My Gaming: Art or Just Pretentious Drivel?
Somewhere along the line, gaming became something that was more than just fun.
Don't get me wrong. Gaming is fun! Otherwise, I wouldn't do it -- and spend so much time doing it.
But on the road somewhere between B1 - The Keep on the Borderland for Basic D&D and Sorcerer, my gaming hobby became something more than a fun way to pass time with friends. It became art.
I can hear the cynics already. I've heard the argument before. "You just need a way to justify all that time you spend playing kids' games, so you make it out to be some kind of high art. You aren't fooling anyone, you know." I think that's like comparing what a professional painter does with the smears of a 5-year-old finger painter. It's patronizing and far off the mark.
The cynics continue: "So, it's about money? Are you making money when you game?" No, I don't get paid to play games, though I could vainly argue that I get paid to edit games and some people get paid to write games. That isn't the point, though. I see editing and writing games as a kind of art, too. I like getting paid for those activities, but I'd do them anyway, to some extent. Art isn't about getting paid.
Being an artist is about having this undeniable internal drive to create. As an artist of gaming, that means that I put a lot of time, energy, creativity, and love into what I do, be it inventing a new world for a game, creating a character, writing a set of game rules, or (through play) developing a shared fiction with some friends. Not everything I do is grand art, no, and sometimes it's enough to just have fun. Some of the time, though, I'm struggling to express something through my gaming. This is most evident when I create a world. I mean, what can be more artistic than the invention of an entire universe? Every choice I make offers some insight into myself as a human being.
I'm looking for people to make art with. Somewhere down the road of my gaming life, I started creating art. I don't want to do it alone. I can sit at home and craft worlds with no help from others but they truly come alive when a talented and dedicated group of players create characters and jump into that world. When I get to be a player in a game, I want to collaborate with my friends to tell a story that means something. Each of us gets a piece of the canvas to paint on and I want it to all meld together and fill us all with awe at the end. When I design a game, I am trying to share my artistic process with others so they can make art, too. The more reproducible I can make that process, the happier I am.
I don't have to produce a masterpiece every time I roll the dice. Sometimes it's fun just to throw magic missiles at kobolds and earn more XP towards level whatever. That gets old, though. It's like playing Monopoly over and over. I doubt anyone produces art while playing Monopoly. If they did, it would be fun to play again and again. Most people get bored about half way through a game. To make role-playing an experience that challenges and rewards me sufficiently after thirty years of doing it, I want to make art.
Who wants to paint with me?
Don't get me wrong. Gaming is fun! Otherwise, I wouldn't do it -- and spend so much time doing it.
But on the road somewhere between B1 - The Keep on the Borderland for Basic D&D and Sorcerer, my gaming hobby became something more than a fun way to pass time with friends. It became art.
I can hear the cynics already. I've heard the argument before. "You just need a way to justify all that time you spend playing kids' games, so you make it out to be some kind of high art. You aren't fooling anyone, you know." I think that's like comparing what a professional painter does with the smears of a 5-year-old finger painter. It's patronizing and far off the mark.
The cynics continue: "So, it's about money? Are you making money when you game?" No, I don't get paid to play games, though I could vainly argue that I get paid to edit games and some people get paid to write games. That isn't the point, though. I see editing and writing games as a kind of art, too. I like getting paid for those activities, but I'd do them anyway, to some extent. Art isn't about getting paid.
Being an artist is about having this undeniable internal drive to create. As an artist of gaming, that means that I put a lot of time, energy, creativity, and love into what I do, be it inventing a new world for a game, creating a character, writing a set of game rules, or (through play) developing a shared fiction with some friends. Not everything I do is grand art, no, and sometimes it's enough to just have fun. Some of the time, though, I'm struggling to express something through my gaming. This is most evident when I create a world. I mean, what can be more artistic than the invention of an entire universe? Every choice I make offers some insight into myself as a human being.
I'm looking for people to make art with. Somewhere down the road of my gaming life, I started creating art. I don't want to do it alone. I can sit at home and craft worlds with no help from others but they truly come alive when a talented and dedicated group of players create characters and jump into that world. When I get to be a player in a game, I want to collaborate with my friends to tell a story that means something. Each of us gets a piece of the canvas to paint on and I want it to all meld together and fill us all with awe at the end. When I design a game, I am trying to share my artistic process with others so they can make art, too. The more reproducible I can make that process, the happier I am.
I don't have to produce a masterpiece every time I roll the dice. Sometimes it's fun just to throw magic missiles at kobolds and earn more XP towards level whatever. That gets old, though. It's like playing Monopoly over and over. I doubt anyone produces art while playing Monopoly. If they did, it would be fun to play again and again. Most people get bored about half way through a game. To make role-playing an experience that challenges and rewards me sufficiently after thirty years of doing it, I want to make art.
Who wants to paint with me?