What does it mean to be an artist in the context of games?
excerpt from Making games art: the designer’s manifesto by David Fox, John Sharp
“To determine how a game designer is an artist, we must first identify where the art lies in games. The place where most folks look, the visuals and sounds of a game, are of course not what is unique and most interesting about games. The art of games is found in the participatory play experience.
In this regard, games are perhaps akin to ballet or music written for orchestras. But there is an important distinction to be drawn here. Games differ from music or dance in that the game designer does notorchestrate. The game designer enables a play experience.
Games produce meaning, but in a very unique way, a way that no other medium can. Game design is a second-order discipline, which differs from most every other expressive medium. Where the audience for film, painting, ballet and music consume the art passively, the audience of games is required to actively engage, to become an integral part in determining the substance and quality of their play experience.
Using a phrase borrowed from Greg Costikyan, games are systems for the creation of endogenous meaning. Players create meaning through their actions within the play space created by the game designer. Within the space of possibility the game designer created, players can have a unique play experience enabled by the game designer.
This is the art of game design. It is a unique quality amongst the fine arts.”
excerpt from Making games art: the designer’s manifesto by David Fox, John Sharp