Video Games as Art

When it comes to "art," I tend to be very inclusive yet critical at the same time. That is to say, I am willing to accept most everything as "artistic," but once I have, I will be very critical of its quality.

Video Games: It would seem very apparent that video games are art: they possess a story, with an often well developed plot and characters, and there is very obviously a significant amount of visual artistry that goes into developing them. Why then would Roger Ebert, the renowned movie critic, declare that "video games can never be art?"

Ebert's argument is that video games are an activity, as their name suggests, a game. And that as such, they are automatically removed from contention as being art. Citing the examples of Bobby Fischer and Michael Jordan, he states that those players never sought to have their activities deemed as "art."

First, do we not often look at sports stars or participants in various hobbies and activities and say "they make it an art?" Second, Ebert is arguing against the players of the video games as artists, where it seems the creators of the video games are the obvious artists. While Fischer or Jordan may not be "artists," someone had to design and create the chessboard and basketball equipment, and it would be either naive or elitist to say that their work is not art.

While I would agree with Ebert in that "No one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets." And a great number of video games, while still acceptable as "art," are, to put it plainly, very crappy pieces of art. But anyone who has seen something like the video below must agree that in the very least, video games are creative and inspire creativity, which is, in my belief, a core part of what "art" is.