Ästhetik und Kunst des Computerspiels

Abstract

Abstract The paper aims to clarify the aesthetic as well as artistic status of videogames by placing it in a broader context of considerations in philosophical aesthetics. It develops those perspectives in three steps. The first step (i) aims to show that, contrary to what one might think, it is not possible to classically define videogames in terms of solely necessary and jointly sufficient conditions, because such a definition treats singular videogames as mere cases of the general concept of video games and thus abandons a genuinely aesthetic perspective. The second step (ii) analyses the aesthetics of videogames in terms of its complex relation to other aesthetic mediums and shows how aesthetically significant videogames negotiate what it means to be a videogame at all. The third step (iii) finally discusses the possibility of videogames being works of art and argues that some video games are works of art by affording a reflection on ourselves in and through the process of playing such a videogame.