Video games do not measure up to great artworks

The argument

Supporters of this position accept that video games may be art and dispute only the rank claimed for them. The test they apply is comparative: set the medium beside the fine works of art that have inspired millions for generations — Van Gogh, da Vinci, Monet, Picasso, and a list that goes on well beyond those names — and not one example of a video game, they argue, can be produced as an equal. The claim is not that games lack beauty. Proponents readily grant that there are beautiful and inspiring games, only that none has yet achieved the standing those painters hold. The explanation offered for that gap is chronological rather than dismissive. Cultural impact of the kind the fine works possess is not conferred at the moment of creation; it is acquired, as successive generations return to a work and find that it still speaks to them. Video games have simply not been around long enough for that process to run its course. On this view the form is still in its infancy, and the absence of a perfect masterpiece reflects the shortness of that history rather than any ceiling on what the medium can do. The conclusion follows from the comparison rather than from a judgement about potential. Because the magnum opus has not yet reared its head, video games cannot at present be placed alongside fine art, however defensible their claim to be art in the broader sense. Supporters treat this as a description of where the medium currently stands rather than a permanent verdict: the implication of calling an art form young is that the masterpiece remains possible, and the case for withholding the title of fine art therefore rests on the record so far rather than on anything intrinsic to games themselves.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Whether there is a video game which matches up to the greatest art in history is a matter of opinion, not a hard fact. There are plenty of contenders in the video game world which one must experience to appreciate. One can't simply look at a video game and decide whether or not it's up to snuff with the masterworks of Monet; one must play the game as intended to appreciate the art as it was intended to be appreciated. There are video games that boast sublime artwork which mimics real life, or is abstract and thought-provoking. Video game scores exist which are composed by brilliant composers such as Nobuo Uematsu or Yasunori Mitsuda, who are revered in the gaming world for their outstanding soundtracks. Stories are told which unfold in innovative and unique ways. To say that video games have not reached a level of fine art is to write them off as art altogether; one cannot separate the two and call it "art but not fine art." Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and to many beholders, there are games which rival the greats and even surpass them.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Art is subjective. Whether or not a video game matches up to the greatest artworks in history is up to the beholder. [Rejecting P2] Video games are fine art if the person playing the game sees it that way.