In doing some research for our video/audio essay on gaming I came across this Youtube by Nerdwriter1. In this Youtube Nerdwriter unpacks the discussion around whether video games have the merit to be considered art and in doing so makes some interesting comments about media more generally. He comments on how contemporary games have narratives superior to Hollywood films. They are highly visually digitally sophisticated and can have fully formed ecologies. He says “The extraordinary injection of subtly and beauty into the universe of video games seems to be a herald of what gaming can and will be to us in the future.”

He finalises the discussion by saying that in particular the game Journey creates and places the player in “an emotional space unique to all other forms of media.” Heres what Wikipedia has to say about the game Journey; “The developers sought to evoke in the player a sense of smallness and wonder, and to forge an emotional connection between them and the anonymous players they meet along the way.”

Although Nerdwriter evades answering his own question directly, It makes me wonder… Video games can be aesthetically incredible, and interact with all your senses at once. They draw you in and you individualise them (like each viewer’s unique interpretation of a painting) by playing them.  If they can immerse you completely and most importantly if they are heralded as “an emotional and moving experience” as Journey was, then what is holding them back from being forms of art? I would like to know what other people think, particularly gamers.