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The US legally recognizes video games as an art form
The US National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) now considers video games eligible for artistic funding, meaning they are legally recognized as an art form. For those not familiar with the NEA, it is a US government program which funds artistic projects to "enhance the public good." In other words, the group decides which artistic projects are worthy of receiving federal funding.
Artists who want to create art for a public place rather than selling it commercially, can apply for a grant of up to $200,000. It would appear that game developers may soon be able to do the same thing, according to Icrontic.
The category formerly known as The Arts on Radio and Television has been renamed to The Arts in Media. As before, it will include film, television, and radio artistic projects, but has also been expanded to encompass satellite-based and Internet-based media (as opposed to just landline-based broadcasts) and interactive media. Here's the official word:
Projects may include high profile multi-part or single television and radio programs (documentaries and dramatic narratives); media created for theatrical release; performance programs; artistic segments for use within an existing series; multi-part webisodes; installations; and interactive games. Short films, five minutes and under, will be considered in packages of three or more.
Game developers who want federal funding for their next game will be competing with filmmakers, TV producers, radio stars, and now Internet firms as well. Still, the NEA only offers grants to art projects, so that narrows down the competition to only those willing to make beautiful content and give it away for free. Artists who wish to apply for a 2012 grant must do so by September 1, 2011.
Whether or not the NEA ends up funding a video game anytime soon is not really that important right now. The news here is that the US federal government now considers video games worthy of artistic merit.
User Comments (17)
Post a comment|
yRaz
on May 9, 2011 12:17 PM |
As a modder and the amount of work I put into mods, I agree that its art BUT NOT worthy of 200k in funding. Although I am glad that it is recognized as art. After all, modding is responsible for ~70% of the reasons for educating myself in computers. |
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p51d007
on May 9, 2011 3:08 PM |
Oh goodie! Now we can give GAME developers tax payer money too! What a joke. The NEA needs to be UNfunded! |
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ramonsterns
on May 9, 2011 3:27 PM |
p51d007 said: Oh goodie! Now we can give GAME developers tax payer money too! What a joke. The NEA needs to be UNfunded! "Artists who want to create art for a public place rather than selling it commercially" Oh goodie! You can't read! |
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Benny26
on May 9, 2011 3:29 PM |
I consider playing a video game an art form....except stuff like Papa the Rappa obviously. |
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Zecias
on May 9, 2011 4:06 PM |
p51d007 said: Oh goodie! Now we can give GAME developers tax payer money too! What a joke. The NEA needs to be UNfunded! its 200k... thats not very much. if everyone in america helped pay for it it would come out at less than 50 cents a person. |
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yRaz
on May 9, 2011 6:23 PM |
zecias said: p51d007 said: Oh goodie! Now we can give GAME developers tax payer money too! What a joke. The NEA needs to be UNfunded! its 200k... thats not very much. if everyone in america helped pay for it it would come out at less than 50 cents a person. 50 cents, dollar here. Before you know it I have $60 taken out of each paycheck. now it's $60.50 and then it will be $61. Not that I have a problem with paying taxes, but this is not something we should be spending money on in the middle of an economic crisis. |
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Guest
on May 10, 2011 11:32 AM |
If you start from scratch, using your creativity to create something, does the form of the canvas really matter? I say no. Clear as day. These game-worlds we all see and take for granted are put together piece by piece and it probably takes a lot more time than painting something (most the time). And I speak from personal experience as a brush-toading king of the canvas here, as well as having done some modding and actual 3D editing with serious applications like 3D Studio, a while back. Games are art. They always have been. For some nincompoop to make it "official" is insulting, as much as it is a positive thing. |
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Guest
on May 11, 2011 9:21 AM |
why not? americans pays about nothing in taxes anyway so what would be the difrence for you |
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Guest
on May 11, 2011 9:35 AM |
^ ooh and if u have complains about my reply up there (which most people which lives in countries which does not work will) then u can contact me on http://chatango.com/ my username is RequiemWings |
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Zecias
on May 14, 2011 12:07 AM |
yRaz said: zecias said: p51d007 said: Oh goodie! Now we can give GAME developers tax payer money too! What a joke. The NEA needs to be UNfunded! its 200k... thats not very much. if everyone in america helped pay for it it would come out at less than 50 cents a person. 50 cents, dollar here. Before you know it I have $60 taken out of each paycheck. now it's $60.50 and then it will be $61. Not that I have a problem with paying taxes, but this is not something we should be spending money on in the middle of an economic crisis. pointless worrying about the small things; its not the small things that cause heavy taxes or the current economic crisis. taxes are pretty low right now anyways. recession = lower taxes to encourage spending and pump money into the economy. why are we in this recession in the first place? the government lack of regulations banks paying people to sell subprime mortgages to others that can't afford to pay it back loaning more money than available, so we(the taxpayers) are left to bail out the greedy banks kinda like the great depression, except less severe and it involves mortgages rather than stocks. you could also complain about how we have to pay more taxes because companies like google use loopholes and end up paying 1% while the general populace pays 30% tax wall street bigshots paying the 15% tax because they are risking their own money to make money. only.... they aren't. they're handling the money of others and reaping the benefits. no risks, more money. anyways, my point is, stuff like this is insignificant. sorry about my rant |
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Guest
on May 16, 2011 7:11 AM |
p51d007 is correct. First of all the NEA is an unconstitutional institutional hence it is illegal so any money given to it is theft from the American people. The only power government has in relation to the arts is under Article One, Section Eight "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" And as of now Congress cannot even do that with the lifetime+ copyrights on IP works. That's not the definition of limited. Secondly, you do not want government deciding what is art, once you go down that road, then you allow government to decide what is the press and what is not, what is a crime and what is not, what is good for you to eat and what is not There is only one institution that has the ability and expertise to decide what is art and that is the free market, the same force that wrested the internet from the government and gives us what we have now as opposed to what government gave us 30+ years ago. |
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Guest
on May 16, 2011 10:12 AM |
" Game developers who want federal funding for their next game will be competing with filmmakers, TV producers, radio stars, and now Internet firms as well. Still, the NEA only offers grants to art projects, so that narrows down the competition to only those willing to make beautiful content and give it away for free. Artists who wish to apply for a 2012 grant must do so by September 1, 2011." We knew that games were interactive art before the government formally said so. It is a travesty to insist otherwise. This recent action simply welcomes a thriving medium into the fold and gives developers and designers a chance to win funding alongside with their creative colleagues. There's nothing unconstitutional about that. Should a gamer win a grant, what gaming can do will surprise us all. I agree that when the government involves itself in certain things they become complicated and freedom is lost. Though isn't it rather late to be worrying about the government "thieving money" from the American people? See the link below... |
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Guest
on May 16, 2011 9:55 PM |
FYI: 50 cents from 300 million Americans (conservative estimate) is 15 million dollars. 200k is a pittance to the pocket book of a country. |
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Guest
on May 17, 2011 1:29 PM |
Coding for weeks on end is not worth 200K of the governments money, but dropping paint at random onto a canvas is worth millions of that same money? |
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Guest
on May 17, 2011 5:49 PM |
Based on your combined mathematics skills zecias and yRaz, perhaps what America should be spending more of your tax on is education. 200k divided by 300 million people equals about 6.6 cents each. If you want to put tax into personal perspective, the amount you pay each year MIGHT cover the maintenance of your street, anything else, just consider it someone else's tax (someone who appreciates art and beauty in their world). |
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Guest
on May 17, 2011 7:36 PM |
"Should a gamer win a grant, what gaming can do will surprise us all." - I absolutely agree and look forward to what artistic funding will do for the gaming world. In my opinion, there are too many games designed to sell based on violence and shock factor, and this leaves little room for artistic expression that has truth and meaning. |
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Guest
on May 20, 2011 8:39 AM |
yes exactly, neither should be receiving government money. Problem solved. |
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