Preface
During this semester, Spring 2018, I have attended a Composition course at my university. For this course, I have developed a semester-long project about video games and whether they as a medium qualify as an art form. The project is ongoing and has had many facets, the first of which being in the form of a fairly conventional academic essay. A subsequent phase of the project allowed for a less conventional form, so I wrote an interactive short story, akin to a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Since I have discussed art and its definitions before on this blog, it seemed appropriate that I make a version of the interactive narrative available on this site.
The question of whether video games are art, like most difficult questions about art, defies easy resolution. The question boils down to a dispute over definitions. Indeed, any question of the form “Is X an example of Y?” requires that those who wish to answer it define both X and Y. Those disputing whether something is art inevitably run into a problem: art is notoriously difficult to define. Artists and philosophers of art have relied on many different definitions of art throughout history, and many of these definitions persist in the popular consciousness.
The following interactive narrative encourages readers (or perhaps players) to examine their own conceptions about art and video games. I had a lot of fun creating it, and I hope you enjoy it too.
To play, simply read the text on each page until you reach a decision point. Then click on your preferred option to further the plot.
P.S.: If you have any suggestions about how to improve this experience, feel free to leave a comment below.
