Art of the Game

So I have recently hit an interesting point in my life in which I can see through the marketing façade of mainstream gaming. Now to be fair, I never have been a fan of the “mainstream” games that rocket into popularity thanks to their realistic graphics and immersive “whatevers.” No, for me games have always been about the adventure, story, and experience of playing…which up until very recently I didn’t realize was unusual.

For a moment I want to take you back. Back to a time before internet culture, before online video was king, and before most home phones weren’t wireless (or just someone’s cell). The year was 1995 (or maybe ’94). I was but a small impressionable child, but I saw a video game for the first time; Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. Little did I know that experience would shape my concept of gaming for the rest of my life. Form that day at a cousin’s house; I knew that I wanted to play. Not just because it was a flashy image on a TV, but because I was drawn into the adventure of exploring a world.

Fast forward a few years, and the experience between my brother and I became about diving into interesting places in each cartridge and seeing just what new world there was to explore. For the majority of my life gaming was just that, an adventure. A one way ticket out of chores and school assignments, and into pipes, caverns, and dungeons sprawling across dozens of new worlds!

The impact that those games had on me was profound, and in many ways not something I’d fully understand until years later. It took me until college to realize that the adventures I went on as a kid, fueled my desire to “escape” into my paintings, and subsequently create stories and worlds for others to explore. In that sense, gaming for me was always about the next great journey and which princess to save next.

In the past year though I found myself invited into the world of mainstream, multiplayer games…Many of these games I have grown to adore, while others have become a nuisance. There was a time where creating a game was a passion project  for programmers, composers, and designers which manifested itself into a rich experience for the player. I think however over the past decade we may have lost that vision for what a game should be. While I by no means want to degrade the quality or skill that modern artists are utilizing to create unique characters and experiences, I have begun to question the validity of certain games as the betterment of the human experience. Recently I have chosen to quit playing a certain game, and as a result I have become more focused, productive, and motivated by doing so. Games that are designed to cause an addiction in the player to “play” rather than “experience” a game I think is causing a disconnect in the artistic experience among many young minds. If I (as a 30ish gamer and artist) can be so easily manipulated into playing for the sake of playing, then I think there is something to be said about the industry as a whole. These days artists are taking work to build a portfolio and put food on the table, but as I’m writing I have to wonder if the same artists are also “selling their souls” to the paycheck.

As an artist I’m concerned that the “art of the game” is being lost to the “art of a business.” More players, more games, more money…yeah a studio can do that, it’s their right as a business, but I GREATLY WORRY for artists that will design for a project for the money, without realizing that the product might be hurting it’s players rather than inspiring them. For me a game should inspire the player to go on an adventure, solve a problem, or just have fun, but with many mainstream games being produced I'm afraid people won't be inspired to create and just will spiral into "the game" which at the end of the day is meaningless.

The Rise Painting Parties and the Dangers of DIY

In recent years the art community has seen a rise in what you might call a “painting party.” For many small business groups, it’s the concept of a single night’s painting class in which a group of adults all paint a simple design while enjoying a bottle of wine or other beverage to relax. Thees BYOB nights have popped up all around the country and what started small has become a national phenomenon. However, with more and more people signing up for these events, I have to wonder about the long term implications of what might happen to artists and art as a whole. 

What does excite me about the opportunity these events bring to communities is how it opens new doors for many people and teaches them that they can be creative even if they have never thought of themselves as such before. In opening up new people to the world of art, it has begun to build their confidence in understanding the visual arts as well as being able to relate to artists rather than admire or gawk at them from a distance. However this understanding I believe can come at a high cost if we’re not careful. With the confidence to just paint something for yourself, these avid creators may not find the need to support and collect works from working professionals and skilled hobbyists anymore. 

Art should always feel accessible and “fun” for the creator, but this type of relaxing fun at these “painting parties,” cannot and should not take the place of fine art in our communities. In the mid 20th century there was a rise in the DIY culture for remodeling homes in suburban America. In most cases it became the norm to tackle large carpentry or interior designs to improve one’s home and lifestyle. These days hardware stores market themselves on this principle and it’s become integrated in our culture today. However out of the DIY movement came a slew of problems. Not all remodeling can be considered DIY, especially a number of electrical and plumbing projects, which have often plagued the average Do It Yourselfer and caused thousands of poorly designed and constructed homes across the country. 

So what does this have to do with painting parties? To put it simply when the visual arts are pushed into the DIY world, everyone suffers. If people reach a point where they decorate their homes with their own attempts at fine art, while at the same time moving forward with the mentality of “I can just make my own, I don’t need to buy something,” then the visual fine artist will go extinct. To limit the arts to simply something that can be done on a Friday evening for a couple hours, is to cause serious harm to the global art community and our culture as a whole. The dumbing down of painting in this case into the “party” mentality can potentially rob our society of the culture of great art; and in its place build an anarchy of DIY “arts and crafts.” 

However, this isn’t to say these party events are all bad. As I began, creating a fresh and engaged group of creative adults is something our culture is in desperate need of. The more and more people become engaged in the act of creating (in whatever form it takes), the more we will see a surge in the education and respect for the fine arts which could grow exponentially. I don’t feel that we are in either side of these extremes as of yet, however the dark side of them could easily overtake the culture not check on every now and then. As these types of businesses and events continue to flourish, it’s everyone’s responsibility not to simply limit our view of the visual fine arts. While the painting process is fun and rewarding it’s more than just something that takes a few hours while sipping on a glass of Merlot in a building that was once a pizza shop. Instead these events should be using the creative outlet to build up our desire for the beauty and aesthetics of work created by professionals and skilled hobbyists working in the field today.