Videogames Are Not Art

I'm back, finally.

I actually hit 60 a week ago but I'm a slacker.

While I was on hiatus, the thing that I most missed writing about was the words of Roger Ebert (movie critic), concerning video games.

[T]he nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship [however elegant or sophisticated] to the stature of art.

I have to say to Mr. Ebert : you are 100% correct.

Videogames are fun. They provide enjoyment to common people. They are relevant. They survive by being asthetically pleasing, instead of surviving because they have a massive industry that insists they are asthetically pleasing.

All of those things are completely contrary to what art is all about. Art typically requires some sort of welfare to survive. It is generally inaccessible to those who are not disciples of that particular type of art. It survives by leeching from the powerful (who are leeching from the proles).

Videogames are not art, and I'm not sure why anybody would want them to be. If videogames were art they would be extinct or irrelevant.