Topic: Do you consider videogames as a form of art?

I'm curious if people think of it as art. What is art? Well, I consider art as a spiritual quality expressed through mediums such as canvas, sculpture or screen. Anything that develops the human imagination is something which I consider as art. I think videogames can be, especially when you look at games like the old Final Fantasies, Silent Hills and Shenmues.
What is your opinion on this matter?

Mother 3 is, if nothing else.

No, but I do consider it entertainment. That's all that really matters to me.

Depends on the game.

Not this discussion again...

yes but only certain games are art, im not going to say what ones I DONT consider art because ill get a lot of hate

You can't tell me the people who create these games aren't artists. I mean seriously it takes real artistic talent to make some of these amazing and beautiful worlds we get to explore.

well it depends on the game, for example:
games like passage, nightsky, and the company of myself = Yes i do
games like Skyward sword and Okami = Yes i do
games like COD , Battlefield, and most racing games = No

I feel for in order for it to be classified as art i have to be able to appreciate it as something beautiful. When i first played The company of myself and won, I was devastated. That game stuck in my mind for days and i still think about it from time to time. Okami and Skyward Sword I classify as art as they have unique visual styles. They are both delightful to look at and set themselves apart from most. Do I even need to explain why shooters and racers aren't art.... do I?

Yep.

I don't consider video games as art. I do consider it to be the third pillar of entertainment along with music and cinema. I hardly consider all movies or songs art. Those folks who try to push games as art are fighting the wrong fight.

I agree. Skyward Sword is a great example in this. The engine created for that game was there to make the game look like a painting. For that exact reason I guess.

The modern 'shooters' are like popcorn-food interactive movies without anything left to one's own imagination. I'm not debunking Hollywood per se (I like the old movies), but I think that games that base themselves on modern 'Hollywoodish' principles are as one-dimensional as their cinema counterparts.

LOL

I usually consider the First person shooters, GTA games and generally all those military shoot em ups to be games without a soul. It's all about killing and whoever has the fastest trigger finger. There's no heart or emotion in the material. Now something like an RPG with memorable characters and beautiful landscapes is definitely art.
If the visuals make you stop and stare in amazement and wonder then yeah that's art.

Considering how many times Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty made me stop and stare in amazement and wonder, I'd say you just contradicted yourself there.

I know what you're saying, though. Art, by it's definition, is a form of expression. However, not everyone who makes games uses it as such - it's more often used as a way to make money (not to say the two don't coincide, quite the contrary actually, it's just that they really aren't expressing anything, if you know what I mean). That's why I consider Video games more as entertainment than art. However, not every shooter is made like that. You'd have to be really ignorant to not call a game like Half-Life 2 or even lesser games like Shadows of the Damned art - they're genuinely made with expressing certain messeges in mind (even if some of those messeges are rather childish).

@ Mickeymac
Well if you're filled with amazment and wonder by explosions and gunfire then yeah I guess that could count.
I get enough of that on cable though.
I doubt anyone ever got misty eyed over a call of duty game.
Unless you were horribly owned by some teenager online.

Yup, I actually had to defend that position in a discussion with the guy I was rooming with last year, and according to him, my argument was more than valid

Guys, art is more than just stuff you look at...it's expression...

Well, I think people should not be fooled by what they see: "art" doesn't mean strictly "visual".
I sure think videogames can be art, as can be everything man-made: a poem, a food dish, a song, a magic trick etc etc. If there's thinking, there's culture, there's passion, research and the will to communicate something (even if it's pure "joy") — in one word, humanity, then there's art.

Link, your ignorance is showing~

And I really, really hope you aren't saying that nothing on Cable TV is art. Like, really.

Grand Theft Auto counts as a work of art. The way it weaves the story and the little things is what makes it so great as the comedic art form. Take San Andreas and GTAIV. One of the funniest things to me between the two are radio X and radio Broker. While they use different genres of music they both talk about the same thing of being different and non-conforimist while conforiming tooo sterotypes (Grunge in the 90s, hipster today).

There is more to art than just art than Visual direction.

But yeah i'm 50/50 on the subject matter