Art is subjective and therefore it's only really art if you feel like it is, and that's why people have an issue with Video Games being considered "art." They just don't consider it to be Art, and a lot of it has to do with that fact that Video Games started off more like "Toys," something you played with as a form of stress-relief or entertainment when there was nothing to really do.
I don't necessarily consider Video Games to be art. There's a lot of work that must be done in order for games to get over the hurdle they've been in for a while in that regard. At the moment the industry is filled with games trying to be Cinematic or Artsy and there's not enough Games that are trying to be Games. I feel like in order for a Game to truly be "Art," there has to be a good mix of Presentation, Gameplay, and all of that other junk. The thing is a lot of the really big Games right now don't push any boundaries. The Last of Us has a lot of "amazing" cinematics and people claim it's the "Citizen Kane of Video Games" but the gameplay is the same boring gameplay you had to sit through with Uncharted, so did people just watch the game as a movie rather than play the game as a game? Because the boring Gameplay in Uncharted was a common complaint when those games came out, and The Last of Us was just more of the same in that regard. Then there's games that try to force you to care about characters when the characters aren't really all that appealing or interesting to begin with. It gets worse as these games tend to pull twists like killing off said characters you're supposed to care about in an attempt to invoke an emotional reaction, and this is where a lot games fail at being art. You can't just pull something like that and I'm not sure why people praise these games for it. It's not deep or anything of the sort and you may as well just admit that your game wasn't very good at being a game if this is the kind of thing you have to pull just to get people to praise your game, and this is why I don't consider most games to be art.
Like I said earlier, the foundation of a game should rest on 3 things. The Presentation (Story, Cinematics, Art Style, etc.) The Gameplay (This should be the most important part) and The Music (Although this can sort of be mixed in with Presentation) Now consider these things as pillars or the structures holding a building up. The "building" in this case being a Video Game. If one pillar is stronger than the others, or if the pillars just didn't get any quality assurance to check if the pillars were stable, the foundation of the building crumbles and the building falls, but here's the next issue we've had with this kind of thing.
Video Games Journalists ruin it. There's a lot of rumors and accusations that Publishers pay off Video Games Journalists to give their Video Games fantastic reviews, even if the games aren't very good at all, in order to elevate sales numbers. So if this kind of thing is actually going on, then this only further hurts the idea that Video Games can be Art, because these people aren't being paid to give these games any actual critique. They're being paid to sugarcoat the issues with these games in order to get special privileges. Some of the highest rated games did not deserve their position or the praise they got because a lot of the time, people were knowingly sold very bad products, and this is the most important part of the issue
People who buy these games and also praise them without putting any thought into their purchases. This is bad because with your sale, you tell these companies and developers that you're okay with being screwed over with a bad quality product. Sure, it's your money, but as time passes and you start to realize that the game you used to love wasn't really as good as you thought it was and you probably wouldn't have bought it had you known the game wouldn't be so good, then it's nobody's fault but yours at that point. And since these Games tend to sell the most, then other companies will start trying to replicate that success and then there's just bad quality games everywhere.
If you want Games that are truly art, then you play something like Spec Ops: The Line, Super Mario Galaxy, ICO. These are the kinds of games we should be praising and playing and talking about. They aren't just Games. They're Games with some kind of message. A message that you have to actually put a lot of thought into. Games that do different things with all 3 pillars that Video Games should be designed around. Heck, Even Animal Crossing can be considered Art. The game gives you the option to run around all willy nilly throughout your town, but it has ways of punishing that kind of behavior. Bugs and Fish will run away, or in some cases, attack you. You will trample your flowers or make the grass deteriorate. If you try to time travel in an attempt to exploit some kind of mechanic, the game will further punish you by putting weeds all over your town, making it ugly. Your house will be covered in insects and you have to take the time to crush each and every one, and if you're involved in the "Stalk Market" your turnips go bad and your investment is wasted. If you try to reset the game to avoid some kind of mistake you may have made, you have to sit through a lecture from Resetti. All of these things lead to one central point.
"You can't cheat life, so slow down a little and try not to be so anxious or impatient and learn to enjoy the finer things in life."
Can Games be Art? Yes. They very well can. But the thing that ruins it all is one thing: People's perception of these Games.
When all you see in mainstream headlines about Video Games are some of the more "mindless fun" types of games, then it only muddles the vision that Video Games are Art. And even among Video Games Journalists, these games are also in the headlines very often, because these are the games the average consumer or gamer are more likely to be interested in. Games you don't have to put a lot of thought into. So a developer's focus shouldn't just be on trying to make a Game "art." It should be on proving that it's art through subtlety, while also providing fun and enticing gameplay. A Game that is "art" should be an experience, but also should be non-intrusive in the way it presents itself.
