a bunch of people on bluesky have apparently been worked into a shoot about whether or not video games are art. i cannot be asked to do any research on this latest round of discourse but i can’t stop thinking, “are video games fart?” to myself and laughing so let’s ruin the joke by extrapolating on this a bit.

the first result of a quick google search for “fart buttons in video games” is a pretty extensive backloggd list including the likes of celebrity deathmatch, boogerman: a pick and flick adventure, and something called deer avenger. for me, however, video game farts begin and end with the oddworld franchise, specifically the first game in the series, oddworld: abe’s oddysee.

abe’s oddysee introduces a mechanic for communicating with other characters in the game known as gamespeak. holding L1 or L2 and pressing a face button will cause abe to say or do something meant for interacting with the world around him. by default, L2 + circle makes abe fart. later in the game, farting will be used during puzzles, but in the early hours, it’s mostly something you do at random because it’s funny. i’m an adult.

the sequence of events goes like this: you press the fart button, abe farts, you laugh. simple. but wait… now abe is laughing too. you, controlling abe, made abe fart, and he responded on his own. it makes sense that farting would have an effect on the world around abe. his mudokon buddies find it funny too, despite all the abuse they’ve suffered at the hands of unchecked capitalism. what’s compelling, at least to me, is the split second where the illusion of agency changes hands between the player and abe.

sure, one could argue this means the fart button is actually a fart and laugh button — abe doesn’t really have a choice in the matter and will never not laugh every time the player makes him fart — but i think that’s too simple a conclusion. it feels like a conversation is happening between the player and the character they’re controlling. i laughed at abe‘s fart, and he laughed along with me. in that moment, we were the same. it’s possible this is what the developers intended, but even if they didn’t, it makes for some fun synchronicity, like when sam echoes my comments on the size of the chiral crystals he’s collecting in death stranding.

that’s art, baby.