About Passage

Passage is perhaps the easiest place to start in terms of an analysis of video games as an artistic medium. While relatively unknown by most, this independent title is perhaps one of the most inspiring in terms of conveying expression and emotion in games. This five minute experience is an analysis of life and the futility of the insignificance of the human experience. Passage places the player in control of a character traversing a maze of hedges, shrubs, and other distinct backgrounds, all while the character is slowly aging and changing sprites to indicate the passing of time. While vivid in color and adopting a classic 8-bit art style that evokes the feeling of nostalgia, the game places the player within a maze filled with twisting turns and treasure chests filled with glowing gems of wealth. What is striking about the presentation is in an intentionally unusual aspect ratio of pixels (600x96) displayed on the screen. The aspect ratio makes visibility in the game a fairly difficult in only showing the player a limited scope or view of the world around them. The view of the screen only ever changes when the player finds a female companion within the maze that will accompany the player for the remaining time within the maze. Regardless of the decisions made by the player or the items acquired, the game ends after the course of five minutes and the character sprite will transform into gravestone signifying the end of the game.

Upon playing this game, it is clear that Jason Rohrson is attempting to convey more here then a simple puzzle or maze game. Designed to be a disturbed throw back to the simpler style of mid 1980's gaming, Rohrson presents a view of moving time which is less than optimistic in looking towards the future. In my own personal interpretation, Rohrson views the search for wealth (represented by the maze and treasure chest elements of the game) in life is useless relative to the short existence of mankind on the Earth. While there is enjoyment in searching through the maze and moving forward, in the end there is no score counter or remaining evidence of your personal adventure for the wealth hidden away within the maze. In the end, your achievements within the game have no merit and lasting impact upon the world around you.

This bleak view of time and the futility of human achievement is very reminiscent of the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. In this poem, Shelley provides a vivid image of a decaying statue lying in ruin amongst the sands of a vast desert. The haunting words mounted on the bottom of the statue carved to say "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" are a testament to the fading away of an empire of whose ruler thought his glory and achievements would remain through time for eternity. Just like in Passage, time is a destructive force in Ozymandias that ultimately dwarfs everything we will ever achieve as humans. The imagery of the broken statue lying half sunk in the sand serves a similar purpose to irony of the gravestone in the end of passage. Both serve to signify the end of human influence of the world as the life decays leaving nothing but ruins.

Any way you interpret Passage, Jason Rohrson's work is perhaps one of the most clear examples art in games. Utilizing imagery filled presentation and metaphorical gameplay objectives, Passage does a fantastic job of making a statement about the expressive ability of games. I encourage everyone to check it out in the links below and form your own opinion. Feel free to leave a comment with what you think the game means and if it is making strong statement or if it is too long winded.

Passage Information and Download Site

Jason Rohrson's Personal Site

A Letter on the Rationale on Games as Art Expression

To whom it may interest,


Over the past century, entertainment media in form of movies and music have begun to be widely accepted as an art medium and are analyzed not only for their entertainment value but as an expression of self and human emotion. Thus, I have reached the conclusion that the definition of art is not necessarily as traditional as those with a limited scope tend to view it. Art is no longer just describing the act of putting a paintbrush to paper creating a portrait or landscape. Instead, art is well defined by Princeton WordNet as "the products of human creativity". By this definition art is defined as an ultimate catharsis, a means in which we can purge our emotions from our minds into physical form to create a representation of what it means to be human. While not all art is aesthetically beautiful, art is a beautiful analysis and time capsule of the emotions we feel as part of our society.


Most people (particularly in older generations) fail to understand the actual work and methodology that goes into the creation of video games. Perhaps it is because of their increasingly more misleading title as a "game" which is normally thought to be a simple pleasure or childish concept. I believe strongly that video games were not created for the sole purpose of generating revenue but instead serve as an artistic medium in which human emotion and feeling is expressed. These experiences are not just pixels on a screen designed to amuse a small child in the same way that a toy might be played with and cast off with no real value to the play that was had. Instead video games are crafted in such a way that is meant to be more along the lines of art and expression in that they are a means in which we can convey ideas and craft stories while involving the audience directly along the way. Differing from movies in this regard, games can break the barrier of understanding by directly involving the player in the events taking place on the screen and allowing them to create an experience with the medium in a way that may feel very personal. I will not deny that video games do and are intended in some regard to please an audience but this is not the a trait exclusive to games. Most art seeks to fulfill the conveyance of emotion to an audience of some kind such that the audience returns from the artistic experience as having felt a release (again, going back to the idea of a catharsis).


To all whom stand to challenge my affirmation that video games should be considered art; I invite you to view my blog over the coming weeks as I take an analytical approach to finding the artistic expression in games just as an individual might search a poem or work of literature for a deeper insight into the artistry in the text. Now before you go off scoffing at the idea by arguing "Well then! How would you consider the hyper-violence of games like Call of Duty and Dead Space as art? They are just mindless entertainment designed for pubescent boys who want their testosterone fix!", realize that I am not necessarily making the argument that all games necessarily stand at the same level of artistic value. Claiming that "Modern Warfare is not art so therefore no games are art" is basically the same claim as stating "Battle: L.A. is not art so therefore no movies are art". Although the logic in that assumption is that those reading this believe movies have artistic value, but I digress.


Overall, I hope at least this post encourages those reading to keep an open mind towards video games as an art medium. Most of the games I have selected for analysis in the upcoming creative blogs are freeware and indie games such that all those willing to attempt an adaptation of my view point might be able to search for the value in games themselves. In my consideration of the criteria of the assignment and that the topics covered this year in Dr. Forman are interesting positions for analyzing literature (Freud in Heart of Darkness and Hamlet, Kafka and Darwin/The Bible), these blogs will contain comparisons to poetry and literary themes that have served to present literature a timeless artistic medium for centuries before film. It should be fun and I look forward proving my position to those willing to view my blog.


Sincerely,
Tim DeVos