Art Perspective: GameCity

By Robert Nichol / November 4, 2011

Although it would be great to state that GameCity was build on rock and roll, the truth is it is actually build in Nottingham€™s Old Market Square. GameCity is an annual gaming festival now is its sixth year. The festival is run by Nottingham Trent University, with the goal of celebrating and exploring videogame culture. Also Nottingham Trent is a great place to look if you are trying to get into the gaming industry, with some great courses. Dissimilar to large American gaming conventions which are designed to showcase and publicise specific games, there is much less of a focus on the business of gaming. The festival is more about the people that play games and their experiences with them. So if you are a thoughtful gamer, with the urge to discuss the medium you love with other passionate people, GameCity is the place to be. GameCity6 came to an end on Saturday after four days of arty gaming fun and frolicking. This years festival was filled with more events than ever which included; Guardian breakfast, which combined the first meal of the day with guest speakers and gaming debates and discussions, hand-on gaming with such indie gems as Fez and Hard Lines, and many more developer Q&A€™s, discussions and general gaming fun.

Coverage of GameCity within the mainstream media was generally limited to the awarding of the GameCity Prize, with even the likes of the BBC News website reporting the winner. The awarding of the prize, which went to the brilliant MineCraft, represents the attitude to games the festival holds. The judging process for this award is as follows:

The GameCity Prize works like this€ An esteemed and very secret Academy of specially selected experts choose 6 games which they deem to be the most interesting and exciting released in the previous twelve months. A jury of non-gamers are invited to play these games over the Summer, then meet to deliberate which they think is the most interesting, exciting and excellent. Using subjective criteria established within the Jury, they are charged with awarding a game with the GameCity Prize. There is only one GameCity Prize. The GameCity Prize will be awarded at a special ceremony to close the GameCity festival, on October 29th. Then we€™ll have a party.

The prize is aimed to create a dialogue around video games and to promote the medium itself, rather than this year€™s latest title. Which means we probably won€™t see Call of Duty winning this award, unless some big changes are made. The prize and what it represents really push gaming as a medium in the right direction. The festival organises see gaming for what is truly is a relatively art form with huge potential, that needs to be taken seriously.