Is Call of Cthulhu Art?

[MOB]

A recent Geek & Sundry article asks "Are roleplaying Games art?"

Prolific designer CA Sulieman (Vampire: The Requiem, Faiths of Eberron etc) says yes, and cites Call of Cthulhu: "If you accept that there’s Art in the work of Machen, Lovecraft, Smith, or Derleth, then that Art is reflected in Call of Cthulhu"...

http://geekandsundry.com/are-rpgs-art

 

[Vorax Transtellaris]

The person in that article saying the most sensible things is Zak S.

[rust]

Looking at my Oxford Dictionary, I get this definition of Art: "The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power." I have little doubt that roleplaying games usually are an "expression or application of human creative skill and imagination", and that the results at least sometimes are "appreciated" for their "emotional power". So, yes, I think that roleplaying games can be seen as a form of art.

[Baulderstone]

I think an RPG session can be art at times, but usually isn't. There are some sessions I have been in where everything came together in a transcendent way and people were moved in the way that art moves people. More often, it's just a bunch of friends hanging out and having a good time. 

It's like asking if writing or painting are art. Writing can be <i>Hamlet</i>, but it can also be a shopping list. Painting can be The Starry Night, or it can be something you do to your living room wall to cover up the marks the kids have made all over it. 

I agree with Vorax that Zak S. has the best answer there. 

[Simlasa]

Yup, Zak has the right of it.

Also, just because something IS art that doesn't make it good or a thing that I'll like. It seems like something various mediums grasp for though... like the whole discussion of whether or not video games are 'art', as if being 'art' carries some assurance of a higher level of quality and importance.

[Baulderstone]

27 minutes ago, Simlasa said:

Yup, Zak has the right of it.

Also, just because something IS art that doesn't make it good or a thing that I'll like. It seems like something various mediums grasp for though... like the whole discussion of whether or not video games are 'art', as if being 'art' carries some assurance of a higher level of quality and importance.

Exactly. A game session can also excel by just being good, dumb fun or being an interesting tactical exercise. Being artful is simply one way in which a session can be considered a success. 

[TrippyHippy]

Postmodernism means that anything can be art. For me though, the two decisive factors are whether there is some craft involved in development, and whether the final result makes some sort of emotional or cerebral impact on the consciousness of the audience. Both factors are present in RPGs in one degree or another. 

[Jeff]

Of course roleplaying games are art - just as storytelling is art, comedy is art, short stories are art, comic books are art, etc. Nearly everything we do that is creative and imaginative can (and probably should) be considered art. Clearly Zak S's parties are art (mine rarely have much planning beyond making sure there is booze and food - and thus lack the creativity and imagination, although some have certainly resulted in moments transformed into art by later storytelling).

But saying that roleplaying games are art simply acknowledges that they are valued (at least by us) moments of creativity and imagination.  
  

[Darius West]

I think it is hard to imagine that anyone involved in RPGs won't be able to see that there is art involved.  On the other hand, I wonder if anyone would be prepared to act as devil's advocate for the other side of the argument? Speaking purely philosophically, I think the definition of what constitutes Art has been getting rather broad and somewhat abused in the post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-modern era. This is not the same as saying that I don't think RPGs are art, least of all CoC (which is in many ways one of the purest, most original, and best RPGs ever written), whether in its many incarnations of its core rules or in its many generally high quality scenarios. 

Edited February 15, 2017 by Darius West