Games

I actually have come around to games not being art, but my argument is very different from the vast majority of people.

Games aren't art in the same way a piano isn't art and a guitar isn't art and a paintbrush isn't art. It's an instrument to create art, and while we can engage with pedantry over whether pianos, guitars, and paintbrushes can themselves be art, nobody seriously considers them art beyond "good craftsmanship automatically becomes art." It's the music being played by the piano and the painting being painted with the paintbrush that is art.

So what is the game equivalent of music and paintings? It's essentially every single instance of the game being played by the player. That is the art. The any% speedrun is the art. The speedrunner is the artist. The actual game is the instrument in which the speedrunner the artist brings forth their art the speedrun into the world.

It's stunning how games map so well with musical instruments, especially with PC games vs pianos:

• game dev = composer

• game engine = physical construction of the piano

• level design = sheet music

• saving = playing the piece at a particular measure instead of the very beginning

• mods = writing on the sheet music

• speedrunning = playing the piece with a much faster tempo because you're bored playing the same piece over and over again at the same andante tempo

• sound and visual from the game = sound and vibrations from the piano

• keyboard and mouse = keyboard and pedal

• gaming chair = piano bench

• videogame player = piano player

• "I play videogames" = "I play the piano"

You could probably set up a rhythm game played on a PC keyboard and a piano program also played on a PC keyboard with identical keystrokes and identical music being played. But the miscategorization would have people believe that the rhythm game itself is the art and not just an instrument like the piano program.