Should game mechanics be considered art?
Every once in a while this topic comes back.
Are games art?
It's a hopeless topic, to be honest. People invested in game development win on the market (as a sector, obviously not everyone), win in the eyes of scientists (usually, at least), but yearn to win in the eyes of art critics, the least educated and least open-minded group of the three.
It gets better, but only because of the generation shift.
But let us think about it. What makes art art?
Why are books art? Why are we admiring them?
they have something to say
we appreciate how they are written, and their style
When we look at paintings or any pictures whatsoever... what makes them art?
they have something to
sayshowwe admire the painter's style, and their attention to detail1
Why are we considering movies as art?
Entire teams make them, yet all the glory falls on the director, maybe the screenwriter, the composer, and some of the main cast. And yet...
They have something to say!
We admire the mastery of visual narration and the fancy tricks
mis-en-scene
juxtaposition
We like images that say a thousand words, and storytellers like George Miller who can do that.
And then there's music.
When it has lyrics, it may have something to say.
And there's the ability to convey mood and emotions through musical instruments and melody.
Although this is not a proper hierarchy, it's kind of close to one. Simpler media enhance those more complicated.
And then there are video games.
Video games use all of these assets above, yet most people seem to value only the cinematic games. Some people go to the extent to say bullshit like "There was nothing between Mario jumping on the head of his enemies and The Last Of Us" (you know who I’m talking about).
If you ask me, this is why it is good that video games work as a market, because if we were to depend on critics thinking like that...
These people don't play games, they watch their cutscenes on YouTube.
The true art of video games lies in their interactive mechanics.
The possibility of interacting with their environment, making choices there, and watching them play out before your eyes.
We not only live the emotions given to us, but we also participate (even if they are scripted) in creating them!
Game mechanics are art, as none of the other mediums give you interactivity.
But we should not focus, on or reward games with the biggest cinematic experience, but rather those who explain reality, introduce thinking models, and incept empathy through experiences!
isn't it funny that most popular pictures are actually painters exercising how to paint textures on fruits?
On the basis that any form of expression can qualify as art, or that stirring emotion in the audience can qualify as art, I can agree that gaming mechanics can be art.
But it's that usual issue - when is something art? Are all creative things art?
In your examples, the artist had something to say.
Once the art becomes "interactive", it's no longer the artist speaking; it's we ourselves speaking.
True art is the expression of God through their work which others can recognize. Interactive games lose their expression of God since it's not the artist who is expressing God but the player who is expressing the developer.