Video Games As Art

I wrote this before but I find it very short and lacking so I have spent a whole week reading and watching online to come up with this. This is going to be a long read so hold on tight.

Art is an extension of human creativity within a shareable form to put it as simply as possible some art is definitely considered better than others but at the end of the day, art is art. The critics like to take a more critical approach when it comes to interpreting what is good art or what should even be considered art. Even though in 2011 with brown V Entertainment Merchants Association extending artistic protections to video games making them a legal art some of the critics still like to challenge the artistic value of video games.

I've been wanting to write this post not to justify that video games are better than other art forms but to bring attention to the fact that video games already have a considerable amount of different elements that are already considered art within their own respects. If you recognize and appreciate them all together there is a very strong case that video games themselves can be considered the ultimate artistic medium in terms of the way you can experience it as well as all the artistic talent required to make them. The oldest type of art was most likely storytelling and music then we later see paintings sculptures and then landscaping and architecture after that we find acting and directing only to jump into more recent forms of art like photography.
One should not be comparing different forms of art to one another but instead respect them within their own context and with these different forms of the art, technology has allowed us to put some of them together creating entirely new mediums of expression like theater, cinema, and even video games. Each one having the capability of being more complex than the other but there are definitely some video games that can give you a much more engaging and rich experience, not all but some.

Uncharted 4 uses the techniques of sculpture and architecture throughout the game.

Unlike almost all other mediums which make you an observer or listener video games make you the driver you are literally in control of the progress of the experience, experiences that will always vary from person to person simply due to the options and/or gameplay mechanics. The idea of it being a game often distracts critics who refuse to recognize it as being potentially a more complex way of experiencing different art mediums I say that because they are not always just games it could be experiences that let you explore and analyze many different forms of art at once in ways that a picture or a movie simply can't.
Of course, not all video games give you such an experience but there are video games with such complex artistic mediums that they can give you an experience unlike anything else humans could possibly create. Video games most likely are the ultimate artistic medium that we have created so far. When I say ultimate art form I am not trying to justify that it is better than all others because all art should be respected within its own context what I mean is that the sheer amount of artistic talent video games take along with the experience that can give you something that no other artistic medium alone can give.

Not even 20 minutes into The Last of Us and it has us feeling emotionally attached to a character we have only just met.

The Last of Us, many of the Final Fantasy games, The Journey, Bioshock, Shadow of the Colossus, Mother 3, Undertale are just a few great examples that come to mind which shows how great video games can be.

Although there is significant proof and evidence that video games do belong as a form of art, one must first remember that art is ultimately one’s own perception as there is no wrong or right way to successfully define art.
But ultimately, if art is one’s own perception, I wholeheartedly agree that video games are, without a doubt, one of the most unique forms of art that mankind has ever or will see.

Do you think video games should be considered the ultimate art form in the context I specified considering all the artistic mediums and the experience itself or not?

Sources:

1. imgur
2. Gameskinny
3. Youtube