Do you consider computer games as the art ?

[sserega]

I compare computer games with the art, but my friend think quite the reverse. Why not?
Modern games are analogous to films, where the gamer are the main hero. Games have the same soundtrack, graphic. What do you think?

[jmmijo]

This is not only a very subjective observation but also true and false, let me explain.

It comes down to the individual and their respective perception of what art is and not neccessarily the narrowest of viewpoints as to what art is supposed to be

So what passes as art to one will not for another, the same for groups of people and/or regions of the world, not just countries.

Games to me are another form of story-telling, just like the written word. Both can very well be considered art or an art-form

[The_Sinister_Mastermind]

It can also be a matter of opinion on the individual games. And that’s not necessarily referring to the graphical quality of the game, rather like jmmijo said the story.

For me it’s the storyline that determines weather or not this is just another game to add to the pile or weather it’s a masterpiece worth coming back to time and time again, Dune II for instance.

[Dosser]

I think all video games are art. I've finished a game and am now putting the spit-shine on a second (hopefully finished tomorrow, with a website within a week), and even if you ignore the code, most of the game is art. Even basic graphics and music (DAMNED MUSIC) take ages to get right. I'd say only about 40% or less of the games are coding, then even within coding there's heaps of 'art', such as laying out the screen, run time graphics, blending images / music together etc.

The word art is hard to define, but games do have a lot of creativity put into them, they require a lot of effort. In the same way as paintings, they come in 'eras' where one is more prevalent than the others (the platformer era was 10 years ago, now probably at the FPS era).

I can't see any reason that games are different to art, except they exist on computers (which art is migrating towards anyway) and are interactive.