Can video games be considered art? This is a topic that has been recently revisited by Roger Ebert, movie critic, who believes that video games cannot be art. He asks the question “Why are gamers so intensely concerned, anyway, that games be defined as art?” and he states that “ Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form.” I could debate the idea that video games can be art but I was more intrigued by his question. Why do gamers (such as myself) care if video games are considered art.

I believe that gamers want video games to be considered art for several reasons.One main reason is that to be considered art is to give an object a certain level of respect that separates it from the mundane or conventional. If some video games can be considered art than video games as a medium may receive the same respect as an expressive form the likes of which film and music receive. Another reason is that gamers feel disrespected when their emotional responses towards a video game are not regarded as important or acknowledged when compared to an emotional response from another art form. By saying that someone’s deep appreciation and emotional experience to a form, such as a video game, is not as real because it is not experienced through ‘true’ art feels disrespectful. 

Another reason that gamers want video games to be considered art is that they wish for others to share that emotional experience, and they would be more intrigued to experience the game if it were considered as an art form. Many people dismiss video games as art because of the mainstream conceptions of them as being ‘kiddie’ toys. True, there are many games that are ‘kiddie’ but the same can be said about film, television and music.

wow, nice. i know what your saying.