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Noah Neel

Period 8

Mrs. Cramer

30 Nov. 2018

Video Games: Rated Artistic with an Included Bonus of Benefiting Mental Health

Video games are finally becoming recognized as an artform and It took a while for that to

happen. There have been many arguments about video games, such being that they make people

more violent. Now, they shouldn’t be censored, they should be are art, and the benefits they

provide, is all that this essay will be focusing on. Also, Video games have gone through changes

through the years, which make people view them in different ways. The way their made, story,

and themes have changed through time. Video games are a unique form of art that has a form of

story it can provide and benefit someone’s mental health.

First, video games are a form of art only found in it. Art is defined in the dictionary as “the

quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful,

appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” With video games changing art styles and a

message in their stories that the developers want to convey in them. Should prove that video games

are a form of art. In an article that was written by Aaron Smut, his article on video games should

be considered an art for their aesthetic, historical, representational, and expressive theories of art.

Smut is saying that, video games should be looked at on how they express these theories in.

Another article written, was by James Gee Paul and he suggest that video games should be studied

due to its immunity to traditional development tools like film and books. They will cause

researchers to develop new analytical tools. What Gee is saying is that video games will be studied

differently from how films and books are studied, and new tools will be developed around video
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games to be studied. Also, video games are started to be looked at as art because they have critics

that rate the games based on their gameplay and story. To conclude, these reasons will help prove

that video games are a form of art.

Second, the counter argument is that video games aren’t a form of art. Which isn’t true one

reason is the graphics would disprove this argument because the graphics are based off concept art

that’s usually different from other games. Another point is that those people would also say that it

is a form of art because of the way it tells a story in which, contains symbolism and philosophic

elements. In the Legend of Zelda Series, the main antagonist Gannondorf represents the devil,

because he’s a form of evil cursed on the land and the forms he takes in each game and him being

the embodiment of hate. this was stated in the newest game (Breath of the Wild) by Zelda in the

climax of the game during, the boss fight with Gannon,” Gannon was born out of a dark past. He

is a pure embodiment of the ancient evil that is reborn time and time again... ”(Breath of the Wild).

In the official Zelda Guide book, it states that Gannondorf is the reincarnation of the Demon King

in a never-ending cycle (Hyrule Historia). Another example of a philosophic element is in

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, the main character, Sora confronts one of the main

antagonists Xemnas and tells him the plan of Organization XIII is to transform everyone in the

organization into all Xehanorts (the main antagonist of the series). This would show that the

antagonists reject the philosophical term known as individualism, which is a term to state that

every person is unique and self-reliant. After learning this Sora was against this and said that isn’t

it scary to be someone else and trying to fight them due to him being the last person needed for

this goal. To wrap up, video games should be considered art based on their story, symbolism and

philosophic elements.

Next, some video games provide mental benefits to people. (Willis, Laurie) Sports games are a

great motivator to eleven and twelve-year-old boys, because it allows them to play as their favorite
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sports team or players. In turn this can motivate boys that age to play professional sports when

they get older and help them set goals. Games like FIFA and Madden are great sports games that

a lot of kids play because it does allow them to play as their favorite team in realistic game setting

and can have them compete with any team of your choosing. In an article written by Patricia M.

Greenfield, Greenfield states that action games help improves divided attention among players.

This can benefitable towards students because it will help them focus on working on many things

at once. In conclusion, video games are a great benefit for mental health.

Final, counter argument is that video games 1 are bad on someone’s mental health and

makes them violent. This argument has started since video games have become the blame for

recent mass shootings, but instead of looking at the shooter's mental health as a possible reason.

The answer is that there have been many researches that have been done showing that video games

don’t affect someone to make them become violent. One graph that was used in the book (Video

Games by Greenhaven Press) shows a decrease in violent crime and an increase in video game

sales. So, it seems to show that video games could be used are helping decrease crime. Which in a

world like Grand Theft Auto where you could do whatever you want without any real-world

consequences for what you do in the game, would be a great stress reliver. Someone would argue

that violent video games are more realistic with their graphics and voice acting simulating the real

world. The counter example is that the most popular shooting game series Call of Duty isn’t

realistic due to it being in a futuristic setting and showing thing that are physical impossible liking

healing from gunshot wound like it’s nothing. Another counterpoint is Fortnite is because it’s the

most popular game and not realistic because of its style and mechanics. Also, if video game did

make people violent was true then the government would step in and stop or limit the sale violent

video games. Also, Developers and companies wouldn’t want to make game to make people

1 anaphora- video games are repeated throughout the essay.

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violent because it would ruin their reputation and cause the company to lose money 2. Another

thing that would happen is news organizations and other outlets would warn parents from buying

this game or cause protests to have the game removed from a store3. To wrap, the reasons in this

paragraph show why video games don’t make people violent

To sum up, video games have changed from entertainment, to a form of art and it has a

benefit it has on someone’s mental health. Video games are a form of art on how they express the

theories of art and how they show be studied different from the different mediums like moive and

books. Also, they benefit people, by being a good motivator and improve on certain tasks. With

what was discussed in this essay, and the points used will prove that video games should be

considered as an art.

2 Ethos- Shows that the developers and companies are careful on what they produce and want to maintain a good
image.
3 Logos- this is showing that video games could be removed based on these claims
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Flannery, Brian. "Video Game Education." Computer Science and Information

Systems, citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/

download?doi=10.1.1.466.4079&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.

Greenfield, Patricia M., et al. "Action video games and informal education:

Effects on strategies for dividing visual attention." Science Direct, 12

Aug. 2002, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0193397394900086.

Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.

Himekawa, Akira and Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia. Google Books. 21 Dec.

2011

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. Nintendo 3ds, Square Enix, 2012

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Switch, Nintendo, 2017

Smuts, Aaron. "Are Video Games Art?" Contemporary Aesthetics, 20 Sept. 2016,

digitalcommons.risd.edu/liberalarts_contempaesthetics/vol3/iss1/6/.

Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.

Video Games. Greenhaven Press, 2010

Vocabulary. www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/individualism. Accessed 7 Dec. 2018