A playable exhibition that pulls back the curtain on the making of these fantastic digital worlds we live in
In the past couple of decades of covering videogames one of the most baffling arguements that continues to resurface is whether or not games are art. I’ve never understood why so many want to insist that these miraculous creations that balance along the cutting edge of technology and entertainment could be anything but. Still, stereotypes and scepticism regulated the opinion on gaming to many as simply a time wasting activity, rather than anything akin to experiencing an artform.
This week while exploring the ACMII Game World’s exhibition I was able to immerse myself in the incredible world of gaming framed in the context of what wonderful works of art these experiences are.
It’s hard to argue against games as art, at the best of times, because you’d be wrong. It’s even more difficult to do so when they’re plastering a museum’s walls in curated displays. Game World’s shows off multiple beloved videogames throughout its exhibition, teaching us about the origins of these titles, the impacts they had on players, and even lets you play a bunch of them yourself.
There are heaps of life-shaping games on display, with walls dedicated to millennial favourites like Neopets, Sim City, and World of Warcraft. Many of these exhibits talk about the collaborative effects of games as a community, as well as the creation of these titles. Many of these setups were made extra special by giving you the opportunity to experience these artworks, in some cases, as close to originally intended as possible.
One of these displays was the Team Fortress LAN setup on classic yellowing grey plastic PCs with old chunky monitors, and played with mice that still have their balls. There are four of these old desktops all running a playable session together of one of the original team shooters in its pixelated glory. I watched a group of high schoolers immediately jump into a game, calling tactics back and forth and laughing within seconds of sitting down on this setup transported through time from before any of them were even born. Is it art yet, mates?
If you want to keep doubting, maybe try to do it on one of the beanbags under the game sky where projections of beautiful skyboxes dance above you. Here you can lay back and watch as Skyrim’s auroras pass over you while you contemplate what exactly it is you’re looking at all these years.
And of course, then there’s making the games. One of the biggest games of this year is the Adelaide made Hollow Knight: Silksong whose launch went so hard it broke Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo stores. Naturally the exhibit features a wonderful section dedicated to Team Cherry and their latest blockbuster title, going in hard of the art behind these games. If you want to doubt games are art, it gets a bit harder after you’ve scrolled through pages of concept sketches, then moved around a 3D diorama of a level.
While playing with one of these interactive exhibits, I heard a teen say “This game is actually pretty sick, hey!” To an unconvinced sounding friend who seemed sceptical it could be true, simply because it featured so prominently in the museum exhibit. “I’m not into artsy games” came the reply, as he sat down to try his hands at Hornet and almost immediately died multiple times in the playable demo. A masterpiece to behold.
