice this time is Minecraft. If you remember two posts ago I talked about a game that was created by a guy named Notch (Drop) and how he got famous from Minecraft. Well, it just so turns out that the game he got famous for also happens to have sparked a lot of artistic meaning.

The basis of the game is simple: you're some nondescript character that can go around "mining" blocks. The whole world is made up or big clunky looking blocks. The trees are blocks, the ground is made of blocks, and even the water is made of blocks. Using these blocks, you can create things like houses, weapons, beds, windows, whatever you want really. It was this freedom that caused the players to become so artistic in their creations. Below, I'll show a few pictures and discuss them:

This is a good beginning image to show just how large most of these pieces are in comparison to the actual player. Additionally, you can see how much time must go in to making these, as finding these blocks and placing them just so takes hours.

Here, we can see someone has recreated "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski. Since you're dealing with blocks, this is essentially pixel art.

Another impressive piece here in which the user has decided to re-create the Mona Lisa.

Finally, the artistic limitation is not only limited to specific images. Many players have also used Minecraft to recreate locations or buildings from the real world. Here is an example of someone who has used Minecraft to recreate the Roman Colosseum.

Nick Gentry

http://www.nickgentry.com/

Nick Gentry is a modern artist who uses different types of mediums to create his images. It's probably just best if I show you some images and discuss the medium type and how it relates to art and technology:

If you look closely, Nick uses different types of x-ray images to construct the lower portion of this woman's feature. The mid section all appear to be negatives from pictures that have been taken. The top section is a combination of the two. This is artistically interesting and relevant due to the fact that most of these x-rays could not have been produced if not for special machines that took them. When looking at the actual artistic value in this piece, we see that the part of the images that actually represent memories and good times are all focused around the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and partially the brain. In contrast, all the x-ray images take up areas of a human that are less important to keeping memories.

Here is another piece by Nick Gentry:

The choices of medium may have a bit more to do with the technological side of the art. By using data storage devices, such as floppy disks and CDs, the artist is making a direct correlation to the modern human and the technology they rely on to function.

Video Games as Art Part 3: Drop

http://drop.notch.net/


The above link will lead you to a game that was created by a recently famous game developer known as Notch (famous for the game Minecraft). The basis of the game is quite simple. You start off by typing the letter that is highlighted in red, which begins the movement phase of the game. Now, each letter is moving towards the edge of your screen and the camera is moving inwards to the center of this cube with a chunk taken out of it. Your goal is to type each new red letter before it reaches the edge of the screen.

You'll notice right away that the game is based upon fractal images, as you're moving (what seems to be endlessly) through these cubes that are missing sections of themselves. However, something that might not be quite as noticeable, after playing one or two games you'll realize that the letters actually make up words. These words even have meaning to the game! From an artistic stand point, this has great implication (since you're having users subconsciously type out these words without first realizing they spell something).

Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants

The above video is a music video created by the band Wild Beasts and they're performing the song Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants. Almost immediately you can see the that this music video uses recursive art (also known as fractal art) to continually move the view of the camera deeper and deeper into this seemingly endless picture. However, it should be noted that this isn't exactly a perfect rendition of fractal art. The basis for the fractal visualization is usually a picture frame. This picture frame isn't actually a complete picture frame, since it loops around and actually connects to the next level's picture frame. As such, you aren't going in to a picture within a picture, but more like a picture that never ends. Regardless, this is an amazing visualization process that definitely mystifies the viewers.

Besides the fractal artistry within the music video, we also see many other interesting pieces of art, such as the frame turning into a human torso that we delve deeper and deeper through. I'm sure there is a greater meaning behind all of the metaphors inside the video, which only increase the "artistic worth" of the video itself.

Video Games as Art Part 2: REZ

Rez is a game that was initially released for the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast consoles, and re-released for Xbox360 and Playstation 3. It's a game in which the user is a computer hacker trying to stop a self-aware machine network from shutting down itself. Rez also revolves around the concept of synesthesia. To explain it simply, this game actually has music that change based on the way the user plays the game. For instance, there is a rhythmic beat that plays every time the user "shoots" at an evil program or virus. Every time the user progresses a stage within the level, the music changes slightly. Also, as the player levels up, their weapon changes slightly. All of these combine together in order to make an artistic experience for the person playing the game.

The art in this game is partially generative, since it is created and changes as the user progresses throughout the game. By another point of view, this art could be considered algorithmic, since it changes based on the way the player actually interacts with the game (meaning it will be different for each play through). All in all, Rez is a new age artistic experience that further explains how exactly a game can be considered a piece of art.

Wonderful World of Color

The World of Color presentation is a show at the Disney theme park California Adventure. It captivates the viewers by utilizing hundreds of fountains, lights, projectors, and misters to create a montage of Disney characters singing and performing. This is art on its own accord purely through the myriad of lights and sounds being displayed to the viewers. Additionally, this is art that could not be performed WITHOUT the use of technology due in large part to the fact that it is displaying images on water particles in the air (which is impressive to say the least).

As you can see from the video, this half an hour presentation is also an experience for the user. Whether you're someone who grew up watching all of the mentioned Disney movies and shows, or you're a parent who showed them to your kids, you can connect with everything being shown on this wall of water. This nostalgic feeling helps to drive home the overall meaning of this art piece, which is meant to make the viewer overcome with emotions.

Video Games as Art Part 1: Bioshock

First and foremost, I am a true believer that video games should be considered pieces of art. They often involve intricate plots, character development, and all of the key items that movies, books, and plays contain that define them as artistic pieces. In addition, it envelops the player in ways that a book or movie just can not compare with. By giving someone direct control over the means to accomplish a task that affects the ending outcome makes them feel like they are personally involved with the story. It is due to this fact that video games allow the memories that the player creates about the scenario to feel like they were the ones taking part in it, not just remember the story about the characters.

One game comes to mind in particular that not only captures the conceptually artistic side of video games, but the physical side as well. That game is Bioshock.

Created by the brilliant minds over at Irrational Games, Bioshock takes place in the 1960s in an underground society that was built to become an isolated utopia. The protagonist, someone the player simply knows as Jack, has crash landed on a plane nearby this utopia, entitled as Rapture, where he slowly find out that the occupants have become crazed over a substance known as Adam.

The game progresses on to take some staggering plot twists. Additionally, the player sees more and more distorted and gruesome things the longer he stays inside of Rapture.

This game also has a visually artistic side. The theme fits perfectly with the 1960s era that Bioshock falls within. Here are a couple of pictures that show the visuals present within the game:

This first picture is from an early scene in the game where we first meet the creator of Rapture

The next picture is a screenshot from a haunting moment during the story when the player comes to the realization that they have not had their own free will for some time. The phrase scrawled on the walls in blood has followed them throughout the entirety of their gameplay experience.


This last picture is a screenshot of the terrifying combatant found all over Rapture known as a Big Daddy. Here, the player is engaged in combat with the Big Daddy.

Through painstaking attention to detail and a well designed story, Bioshock embodies an artistic video game when it come to plot.