I don’t think I could type “Video games are an art form” without half of the world rolling their eyes and the other half dismissing me entirely. To say that videogames are on the same level as music, painting, film, photography, and all of the many genres and subjects is to most people a brash move.

Yes, believe it or not, art form is still very unnecessarily debated in this day and age. You know, the day and age of self-proclaimed understanding and joyfulness and “we are so loving and accepting of one another, let’s have all skip down the street to our ‘Acceptance Orgy.’” But on the other side of that coin, heads being literal/humanity and tails being the art/expression side, we have every self proclaimed artist and their dogs, mothers, and cats combined fighting over what “counts” as art. Acceptance and valid viewpoints are thrown out the window to make room for whether or not a black-and-white picture of a lawn chair is a better form of art than a snake made of rubber hoses, or a movie about a depressed serial killer murdering his victims whilst reciting poetry and talking to people about how much the world is a messed up place.

At the bottom of this very-much-useless-and-needless arguing food chain are video games. We all know what video games are, no doubt, but some people have some misconceptions about what they can do in the same way that Osama Bin Ladin had a few misconceptions on the Quran. Video games, in a synopsis, are an electronic interaction between a subject - the player- and the medium -the game- on a screen. Now, this synopsis doesn’t say anything on any individual game, what it takes to make one, why they are important, and how they can be just as good, or even better, at immersing someone than any other art form combined. No, why argue and explore that when we can simply look at a gaming console and say “you press buttons and kill things therefore it is not an art form.” I’m sorry if I sound bitter, well, I’m actually not very sorry seeing as how this is an essay, but I digress.

It’s safe to say that some quote-unquote “well versed fans of art” need a good repeated slapping in the face with a pair of dog balls. Some of these people go to the very school that I’m sitting in, pretend I’m waving at you while saying “I think you’re wrong,” but some very big name people have gone on record as to saying that videogames are not art. Roger Ebert was probably the biggest name, but some other noteworthy faces have come out to say that they don’t consider video games art.

“To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.”
—Roger Ebert[18]

“One obvious difference between art and games is that you can win a game. It has rules, points, objectives, and an outcome. Santiago might cite a [sic] immersive game without points or rules, but I would say then it ceases to be a game and becomes a representation of a story, a novel, a play, dance, a film. Those are things you cannot win; you can only experience them.”
—Roger Ebert[22]
Now, Roger Ebert was an amazing critic with an amazing show, but to say that he got everything right would be stretching it to the moon and back, specifically giving well-loved films like “The Raid,” “Kick Ass,” and “Die Hard” two stars or less, and and my God is he mislead here. First of all let’s get the little niggles out of the way before I slap Roger Ebert’s opinion across it’s face with dog bollocks.

“-for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.” Not only is this a poorly written sentence -I very much doubt that games represent a waste of time to gamers- but I would argue it’s just plain inaccurate. Saying that no one in your field as has been able to cite any video game as being comparable to any other artistic work is wrong. Yep, plain and simple wrong, see Hollywood Really Loves That MGS5 Trailer and P.T on the internet. A few very well known and loved filmmakers express how good the footage for an upcoming game is and how close to film it is while also being a video game. That coupled with the fact that more and more filmmakers are actually starting to make a name for themselves in video games proves my point that videogames are on the caliber of film. If you need a straightforward example of that, look up “Last of Us Movie Cut,’ and see for yourself.

“Santiago might cite an immersive game without points or rules, but I would say then it ceases to be a game and becomes a representation of a story, a novel, a play, dance, a film. Those are things you cannot win; you can only experience them.”

Wait, so a game can’t be a game without goals and objectives? Can’t a game have representation of a story without having goals and objectives to complete? How do you even define an objective when it comes to art? Most art is representation, which is the reason why you don’t see a post-it note next to a sculpture of a block of cheese explaining how it’s a representation of Jesus and his disciples. Can’t goals and objectives, motives and reason, be just a little bit in the grey area?

Nope, back to juggling around physical usefulness in the form of black-and-white pictures of lawn chairs.
Now, to bring about my final point and therefore slap Roger Ebert and any nay-sayer pretending to know anything about art across the face, art, is purely expression. It’s figurative in every sense of the word, and to say that it’s not and that only certain things or pieces are art is, as we with strong vocabulary like to say, is a really stupid thing to say, and people that think that need to have their underdeveloped brains even further blended with an industrial strength concrete mixer. Hell, the webster definition of art is “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings.” Literally anything that anyone puts their imagination and elbow grease into can, and inevitably will, count as art. And if you don’t think so, I won’t say you’re wrong, as it goes against all of my “Acceptance Orgy” principles, but I will say that literally and figuratively, to most of the world, you are severely misguided.

I will also say myself that you are seriously misguided.

Now, I’m going to argue what videogames do that no other art form can even compare to, at least for the next dozen decades. And that is, immersion. With a video game, you control someone or something. As soon as you pull up the blankets, turn out the lights, and press the start button, you are in the video game. Are you literally inside the video game? No, but you are controlling it. At that point on, if you control a flower petal trying to bring back life and color into an almost apocalyptic world, you are the petal. Your actions determine how far that flower petal is ever going to get. With a movie or book, the characters and objects will go on regardless, but with a videogame, you are that character or object. The game’s not going to play itself, you have to be the one to guide yourself and James Sunderland through his, and your, personal hell of Silent Hill. This makes every scare happen to you and the character. That is what is so beautiful about games to me. You and the character are one, both controlling the action, both sharing the moments. You plain-and-simply don’t get that with other art forms. That is what I would argue is unique to videogames, why it’s the best and most important art form in today’s culture, and why it’s so damaging that no one is letting be considered one, and therefore stunting the art forms growth.

Though, I have no doubts that gaming has and will continue to grow. Soon enough, sitting down and playing Spec Ops: The Line or Metal Gear Solid will be recognized as the equivalent to sitting down with a nice classic movie.
Video games have, and always will be, growing, in both quality and recognition, and I can’t wait to see it happen.