The Art of Video Games: Aesthetic Engagement and Medium-Specific Artistic Experiences in Video Games

Master's Thesis | 2022 | Validated with Honors (Mention TB) | Concept art from Journey's Artbook

ABSTRACT

This master's thesis aims at exploring how traditional aesthetics and medium-specific characteristics come into contact to create artistic experiences in video games. To tackle this subject, I will analyze the following video games, Gris (2018), Journey (2012), and The Beginner’s Guide (2015). I chose these games because all three display both traditional means of artistic expression as well as creative approaches based on interactivity. The first chapter will examine video games from a traditional perspective by analyzing the medium through the lens of aesthetic contemplation. By nuancing the traditional understandings of both aesthetics and contemplation, the thesis will examine how video games can provide new ways of experiencing sensory stimulations which differe from those of our everyday lives. The second chapter will be dedicated to the studying of the three voices present during the videogaming experience: the one of the designer, the one of the player and the one of the game. By exploring how those voices can be amplified and creatively experimented with, I will examine unique or unconventional forms of interactivity such as social play, hypermediacy and flow. Thus, this thesis’ purpose is to constitute a set of tools that helps understanding what the art of video game consists of not only in traditional terms but through medium-specific configurations.

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KEYWORDS

Aesthetic, art theory, interactivity, medium specificity, videogame studies

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