Art of Gaming

Video games, unlike other forms of art, have to integrate instructions into the game. But how do you integrate instructions creatively, without being overbearing but still getting the message across? Melek talks through the issues with Jörg Friedrich, a game designer, as they play Spelunky, Warcraft 3 and Far Cry.

Tutorials

How do you integrate instructions creatively, without being overbearing but still getting the message across?

What happens when cinema meets video games? Trinity investigates with scriptwriter Jean-Luc Cano by playing ‘Life is Strange’, ‘Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice’ and ‘Beyond: Two Souls’.

Lights, Cameras, Action!

What happens when cinema meets video games? Trinity investigates with scriptwriter Jean-Luc Cano. 

Melek visits VR developers Illusion Walk at their Berlin offices and tries out the latest in virtual reality gaming technology.

Virtual Reality

Melek visits tries out the latest in VR gaming technology at Illusion Walk in Berlin.

Open world games such as ‘Grand Theft Auto’ offer an immense territory for the player to explore. But is this just an illusion of liberty? Trinity and Sébastien Genvo explore ‘Skyrim’, ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ and ‘Shadow of the Colossus’.

Open Worlds

Open world games offer an immense territory for players to explore. But is this just an illusion of liberty?

Melek and Dennis Niewerth, sociologist and consultant at the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, dive in and explore worlds of water in video games.

Water

Melek and Dennis Niewerth dive in and explore worlds of water in video games.

Why do people play sports video games instead of going outside and playing real sports? Trinity and e-sports commentator Brak play ‘Kick Off Revival’, ‘NBA 2k18’ and ‘Top Spin 4’.

Virtual Ball Games

Why do people play sports video games instead of going outside and playing real sports?

Melek Balgün and games designer Anjin Anhut test out combat games with titles such as ‘Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting’, ‘Nidhogg 2’ and the atypical game ‘Johann Sebastian Joust’.

Fighting Games

Melek Balgün and games designer Anjin Anhut focus on combat games.

Do we play video games in the same way around the world? Trinity along with gaming blogger Diraen explore video games made by different cultures: They play “Gravity Rush”, “Dynasty Warriors 8” and “Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan”.

Around the World

Trinity along with gaming blogger Diraen explore video games made by different cultures.

How are dreams represented in video games? Melek and gaming critic Stephan Greitemeier play ‘Dream’, ‘The Dream Machine’ and ‘The Evil Within 2’, entering unnerving sleeping worlds that sometimes turn into nightmares.

Dream of Virtual Sheep

How are dreams represented in video games?

Doors can be scary in games such as ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘Silent Hill: The Room’. What lies behind these mysterious portals? Trinity plays and discusses their significance with gaming writer Jean Zeid.

Hold the Door

Doors in can be scary in games such as ‘Resident Evil’’. What lies behind these portals?

In some games, the text isn't just a signpost that signals a change in the action. It's integrated into the very nature of the game itself. Melek plays games that challenge our perception of the role of text in her video game alongside her guest, Lisa Gotto, a media sociologist.

Typographic Video Gaming

What happens when the game is text and text is the game? 

The goal of the platform games is clear: get from one end to the other - from left to right - without dying. Do this enough times and you'll reach a boss, before making it to another level and the cycle starts all over again. But despite how simple the formula sounds, it's actually a genre full of some of the hardest video games, such as Cuphead and Super Meat Boy. Even with Super Mario or Inside, you know you'll have to see your avatar die on a regular basis.

Jump 'n' Run

Playing a platform game like Super Mario means that you have to be OK with the fact that you'll watch your avatar die on a regular basis

Melek Balgün plays "Anno 1404", "World of Warcraft" and "That Dragon, Cancer" with Andreas Lange, and interviews Tobias Knoll about how players perceive religion in games.

Melek Balgün interviews Tobias Knoll about how players perceive religion in video games.

Religion Art of Gaming

It seems that nearly all computer games are based on capitalist ideology, always collecting and amassing possessions whether they be gold coins, apples or weapons. With philosopher Mathieu Triclot, Trinity explores the political ideology of video games.

Capitalism

Always amassing things whether it is gold coins, apples or weapons.... Are all video games capitalist?

Two lines and a dot were enough for Pong to conquer the video game world. Melek Balgün looks at minimalist games Duet, Hook, Necrosphere and Limbo with specialist researcher Sebastian Standke

As simple as that

Melek Balgün looks at minimalist games Duet, Hook, Necrosphere and Limbo with researcher Sebastian Standke.

The first person perspective allows the player to truly embody the character and immerse themselves in the game.

First Person Perspective

Video game photographer Martin Geisler shows us with examples from “Skyrim”, “the Hunter” and “Squad” that photography within gameplay has become as art form.

In-Game Photography

Video game photographer Martin Geisler shows us that photography within gameplay has become as art form.

Love is a major theme running through all art forms. From the medieval chivalry of ‘The Witcher 3’ to the consumerist world of  ‘The Sims’, how is it represented in gaming?

Love is a Game

Love is a major theme running through all art forms. How is it represented in gaming?

Don’t play with your food! we were all told as children. In video games from Pac-man to the latest survival titles like “Don’t Starve”, the opposite is true.

Eat it!

Don’t play with your food! we were told as children. But with video games we always have...

How does it feel to cross deserts, prairies or forests in a virtual environment? Melek and her guest play ‘Red Dead Redemption’, ‘Firewatch’ and ‘Flame and Flood’ and discuss how nature is represented in art, films, and gaming.

Nature

Melek and her guest play ‘Red Dead Redemption’, ‘Firewatch’ and ‘Flame and Flood’ and discuss how nature is represented.

Female representation in video games has long been a source of frustration for female gamers. Protagonists were almost always male with female characters often reduced to sexual objects. Things have changed since Lara Croft and “Horizon Zero Dawn”.

Women as Heroes

Female representation in video games has long been a source of frustration for female gamers. 

Why are there so many birds in video games? This episode of Art of Gaming is going to find out with a survey of the best bird-theme games.

Birds in Gaming

Why are there so many birds in video games?

The multiplayer mode in gaming lets you play against your family, your friends, and even people you've never met before. How does playing against a real person change how you view the game, and how you play?

Versus

How does playing against a real person change how you view the game?

Do video games make us lonely? This is what the media often implies. And yet today, it's impossible to be a good MMORPG player without also beign in a team. Many games require effective cooperation to advance to the next level. So, are video games actually a way of improving our social skills?

Team Spirit

Trinity and Thomas Gaon, a psychologist, cheerfully kill each other in Call of Duty 4, and then team up to destroy their enemies. Sounds healthy to you? In this episode, Trinity tries to understand why we enjoy killing characters in video games so much.

The Act of Killing

In this episode, Trinity tries to understand why we enjoy killing characters in video games so much

Video games are often full of action and face-to-face showdowns. But sometimes they can also leave the player alone with his thoughts, giving him or her a sensation of solitude and the space for introspection. Melek analyses the genre with three loneliness experts: an ESA astronaut trainer, a philosopher and a media specialist.

Loneliness

Melek analyses loneliness with three loneliness experts: an ESA astronaut trainer, a philosopher and a media specialist

Some video games created the soundtrack to the childhood of a generation. Who can forget the catchy Tetris music, the hopping theme of Super Mario Bros, or the intro of PacMan? Since then, video game music has become more and more cinematic. Author Damien Mecheri and Trinity trace the development of music throughout the history of gaming.

Let The Music Play

Some video games created the soundtrack to the childhood of a generation

Some worlds in games seem lifeless, but for most games, background characters are part of what makes the games so vibrant and convincing. Though powered by an algorithm, these characters can come to feel like friends. Via Bioshock: Infinite, Transistor and Gears of War 3, Melek and her guest Jonathan Harth, a sociologist, analyse the different forms that these characters can take.

Ghost in the Machine

For most games, background characters are part of what makes the games so vibrant and convincing

Can video games, just like movies, be comedies? Usul and Trinity analyse how humour works in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and The Stanley Parable. The burlesque, irony, or the absurd, often take centre stage in these types of games. It's what makes them worth playing.

Humour

Usul and Trinity analyse how humour works in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and The Stanley Parable

In literature and cinema, it is often the bad guys who captivate us the most. In video games, you can actually become them: the iconic Dark Vader (Star Wars: the Force Unleashed), a violent psychopath (Man Hunt), or even an immigration officer (Paper Please). Trinity and Yann Leroux plunge into the dark side of video games.

Bad Guys

In literature and cinema, it is often the bad guys who captivate us the most. In video games, you can actually become them

Above, below, left, right. Our sense of direction comes naturally to us. But how do you create this sense of realistic, physical space in video games? And if gravity is optional, how can a game mantain a sense of realism?

Orientation

How do you create a sense of realistic, physical space in video games?

History is a playground for game designers. Sybile Collas (Narrative designer) and Trinity go back to WW1 in Battlefield 1, rewrite history with Wolfenstein: The New Order, and discover an imagined history in Bioshock Infinite. Utopia, dystopia or uchrony, why these genres so compelling?

Alternate History

History is a playground for game designers

When we think about sex in video games, we think of the classic Leisure Suit Larry, or the crude representations that are a reward for the player rather than a part of the plot. Some games take a different approach. Melek discusses sex in gaming with gaming journalist Nina Kiel and sexologist Jan Winter.

Sex in Video Games

Melek discusses sex in gaming with gaming journalist Nina Kiel and sexologist Jan Winter

What does the choice of avatar tell us about the human being behind it? A mirror of ourselves or a reinvention? We analyse the relationship between gamer and on-screen character.

Egotrip

What does the choice of avatar tell us? We analyse the relationship between gamer and on-screen character.

"I'm really unlucky," says every gamer on a losing streak Conversely, a gamer who beats his or her opponents, or makes it to the next level, rarely puts this down to pure luck. When it comes to generating good luck in games, can we game the system?

Luck

When it comes to generating good luck in games, can we game the system?

At once seductive and dangerous, historical myth and male fantasy, the femme fatale represents both erotic promise and a death trap to the male observer. Conceived at the end of the 19th century in the works of Gustave Moreau, Franz von Stuck and Lovis Corinth, the femme fatale was completely reinvented in the 20th century by many female artists.

Seductive and dangerous, the figure of the femme fatale in art was completely reinvented in the 20th century.

The Femme Fatale in Art

At first glance, it's an image of innocence. A motherly milkmaid pouring out the milk in a kitchen, preparing snacks from our childhoods. But there's actually far more to her than meets the eye.

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

A famous image that at first glance looks totally innocent, but is in actual fact full of innuendo

Look but Don't Touch

With all the religious wars, the 17th century was a tense time in Europe. And in art one theme caught everyone’s imagination: the Virgin Mary.

Assumption of the Virgin - Nicolas Poussin

Look But Don't Touch

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life. Street-photography captured Parisians from all walks of life and conveyed the optimism and elegance of the period.

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life.

Paris in the Belle Epoque

Diana, the mythological goddess of the hunt, lives with her band of nymphs in the forest, free of men. Representations of her in painting are a contradictory mix of fantasy and repulsion. These nympths are both virgins and lesbians, naked and threatening, seductive and violent.

Diana and Callisto by Le Titien

Representations of Diana in art are a contradictory mix of fantasy and repulsion. 

With his wild hair, Jean Rondeau is a rock star of the harpsichord. Profile of the young French harpsichord player who is breathing new life into an instrument that is too often ignored.

Jean Rondeau and the Harpsichord

Christian philosophy is based on two abstract and complex concepts, but art can simplify them: Paradise, where everything was good and is lost, and Hell, which is so scary that no one wants to go there. And in between there is…us!

The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hieronymus Bosch

Probably inspired by the Mona Lisa, the great renaissance artist Raphael painted this portrait of a young woman. But why is she holding a mythical beast in her hands?

Young Women with Unicorn - Raphael

Probably inspired by the Mona Lisa, the great renaissance artist Raphael painted this portrait of a young woman, but why is she holding a mythical beast in her hands?

An author once described this work as a portrait of a woman done by a painter who had forgotten to paint the feet, legs, thighs, stomach, hips, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and head. 

The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet

Bonuses and Extracts

Discover more

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants and changed the course of European history.

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants. 

The Defenestration of Prague

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating over the breakaway region of Transnistria, an investigation on how prepared Europe is for another summer of wildfires, and a report from the Dissident Club in Paris.

Tensions in Moldova / WildFires in Europe

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating with street protests and controversy over Russian secret documents.

ARTE Europe Weekly

Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

Highly influential indie rockers from Boston, famous for such tracks as Debaser and Where is my mind perform in Paris as part of a European tour for their latest album Doggerel.

Legendary and highly influential indie rockers perform in Paris as part of their European tour.

Pixies - Live at the Paris Olympia

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance. Filmed at Ground Control in Paris.

Ground Control

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance.

Ben Harper

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 2,500 documents were leaked from Prigozhin’s servers by anti-Putin hackers, shedding light on this secretive group of mercenaries, a key element in the war in Ukraine.

Data Sources

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

The Prigozhin Papers

Lyubov, which means love in Russian, is 80 years old and lives alone on the shores of Lake Baikal. She bears witness to this wonder of nature and possesses and unbreakable bond with the world’s deepest lake in Siberia. Her life here is hard, especially in winter, but she would not live anywhere else.

On the shores of Lake Baikal, an old woman lives alone in a beautiful place that is dear to her heart.

The Old Woman and the Lake

Many governments and organisations are wary of their employers using the social media TikTok. Does the Chinese company really serve Xi Jinping’s regime?

TikTok: A Chinese Threat?

Mapping the World Essentials

Working her way out of poverty as a sex worker all while supporting her family in Romania. That’s Andrada’s goal. She speaks confidently and openly about her work in a red-light district in Germany’s Ruhr region.  
This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Portrait of a sex worker in the Ruhr region, Germany.  

Hard Life – I sell sex for money

Music director of the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Măcelaru takes his musicians on a tour of his homeland, Romania. A tour stopping in Timişoara, his hometown. On the programme: The Piano Concerto No. 2 by Johannes Brahms with soloist Simon Trpčeski.

Concert from the European Capital of Culture 2023

Conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne perform Brahms and Klaus Lang in Romania.

Cristian Mācelaru in Timişoara

A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Good News From Our Planet

In El Salvador, gangs have terrorised the country for decades. But when Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, becoming the youngest head of state in Latin America, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

El Salvador: The coolest dictator in the world?

When Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

ARTE Reportage

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot show another side of Israel. One with high-levels of social deprivation and strong support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s controversial judicial reforms.

Sderot - The Other Israel

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot is a different Israel with strong support for Netanjahu and high levels of social deprivation.

In Peru, every year, the people who live in remote mountain villages gather to build the Inca bridge of Q'eswachaka, a traditional structure of woven grass, and the last of its kind. This ancestral know-how inherited from the Incas, and the enduring spirit of community, enables the villagers to pull off a stunning feat of engineering, time and again.

In Peru, every year, villagers build the Inca bridge of Q'eswachaka from woven grass, and the last of its kind.

The Inca Grass Bridge of Q'eswachaka

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols have fathered around one hundred children over the last ten years. Their sperm is smuggled out of prison to be used in IVF with their partners.

Israel-Palestine: Secret Babies of the Intifada

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols have fathered around one hundred children over the last ten years.

The literary source for Richard Strauss’s opera immortalizing the degeneracy of Herodes Antipas, King of Judea, and his step-daughter Salome, was supplied by Oscar Wilde. It tells of Herodes, who is keeping the prophet Jochanaan captive inside a cistern. Salome tries to seduce him and on being rebuffed, forces her stepfather to serve her the prophet’s head on a silver platter.

Directed by Christof Loy in Helsinki

Rejected by the prophet Jochanaan, Salome forces her abusive stepfather to exact revenge.

Art of Gaming

Art of Gaming

Lights, Cameras, Action!

Art of Gaming

Virtual Reality

Art of Gaming

Open Worlds

Art of Gaming

Water

Art of Gaming

Virtual Ball Games

Art of Gaming

Fighting Games

Art of GamingTutorials

You may also like

The Femme Fatale in Art

Look but Don't Touch

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

Look But Don't Touch

Assumption of the Virgin - Nicolas Poussin

Paris in the Belle Epoque

Look but Don't Touch

Diana and Callisto by Le Titien

Jean Rondeau and the Harpsichord

The most viewed videos on ARTE

The Femme Fatale in Art

The Defenestration of Prague

ARTE Europe Weekly

Tensions in Moldova / WildFires in Europe

The New World of Xi Jinping

Pixies - Live at the Paris Olympia

Ben Harper

Ground Control