By: Blake Kell
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with beauty and what standards are applied for something to be beautiful. Essentially every time you admire something or someone for some characteristic or feature you are applying a form of aesthetics. Albeit your own opinion of beauty nevertheless, that is the freedom of aesthetics. There is no set answer for beauty as there is in math, where there is only one right answer. Aesthetics surprisingly plays a huge part in our world today. Economically if you have something that others perceive as beautiful you are sure to have more consumers, or socially if you are perceived to be beautiful you will have more favorable interactions with others.
Aesthetics can be seen from analyzing art to cutting vegetables. In some cases appreciation for the beauty of something will only come from you trying to imitate the action as well. Here we will review aesthetics in a video game. Specifically Rocket League which basically is rocket power cars playing soccer. The concept sounds simple but, since there is a vertical dimension added with the ability of flight. Creativity has no limit in this game. There are two types of players in Rocket League: the competitive and freestyler. As implied by their names the former enjoys ranking up and beating other players and the latter flashy mechanics and impossible goals. However, whichever player you ask if they like the game they will say yes. But how is it that two completely different types of players enjoy the same game? They find beauty in the different aspects of the game. The aspects that they highlight the most they find the most pleasing.
Plato’s views on aesthetics are that the closer something is to its original form the better or the more useful the better. This relates to the competitive player since they focus more on the the core fundamentals of the game. They do not waste their time with adding their own flare to the game; they take the most efficient action and perfect it. Plato views art as dangerous since he considers it to be an interpretation of the artist and the artist is flawed as well so their interpretation will be flawed. This will lead us to believe in a false reality. There is no room for creativity and expression, only reason and facts.
On the other hand Aristotle’s views agree on some points but that interpretation will only lead us to a false reality on the pretense of gaining pleasure from inaccurate imitations not really. Aristotle believed that artistic interpretation allows us to observe certain aspects that the author would like us to see more in depth. With this new perspective we can gain insight on the true form of the object or action. Freestylers tend to accentuate on the mechanical side of the game performing amazing feats of coordination and timing. They highlight the essence of what makes Rocket League unique. By adding their own touch to their playstyle they add a new point of view to the game showing what otherwise would seem impossible or unusable. This space for creativity also helps the game evolve and creates a diversity of communities that all still enjoy the same game.
Beauty is ultimately up to the individual because they will have certain traits and characteristics they find more pleasing than others. That is the beauty of aesthetics you can decide what you find to be perfect. So as in Rocket League and how two completely different types of players can enjoy the same game. The same way Plato and Aristotle can enjoy art from different points of view.
Classical Greek Aesthetics – Plato and Aristotle – Corebaby.org. https://corebaby.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Classical-Greek-Aestehetics-Plato-Aristotle.pdf.
“Aristotle.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle.
“Plato.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato.
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