Video games as art and collecting related craft

[guinness]

Disclaimer: I consider games as much art, as movies, shows, or books, and part of that, I've also started added some related works to some of my favorite series. I mostly have figurines, but I have an art book of Nier Automata.

Sometimes I look at retro gaming sites, and I get jealous, as at least some of the NES game boxes, I used to have, and those games even had maps...which over the years, was lost in some way or another. Since as an adult, I've also gotten into collecting old game systems too.

Since collectors editions are also becoming more prevalent, I can't be the only one. I have the BoTW collectors edition, but I made a hard pass on the power armor edition of Fallout 76 today (the game is that bad). Most recent addition, has been a figurine of Panther (from Persona 5).

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[member 157595]

I have two copies of the StarTropics "get the letter wet to get the submarine dive code" thing.

They sure don't make 'em like that anymore.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Disclaimer: I consider games as much art, as movies, shows, or books, and part of that, I've also started added some related works to some of my favorite series. I mostly have figurines, but I have an art book of Nier Automata.

Sometimes I look at retro gaming sites, and I get jealous, as at least some of the NES game boxes, I used to have, and those games even had maps...which over the years, was lost in some way or another. Since as an adult, I've also gotten into collecting old game systems too.

Since collectors editions are also becoming more prevalent, I can't be the only one. I have the BoTW collectors edition, but I made a hard pass on the power armor edition of Fallout 76 today (the game is that bad). Most recent addition, has been a figurine of Panther (from Persona 5).

I agree with you, friend. I actually think that video games are MORE of an art than some movies/music/books.

A good video game takes each aspect of the major forms of literary art (cinematics, music, story, etc.) and wraps it all up into one nice neat package. It's kind of like watching a movie, listening to a symphony, and reading a good book all in one.

Inserts and artwork that come with video games have kind of fallen by the way side, as you said. It's one thing that I really appreciate Rockstar for, because they continue to always put little booklets and maps in all their games. I used to really enjoy thumbing through the manuals and artwork from old games.

My parents have a good number of Collector's Edition games (World of Warcraft, Star Wars, Guild Wars, etc.) which they've gifted to me, but for myself the only collectors edition that I've purchased so far is the Grand Theft Auto 5 CE. I feel like a goof because I didn't really take care of the box very well, so it's nicked up around the corners and things (all of the items inside are mint condition though.

I'm the same as you in terms of retro gaming gear. My supervisor at my job just gave me an old Super Nintendo as well as a Sega Genesis that he found in his garage (both still working) and the artwork even on the boxes of the console is just awesome. Everytime I'm in the area I stop at the local video game exchange and pick up at least one or two retro games or poster or something.

 

[member 157595]

I agree with you, friend. I actually think that video games are MORE of an art than some movies/music/books.

A good video game takes each aspect of the major forms of literary art (cinematics, music, story, etc.) and wraps it all up into one nice neat package. It's kind of like watching a movie, listening to a symphony, and reading a good book all in one.

Inserts and artwork that come with video games have kind of fallen by the way side, as you said. It's one thing that I really appreciate Rockstar for, because they continue to always put little booklets and maps in all their games. I used to really enjoy thumbing through the manuals and artwork from old games.

My parents have a good number of Collector's Edition games (World of Warcraft, Star Wars, Guild Wars, etc.) which they've gifted to me, but for myself the only collectors edition that I've purchased so far is the Grand Theft Auto 5 CE. I feel like a goof because I didn't really take care of the box very well, so it's nicked up around the corners and things (all of the items inside are mint condition though.

I'm the same as you in terms of retro gaming gear. My supervisor at my job just gave me an old Super Nintendo as well as a Sega Genesis that he found in his garage (both still working) and the artwork even on the boxes of the console is just awesome. Everytime I'm in the area I stop at the local video game exchange and pick up at least one or two retro games or poster or something.

DO WANT

 

[Shareefruck]

I agree with you, friend. I actually think that video games are MORE of an art than some movies/music/books.

A good video game takes each aspect of the major forms of literary art (cinematics, music, story, etc.) and wraps it all up into one nice neat package. It's kind of like watching a movie, listening to a symphony, and reading a good book all in one.

Other than the interactive aspect of videogames, I don't see why movies themselves wouldn't equally be like "watching a movie, listening to a symphony, and reading a good book all in one", though. The dialogue/music in videogames isn't any more involved than the dialogue/music in movies is, nor does it have any advantage over it that I can see (or if duration is the reason, over a television series). They're both kind of a marriage of all the base artforms.

I agree that videogames are art, that some are strong art, that some videogames are stronger art than some movies, and that its peaks CAN eventually be art that's every bit as strong as the peaks of movies, but I don't think we're anywhere close to that yet, personally. Also, I'm a bit skeptical that the interactive element contributes to that in a positive way rather than a negative way. In most instances, taking control away from the artist and giving it to the viewer generally makes things feel less artful, not more. That's generally why I don't like the whole open-world thing-- I prefer when videogames are a more personally curated specific experience because that usually allows for stronger artistic value.

 

[John Price]

As an avid sports collector as well as figurine collector I've started to see the beauty in keeping figures around. I have a Yoshi posable figure as well as Yoshi driving his cart and I think that's the only video game figures I have.

I know @Chippah has a lot of Futurama ones as well as Fallout so that is cool.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Other than the interactive aspect of videogames, I don't see why movies themselves wouldn't equally be like "watching a movie, listening to a symphony, and reading a good book all in one", though. The dialogue/music in videogames isn't any more involved than the dialogue/music in movies is, nor does it have any advantage over it that I can see (or if duration is the reason, over a television series). They're both kind of a marriage of all the base artforms.

I agree that videogames are art, that some are strong art, that some videogames are stronger art than some movies, and that its peaks CAN eventually be art that's every bit as strong as the peaks of movies, but I don't think we're anywhere close to that yet, personally. Also, I'm a bit skeptical that the interactive element contributes to that in a positive way rather than a negative way. In most instances, taking control away from the artist and giving it to the viewer generally makes things feel less artful, not more. That's generally why I don't like the whole open-world thing-- I prefer when videogames are a more personally curated specific experience because that usually allows for stronger artistic value.

The operative word in my first sentence was "some". I would agree video games don't often reach the peaks of good movies or TV shows, but I think you can find quite a lot of instances where games are quite the artistic endeavor comparatively. (Comparing a game like Journey/Skyrim to a sitcom tv show or a rom-com movie, I don't think there's much argument of which one is more artistic).

Well, sure movies can be that way as well, but a movie can't be explored. Video games have an aspect of things that aren't immediately shown to you, things you have to discover. With a movie you only see what the camera shoots. A movie is a 1-3 hour experience where you're basically on a train-track story arc. The interactive experience is what sets it apart for me.

Not in that it makes it "more artistic", but it personalizes the experience. I know you said that you don't particularly enjoy that, (I would agree that it doesn't add artistic value) but it makes it a more enjoyable experience knowing that I'm in the driver seat to some degree, and that's what sets it apart for me. I get to experience what parts I want to experience. That's just my personal preference, which clearly differs from yours.

As to your point about dialogue, obviously video games are not always going to reach the same peaks, and that we're not necessarily at the point where the average video game is something I'd consider a strong piece of art.

I think a great example of my point of how video games can draw from multiple different artistic mediums would be something like Max Payne. The game utilizes Comic-esque dialogue, action movie mechanics (bullet time, gun-play), and has a pretty great score as well. You're obviously not going to see these types of things in your every video game (or even most video games), but when they hit the mark, they really hit the mark.

 

[Shareefruck]

The operative word in my first sentence was "some". I would agree video games don't often reach the peaks of good movies or TV shows, but I think you can find quite a lot of instances where games are quite the artistic endeavor comparatively. (Comparing a game like Journey/Skyrim to a sitcom tv show or a rom-com movie, I don't think there's much argument of which one is more artistic).

Well, sure movies can be that way as well, but a movie can't be explored. Video games have an aspect of things that aren't immediately shown to you, things you have to discover. With a movie you only see what the camera shoots. A movie is a 1-3 hour experience where you're basically on a train-track story arc. The interactive experience is what sets it apart for me.

Not in that it makes it "more artistic", but it personalizes the experience. I know you said that you don't particularly enjoy that, (I would agree that it doesn't add artistic value) but it makes it a more enjoyable experience knowing that I'm in the driver seat to some degree, and that's what sets it apart for me. I get to experience what parts I want to experience. That's just my personal preference, which clearly differs from yours.

As to your point about dialogue, obviously video games are not always going to reach the same peaks, and that we're not necessarily at the point where the average video game is something I'd consider a strong piece of art.

I think a great example of my point of how video games can draw from multiple different artistic mediums would be something like Max Payne. The game utilizes Comic-esque dialogue, action movie mechanics (bullet time, gun-play), and has a pretty great score as well. You're obviously not going to see these types of things in your every video game (or even most video games), but when they hit the mark, they really hit the mark.

Oh yeah, I definitely wouldn't hold it against anyone who feels that the interactive element of videogames add enjoyment that might transcend the other mediums for them (though personally I don't really feel that way. If anything, it would be mechanics that do that for me-- the best examples of videogames for me are kind of like adding charm and artistic value on top of the depth and beauty of something like chess), and I agree that some videogames are more artistic than the bad art from other artforms, I just found your choice of explanation a bit odd.

Neither watching a movie, listening to a symphony, or reading a good book has anything to do with the added effect of exploration (they're all train-track experiences) or are a combination unique to videogames, and movies (and arguably television) have traditionally emulated/married those three things more successfully than video games have so far (the only one that might be close is the symphony part, but they certainly haven't been anything close to as strong in terms of cinematic art direction or writing/prose).

I don't think there's necessarily anything inherently within the medium that holds it back from eventually matching the artistic value of those other mediums, but man, I'm more of the mindset that it only shows promise of that once in a blue moon, I kind of wish it could get there faster/more consistently, and I'm more anticipating/enjoying the baby-steps its taking towards that than anything else.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

It would be kinda cool to own FF character figurines....

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Disclaimer: I consider games as much art, as movies, shows, or books, and part of that, I've also started added some related works to some of my favorite series. I mostly have figurines, but I have an art book of Nier Automata.

Sometimes I look at retro gaming sites, and I get jealous, as at least some of the NES game boxes, I used to have, and those games even had maps...which over the years, was lost in some way or another. Since as an adult, I've also gotten into collecting old game systems too.

Since collectors editions are also becoming more prevalent, I can't be the only one. I have the BoTW collectors edition, but I made a hard pass on the power armor edition of Fallout 76 today (the game is that bad). Most recent addition, has been a figurine of Panther (from Persona 5).

NES boxes, we used to keep them all when we were kids, then when NES became obsolete in our household,
my older brother sold the games and destroyed the NES...for some reason.

 

[member 157595]

NES boxes, we used to keep them all when we were kids, then when NES became obsolete in our household,
my older brother sold the games and destroyed the NES...for some reason.

NES cartridges are often very collectible today, and COB NES games can bring a mint. Kids beat the NES to a pulp back in the day and rarely kept the game boxes. The North American grey box NES was also unreliable as hell due to the presence of the 10NES lockout chip, so the systems broke often (the Japanese Famicom was way more reliable) but since they sold so many of them, the systems themselves are not particularly collectible unless they're in mint condition or you have a top-loading NES model 2 like I do.

I wish I was heavier into the collectibles game 10-15 years ago. Collecting for the NES isn't like collecting for the Neo Geo AES or anything but it's still not affordable anymore. I grew up on the NES and SNES, and have no strong emotional attachment to any other consoles.

 

[John Price]

Ended up going to Build a Bear at the mall yesterday to make one of these.

Despite being a fully grown adult male I see no problem with buying Yoshi. I already have the green one so the green and blue one sit on my bed while I sleep. It's cool to have Nintendo memorabilia like this. I was watching some security video once and this guy had a shelf in the background with Star wars and Nintendo stuff on it. It was kind of cool.

 

[John Price]