Conclusion ..........................
Conclusion ...............................
As I stated in the introduction, this book is not a definitive guide to computer game
design. No book can be. But it has attempted to inform the reader of what I know about
game design, in addition to sharing the thoughts of seven of game design’s most accom-
plished masters. Of course, none of the information in this book will amount to much if
the reader is not prepared to use it to the right ends. As with any art form, computer
games demand that their authors have a personal investment in their creations if the
games are to be truly worthwhile. I feel that computer games have a great power to
affect their audience, and a game designer has a tremendous responsibility to use that
power wisely.
Art......................................
The game development industry seems to be constantly involving itself with discus-
sions of whether computer games qualify as an art form. Some other discussions center
around whether computer games will ever be “legitimate” art. Such arguments are
completely fruitless. We cannot make the public see us as legitimate merely by tooting
our own horn and bragging of our accomplishments. Some people still fail to see film or
jazz music or comic books as “legitimate” art and those forms have a body of work
which, due in part to their age, dwarfs what computer games have produced. The ques-
tion must be asked, “Would you do anything differently if computer games were or were
not art?” Surely the best way to convince the public that we are legitimate is to act like
it by producing works as compelling as those found in any other media.
Of course computer games are art. Could anything be more obvious? This is espe-
cially true if one uses the definition of art that I am most fond of, from Scott McCloud’s
magnificent bookUnderstanding Comics: “Art, as I see it, is any human activity which
doesn’t grow out of either of our species’ two basic instincts: survival and reproduc-
tion.” It would appear that many game developers who constantly scream “games are
art” have a certain insecurity complex and feel the need to justify working in games to
their family or friends, to the public as a whole, or even to themselves. Such insecuri-
ties seldom lead to an artist working at her full capacity, since she is constantly going
out of her way to prove herself. This seldom leads to great work; more often it leads to
pretentious trash. When asked if he agreed with critics who said his films qualified as
art, Alfred Hitchcock replied, “Oh, I’m very glad when they do, but it’s not like taking
page one of a script and then saying, ‘I will now start a work of art.’ It’s ridiculous — you
can’t do it.” Quality games are most likely produced when those developing them have
no motives other than creating the most compelling experience for players.
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