Kong: Skull Island Director: F*** Those Who Even Question That Games Can Be Art

Kong: Skull Island Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who is making the Metal Gear movie, gave a very passionate opinion on games being art after citing Zelda, Metroid, Metal Gear and indie titles like Firewatch, Inside, Journey and Gone Home among his favorites.

[Aurenar]

I think the videogame is art, like the cinema.

[ccgr]

Same but I wouldn't use such harsh language to get my point across.

[KaiPow]

It got you to pay attention, right?

[Krysis]

What's wrong with F#%k

[DanteVFenris666]

Your right. Just fucking kill the person :D

[indysurfn]

well well well..... All system owners are in agreement. I noticed not a single gamer (so far) has disagreed with Aurenar that videogames are art.

Look at some of the scenes from Horizon, Halo, Skyrim, Any Final Fantasy, Tomb raider. The list is ENDLESS.

[UltraNova]

In my opinion games (certain ones) have long surparssed film in art direction. I mean light years ahead.

[notachance]

hey humanity survived for thousands of years until this day because of that word

[Kleptic]

but, who that is relevant still questions it? I get that people say it, but it's always more of a misunderstanding of the definition of art, than anything to really take seriously.

When people say 'that's not art', they usually refer to paintings and play writes from hundreds of years ago...what they ALWAYS leave out is that the people that absorbed said content when it was new...did it as a form of entertainment; an escape from day to day w/e...societies absorption of entertainment changes all the time, but arm chair nobodies attempt to seal the definition of the word...and it's a joke.

I guess that's my only point. Art is mostly another word for creativity. Business people meddle in creativity all the time, and usually ruin it. Some games are not creative, and ride on the backs of previous success. But games, are no more or less overall art than literally any form of entertainment...the biggest difference being success in this form of entertainment is by far the most artistically bound. Horrid comic book movies rule box offices, disastrously pre-conceived music plugs top 40's month after month...but games, lack of creativity shifts a developer right out of the industry in days...Gaming, more than any other, remains the single form of entertainment that's proved the most resilient to objective and non creative business strategy...so far...Activision and EA have been working hard to disprove that, though.

and then what do the kids do? Argue about sales, and popularity, as a metric...so that every step forward in the creative side of the industry is equally offset by the 'your opinion is wrong because CoD sold the most'...and suits eat that shat up like you wouldn't believe...Gaming is the most artistic form of entertainment still, but from both sides, users and business models, it's being compressed at a pretty alarming rate.

[InTheZoneAC]

stop whining

[skydragoonityx]

If video games aren't art, then i don't know what art is

[Festano]

Damn right. It's just that most old folks don't understand games, but soon older people will be gamers, too

[jznrpg]

Festano , that will be me. Im in my early 40s and dont plan on quitting games until im not physically able, which hopefully isnt until I die

[OhMyGandhi]

Art is a monkey fornicating in the corner of your room while you sleep.

[indysurfn]

Ummmm I'm old folks. It's not the old folks its the people that don't like video games.

[ion666]

Those assholes think that these characters are drawn from thin air or something? No,they are created from thought and put on a digital canvas. That's called being artistic which those people seem to not understand.

[nidhogg]

I think Mass Effect Andromeda is art.

[INMATEofARKHAM]

Way to go. You found the exception to the rule. :P

[SirBradders]

A collage of excrement and donkey balls all melded onto a disc.

[Relientk77]

Yes video games are an artform

[nitus10]

Like any art form, you have an audience that likes, dislikes and all the shades in between. Of course, you always will have some people that adopt an extream attitude to any art form.

[Gemmol]

"I just want to see things that do something new. It’s really hard for me to just pick up a Call of Duty or something like that and just play it. I love Arkham Asylum, but it’s hard for me to pick up a sequel to something unless I feel like it’s really doing something new. Granted, I will always pick up a new Zelda and a new Metroid. I haven’t played Breath of the Wild yet because I am still getting my bearings and I need to get a Switch"

he a good man he think similar to me.......no matter how much zelda i play its a new experience, I do not know how Nintendo do it

[The 10th Rider]

It's something Nintendo always manages with Zelda and the 3D Mario games. The core gameplay and controls are always really dang similar, but the tone and feel of the game is unique with each one.

[gangsta_red]

Wow, RIP Metal Gear the movie if this guy is making it. Skull Island was super trash.

[Trilithon]

who disagrees with that? simple things entertain simple minds! Metal gear deserves better. if hideo kojima cant direct the movie, DONT MAKE IT. and they better not change plot lines like most game to movie adaptations!

[SR388]

They yeah will lol... Snake will be a teenage girl, the metal gear are all like irobot, they don't hide in cardboard boxes but instead super cool Lamborghinis, takes place in our time right now with loads of lil kids in thier iPhones .... Sounds great! :/

[DialgaMarine]

I personally enjoyed it. Thought Kong's new design was both very modern and in line with the original. Can't wait for the Godzilla vs Kong remake.

[gangsta_red]

Kong looked like a bigger version of the Peter Jackson remake, which isn't a bad thing. The rest of the movie for me was an Aliens/Predator, SyFy movie rip off. After seeing the post credit scenes the movie was an obviously thrown together in a hurry and a first step to set up yet another cinematic universe.

[DialgaMarine]

Maybe. I still felt like the pacing was good, there was plenty of Kong, and the whole "Moby Dick" style story between that Colonel and Kong was pretty cool.

[The7Reaper]

Really? I liked Skull Island wouldn't put it in a top 5 best movies spot but I still enjoyed it but to each their own.

[Trilithon]

anyone who debates this is an idiot. this article isn't worth a read.

[DialgaMarine]

A lot of people, particularly those within the film industry, like to claim video games are not an art form. Its actually been a pretty big topic of debate for many years now.

[Trilithon]

you get what im saying. i work in the film industry as an artist and have spent many years in game cinematics also... as an artist lol

[BrandanT]

If games aren't art, then that's a big F you to all the artists who help make the games.

[3-4-5]

Video games aren't 100% art, but multiple parts of video games are.

There literally IS art within all games, so technically they are Art based on that alone,but I'd say the skillful way they are crafted is no different than how a director and crew puts together a movie or whatever and movies are considered art to some.

[DillyDilly]

I like this guy

[DialgaMarine]

Well, this man made awesome movie, so I'll certainly take his word for it.

[Dan_scruggs]

Some dead guy who reviewed movies back in the day... I think.

[madjedi]

So long as games remain enjoyable and not turn into to pretentious crap like modern art, art just like movies where the critics fall all over themselves praising a film the general public has no interest in seeing or vice versa.

[LgbtWarrior]

Ico.

[Goldby]

Anything from team ico

[drizzom]

While games can be viewed as art, they are still more of a product. Games are part of the 'entertainment' industry and therefore need to be 'fit for purpose'. Paintings are things artists create for themselves, designed to appeal to nobody, and people come to look at it. Games are created to appeal to target demographics in hopes of presenting them with a product that appeals to enough of their preferences to warrant a purchase so the development studio can pull a profit and be successful.

Games don't need to strive to be an art form. What will they gain from that? Respect? To be 'taken seriously'? Why do we need that when the games industry makes more money than Hollywood? Striving for someones sense of what art is will just make that person manipulate the hell out of you (and said person might not even like games at all). Games don't need to bend over backwards for the approval of anyone else. The industry is doing fine on its own.

Games don't need to be seen as art because games are way better.

[Goldby]

Bud.
Games are art just like painting. Painters do paint for themselves but they also want to make a living off of their art so they target a demographic that responds well to their form of art. Aka collectors.
And just like collectors for art. We the gamers are collectors of art in the form of video games.

There are artists who work on the character models. Artists who work on level design and scenery. Artists who work on the sound design and music and artists who work on the story and dialogue.

Games are a collection of artwork rolled in one sweet package.

To say they don't need to be art is a blind look at what games really are

[drizzom]

The way in which a painter targets a demographic is different then the way game designers target a demographic though. Artists dont look for whats most popular among a large demographic. When they paint its from their own personal expression of something. They arent trying to aim it at the preferences of a large number of people. Not just a tiny minority of rich enthusiasts. Thats why the paintings always go for massive amounts of money instead of $60.

Yes artists work on character models but they are payed to work from a predetermined design document. The client says to the designer: "I want a character that has X, Y, Z, because thats whats popular among our target demographic and what we could make the highest amount of profit from." The designer doesnt get to just go freestyle and make whatever they want like painters do. They are constrained within the parameters that the client has set. Same goes for any other area like level design, story, music, sound, etc. They are products meant for mass consumption not for a single rich few.

Feel free to look at them as art if you want, your not exactly wrong, but that isn't why people buy them. They are looking for a fun product to play with that has a lot of things they like. And if that product isn't fit for purpose then nobody will buy it. Its the same reason indie devs who create from their own expression arent as profitable as large companies that appeal to a large demographic to pull in more money. If a large company were to start putting out games that nobody likes you end up with things like the Mass Effect Andromeda situation.

[Judochopjames]

The only reason this debate exists is because there are bunch of pretentious tourists in the artworld pretending to be experts in something they know absolutely nothing about.

Art isn't the complicated to understand. Something becomes art when a person engages in an act of creativity with the intention to express something, where what they create is a symbolic representation of ideas and is therefore infused with meaning. It's that simple. For example, paint in and of itself is not art. A canvas in and of itself is not art. Art only exists when you apply the paint to the canvas with an intent to express something.

How anyone can think video games don't qualify as art when it's clearly an application of creativity with an intent to express ideas is beyond me.

[opinionated]

Incoherent paint splatter is considered art. I don't see why games can't be art. I wouldn't consider games, books or movies art personally though, they are entertainment.

[Movefasta1993]

Okami

[addictedtochaos]

Games can be art, but not all games are art. I doubt anyone would consider a Jeopardy! game to be art.

[cell989]

Metal Gear movie?!!! finally!!! hell yeah!!

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Wow, he really doesn't monkey around with his words, does he?
I hope more people ape his opinion in the future.
...
I'll stop now.

[Elda]

It's absolutely f ***ing art!

[JCW2005]

so edgy

[DanBal76]

Of course videogames are a form of art, just like movies and music.

[ifrit_caress]

Yes, let's start saying that to the feminazi's...

[Obelisk92]

Art is communication through emotions. A lot of games can communicate through emotions. I think this can't be denied.

[sander9702]

I dislike this attitude of "only I am right and it's not up for discussion." but yes most games are art like movies are art, some games are just shit though.

[Aenea]

Even shit art is art...

[SR388]

Yes they are, video games are an art form... From pong, super Mario, Metroid, crash bandicoot, final fantasy, halo, gears, HZD to Zelda BOTW... They all art forms

[RabbitFly]

This has always been a mute discussion to me. While the artistic value of blockbuster titles can be discussed, the same can be said of movies, you cannot deny that something is art when every aspect of it's creation is considered art. Writing is considered art, Painting is considered art, Modelling is considered art, etc. etc. Even game design would be considered art by most people that understood the process.

[CrimsonWing69]

Agreed. I really never understood how it isn't since it um... has artists working on them.

[Zabatsu]

Just like artists painting the Mona Lisa, we can draw moving and animated Mona Lisas. Of course games are art, in the highest form.

[RetroStory]

Here's an unpopular opinion! I don't fucking care anymore! This argument is played out and old. Individuals have used this argument to attack gamers and games based upon the idea that if it's an art form it needs to be criticized. I agree, but they hid behind this excuse to trash games and gamers in nefarious ways.

So fuck it. I don't care if it's considered art. Continue to do the things that made me fall in love with this hobby and I'm happy.

[Malice-Flare]

i calmly agree...

[gazgriff2k12]

art is subjective. so fuck you and your opinion Jordan Vogt-Roberts know one cares what ya thinkl

[gazgriff2k12]

http://www.independent.co.u...

[bluefox755]

Considering artists work on them, sure. If you're narrowly defining art as something some painting in a stuffy art gallery, or some ridiculous piece of "performance art", then you're either holding the medium to a standard too high or too low. It doesn't have to "mean" something, it's just an expression of creativity, which can be so broadly defined to include almost anything. That being said, this guy's quote is pretty cringey.

[Orionsangel]

The few that have said Video Games can't be art never played Video Games or have a limited outdated perspective on Video Games. So I don't hold their opinions in high regard. It's basically the old man screaming, Get off my lawn!

[BLAKHOODe]

The problem with "art" is that most people try to define it's worth based on what they're told or led to believe. We're told a Rothko could be worth millions, but it's still just paint on a canvas - and not particularly good, but a child's finger paint is garbage - cute, but garbage. But if some famous person had hung that child's finger painting on their wall once upon a time, it could be worth as much as a Rothko. Ultimately, art - no matter it's form, rather in paintings, song, video games - is what YOU personally make of it. To hell with anyone else's opinion.

[Senboza]

Non gamers think that games is all about blindly shooting people or Super Mario Bros (NES/SNES).

[Bahamut]

God damn right

[Articuno76]

Never understood why this is even a debate.

Have you seen the shit in exhibits that pass for art?

I read a story the other day of a man who left a pineapple at an exhibit... people took pictures of it because they though it was an exhibit item...

I'd love to know how those art buffs can call a forgotten pineapple 'art'... but not videogames.

[Last_Boss]

Rest in Piece Ebert!! Haha