Are Games Art? - Gatekeeping in the Video Game Industry
Are Video Games Art?
Let’s begin with an inquiry as old as video games themselves: are video games considered art? Arguments exist on both sides of this inquiry, but the reason we’re exploring this question is because there may be unnoticed implications from this trend. Anyone can tell you that parents and peers across the country will give you completely different looks, depending on whether you tell them you’re going into CS or art, but does that apply to games too?
Well, who makes the Games?
A Google search for “who makes games” reveals that, by-and-large, game developers are who get credited for making video games. I think this is appropriate from how games originated, because it was initially people that wrote code that brought video games into existence. Just like camera, video, and sound recording, we would not have these mediums of artistic expression without technological innovators.
However, to say that the videographer or sound designer solely dictates the story would be utterly foolish. Using this analogy, we can then postulate questions and discussion about why games are not thought of in the same way and get treated as a computer program rather than as a vehicle for storytelling.
Gatekeeping in the Game Industry
A demographic examination of the computer and game industries reveals disparities in who actually gets to produce games as a developer. The demographics of game developers, according to Scientific American, are only 20% female and 80% male. [1] This can be confirmed through statistics from Zippia, and it also comes to no surprise that the majority of computer scientists are, by far, white. [2] This is not by chance, companies initially gave hiring preference in the 1960’s and 70’s to antisocial, white males, who were arbitrarily deemed to have the highest aptitude for computer programming. [3]
Present Day Solutions
In present day we inherit the historic implications of gatekeeping in the computer industry 50-years-ago, with such a low percentage of females becoming computer scientists. I’m not suggesting that everyone is meant to, or even wants to code, but that doesn’t mean that non-programmers should be deprived of the opportunity for creative direction.
On the contrary, we are limiting and silencing voices by demanding that everyone who wants to make a living making games be a programmer. At this point, however, we should reconsider whether technical prowess alone grants the privilege of creative direction to developers, if based on that premise alone.
The Stories That are Getting Told
Let’s consider where that leaves us if creative direction is led by developers. Since the majority of game developers are white males, surely there are views and perspectives being missed, or even worse, misrepresented, in the narrative of video games. This is not because males are naturally more prone to violent behavior, which is a notion that has been largely debunked. [4] Rather, it is more likely to be attributed to the social status and class that the majority of game developers belong to. White males in the US are largely insulated from the types of social conflict that other classes and social groups may face, including racism, sexism, poverty.
The Impact on Cultural Narrative
It’s not necessarily that developers are purposefully creating games to push their narrative of the world, but the result is more than just benign and therefore worthy of discussion. Consider also how marginalized people, in literary terms the “other”, are depicted in video games. They are usually the enemy!
Subconsciously we as humans are prone to adapting these stereotypes into our daily lives as truth, especially when previously ill-informed about the topic. This is a common propaganda tactic that’s been historically used in the media to control the narrative of heated political and social topics. Just saying, if at least tread carefully, you really don’t want to look like a prejudiced asshole in a case study somewhere 20-30 years down the line.
The Potential of Games as an Art Form is Limitless
Developers must realize that not all that goes into the game is code, because it is story, and story is narrative. The developer must understand their preconceptions of the world, keeping in mind their prejudices, so as to make stories that advance us as a human race.
The future of our craft lies in the ability to show humanity and unique human touch in games. Reasons for this include advancing generative AI and saturation of the games market with half-assed titles. It will set yourself aside to consider what a game actually is, or rather has the potential to be, which is an artistic masterpiece.
Final Note
Imagine if we didn’t all have to go into CS to make games AND a living wage. The key to moving video games forward is by considering it as an artistic medium for story, rather than simply treating them as mere computer programs. One way to diversify stories being told is to begin considering video games art.
The purpose of rethinking games as art rather than code is not to disempower developers, but to integrate art more strongly into game production. Keeping games relevant depends on diversifying the stories that are told, and the way to sincerely do this is by keeping the creative direction in the realm of art instead of code.
Works Cited
1. Cheryan, A. Master and A. Meltzoff, "There Are Too Few Women in Computer Science and Engineering," 27 July 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/there-are-too-few-women-in-computer-science-and-engineering/
2. Zippia, "Computer Scientist Demographics and Statistics in the US," 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.zippia.com/computer-scientist-jobs/demographics/.
3. J. Romeo, "How Computer Science Became a Boys’ Club," 29 August 2021. [Online]. Available: https://daily.jstor.org/how-computer-science-became-a-boys-club/.
4. Staniloiu and H. Markowitsch, "Gender differences in violence and aggression – a neurobiological perspective," 2012. [Online]. Available: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281200287X.