Do you see games as pieces of art? *potential spoilers*

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Mnementh said:

Sorry if I don't answer to the full extent of your post. But consider my agreement of including "standing the test of time" in the definition.

The_Liquid_Laser said:

Are games art?  Yes, definitely.

However, I think there is really an implied question, "Can games be fine art?"

There is really a desire for games to be taken as seriously as other entertainment mediums which have works of fine art.  Can video games ever be elevated to the level of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" or Michelangelo's "David"?  In order to answer this question there first needs to be some kind of reasonable definition for "fine art".

Funny thing about Shakespeare: he was considered cheap entertainment for the masses back in his days, just like many other contemporary dramatists. Yet we forgot about all the others, while holding Shakespeare in high regard. His works truly stood the test of time.

I wonder if something like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be talked about in 70 years like we today talk about Casablanca. I kinda doubt it.

Games don't live long enough yet, to give a real insight here. In comparison I think games are at a point where movies introduced color and sound into the technology. So in my opinion at this point games have all the basic technological tools available, that the medium can have (there are always refinements, as were for movies), but games are still in the infancy in regards of exploration how to use the medium. You are right, Tetris lived kinda long, nearly 40 years (1984), so props to Alexey Pajitnow.

You are right about Shakespeare.  His plays were cheap entertainment for the masses, and yet there was also more going on underneath that you might not see at a first glance.  For film, I consider the original Star Wars trilogy (from the 1970's & 80's) to be the equivalent of Shakespeare.  Originally these movies were not taken seriously by critics, while they were extremely popular with the mass market.  However, now we look back at them and can see them as classics.

I also agree that games are a young medium.  The first few decades of film were characterized by technological improvements, like sound and color.  Eventually, the market became resistant to the tech improvements that the film industry tried to implement (like 3D and ultra-wide screen formats).  Since the film industry couldn't rely on technological improvements to entice people to the theatres, they started focusing more on telling good stories. I kind of think that the games industry is at this transition point now.  Improvements in technology are at a point of highly diminishing returns.  The studios that will see the most success in the coming years are those who focus on improvements in gameplay much more than improvements in graphics.