I finally got around to playing Proteus, which again got me wondering about what makes a game art. Proteus is a gorgeous first person game with a unique  8-bit style. It looks sumptuous and it is an immersive, if short, experience. It also features practically no interaction, with the only control being where you go and what you look at. It does have a loose narrative which shown in the environment and is left to the player to draw their own conclusions on what it is trying to say.

I think Proteus is as close to “art” as any game i have ever played. But I have to admit that the reason that I think that is due to the complete lack of interactivity. Every type of art that exist requires you to absorb but not change or interact with it. Be it a painting, a book or even a TV show. They are all there to present you with something to be appreciate and wonder over, without changing it. And, for me, that is what art is, a fixed, singular experience that the user gains something from. And Proteus is exactly that, for the half hour or so it lasts.

So maybe it isn’t a game, maybe for games to be art they need to be less interactive. Hell I love the Bioshock games, but I can’t help but think that they would be far more artistic if they told their story without all the shooting. This is not to say that I don’t like shooters, or that I don’t find them fun. However, for me the true stand out section of Bishock Infinite was the first hour or so, where you are exploring Columbia and seeing the clues to the many underlying social issues. It would have been a more fascinating, if significantly less fun, experience to follow the story as a virtual fly on the wall.

I suspect that the great games that could be called art, like Proteus, and Dear Esther and The Stanley Parable, all benefit from a largely show rather than do experience. This transfers over to even great narrative games like the ones Telltale have recently become famous for. One of my favourite narrative games, Spec Ops The Line is an amazing piece of art in spite of it’s game play, not because of it.

Still there is hope for interactive games that can me art, both Papers, Please and Cart Life say interesting things in stylish unique ways, that prompt thought and introspection, but also have working game mechanics. I think that part of the problem with games that attempt to be art often struggle to be sold. Proteus is currently £6.99 on Steam (I got it as part of one of the many bundles), this may seem like quite a lot of money for a 30 minute experience, especially one that doesn’t bare repeat playing (viewing?). However I am going to recommend it anyway. While I feel some won’t understand it or like it, that is what makes it art.

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