The elements, in no particular order, are as follows:
- Historical: the chronological context of the piece.
- Technical: the composition and technical decisions of the piece. Includes color choice, framing, interface, silhouette, perspective, word choice, etc.
- Rhetorical: the theme, idea, or emotion the piece intends to invoke.
- Social: the social change, impact, or issue the piece creates or addresses.
The reason I feel that analyzing video game art as a whole involves each of these elements is as follows: I can't discuss one element without inevitably having to consider another element.
Allow me to demonstrate as if I were to provoke a discussion of Ms. Pacman. The first element that would come to my mind is the historical element. Ms. Pacman exploded in popularity as an upgrade of Pacman. It began as an arcade game in the 1980s, and as such, carried certain technological limitations.
These technological limitations imposed a certain set of technical limitations. Despite having a limited color palette and a fixed screen brightness on older arcade cabinets, the designers of Ms. Pacman chose to carry on the technical decisions of the original Pacman in using very bright, very high-contrast colors. This would make the game immediately identifiable and would provide an easy way for the player to distinguish in-game objects from the black-screen background. In addition to these preserved decisions, Ms. Pacman introduced a substantial change to the series' protagonist: gender. Ms. Pacman was one of the first hallmark female characters in gaming.
Complex themes could not be explored too deeply in such a limited format, wherein the player was expected to receive instant gratification for their quarter, but the Ms. Pacman development team incorporated something new to the series despite the technological limitations: a story. Between fixed numbers of levels, Ms. Pacman will meet Pacman, develop a relationship with him, and eventually get married and have a baby. These sequences are presented as "acts" within the game and added a narrative of young romance to the series.
This appealing theme and the good design of the game beyond just its art assets contributed vastly to video games on a social scale. The arcade boom of the 80s brought video games out of the home and out of bars and into the public at large, with Ms. Pacman and a number of other hallmark characters at the forefront. A new social class consisting of gamers, competitors, and players had vastly more facilities to share activity and culture, and their financial income enabled more video games to be developed on a larger scale. Today, almost three decades later, Ms. Pacman has become a "retro" icon that most people in first-world societies can immediately identify regardless of their opinion of video games. Ms. Pacman arcade cabinets are still popular in arcades, movie theaters, and restaurants, despite the decline of arcade gaming in favor of at-home consoles. Ms. Pacman introduced a new social era... and has made history.
The elements form a loop, each feeding into the next, and each other (the neon culture of the 1980s matched the neon color scheme of the game, for example), then back into themselves. This methodology is how I wish to explore video game art and media in an educational setting. It is convenient, easy to present, and it offers a wealth of depth as the connections between the elements of a specific topic are found. In addition, I feel that this approach could apply to more than just video game art as it currently does not contain any element that is exclusive to video games (perhaps this little fact demonstrates a certain worth in video games comparable to that of traditional art?).
In any case, I hope that this can serve as a resource and point of discussion for those following the Media Studies blog. Maybe later I can explore this concept with students as a teacher!
Cheers,
Matthew Bradley
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