[General Discussion] Games as Art

I'd say that games can be art, but most games don't even manage to reach the level where they could even be called bad art. Extremely few games indeed reach the level of being fine art, and even then the judgement is extremely subjective. I'd class almost any game designed by Mizuguchi as art, and I would also consider the Katamari games to be art. Okami definitely fits on that list, and Zelda games manage to achieve art for brief periods. I've never played a whole Zelda game which remained artistic to the end though.

That list is, of course, a non-exhaustive one, even in my own opinion. I'm just throwing out recent games that impressed me with their level of artistry. There are many more, but I'd need to think about it to be able to give a proper account of why exactly I think they are artistic. I do think that we now have the video game equivalent of the "art house movie". There are games which really aren't for general consumption, they only appeal to the gamer willing to dig deeper and work harder for a more subtle kind of entertainment.

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Originally Posted by Rock

Of course, this doesn't mean you can't value a particular work of art more than others. But categorizing some games as art and others not is just plain stupid.

Then I imagine you think that all films are art. A definition of art that I have often heard is that it is made to stimulate the mind as well as the senses. I reject the notion that most games stimulate my mind. I play many games which don't require the intervention of my mind from beginning to end, merely my reflexes.

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