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Some games are designed to be pieces of art. Games that tell stories and really take you through adventures, like RPGs and MMORPGs.

Other's, for the most part, are simple 'shoot it up' games to relieve stress, more like FPS (MW2, Black Ops, BC2- though BC2 is more realistic in comparison to the other two listed). They do take considerable skill in certain areas to play well, but they aren't necissarily the same as an RPG or MMORPG.

However, there are war games that really take strategy and work the brain for organizational skills, simulators of war in a sense, such as Arma or (so far as I've heard) Red Orchestra. These would remind me more of a puzzle or chess game for stimulation than reading a book/listening to music/watching a movie (or really grasping a higher meaning that can be applied to more in life).

At the same time the kind of skills it takes to play these games probably could be applied to more in life, and in a sense could be viewed as a piece of art in this way.

Of course, this is all just my opinion, and I think if an idividual can grasp a truely artistic quality from any game or any piece of work that that has some sufficient meaning. In other words, it can depend on the individual and what they take from it.

What do you think, Damien Plethora? : )

As a performing artist background, yes, I do consider video games a type of art. Not in the sense of art as traditional arts, but as a performing or multimedia art. Traditional art as well as performing art goes into the makings of a video game. So making a video game is an artisan activity, like crafting.

I think at first glance it can be harder (for some) to see simulators as art even though some of them really aim for accuracy at depicting real life situations in war and such, but in the end I believe that anything that is a form of expression or that gives you a deeper meaning that can be applied elsewhere is art. In ways, you can take away more meaning from certain simulators than just entertainment. The more you work on the kind of skills it takes you to play efficiently the better you get at them- organization, strategy, and communication with your team. That can be very useful in the real world.

The main reason I would see RPGs as art easier than FPS is actually the storyline (the fact that it can be a lot like a story, more interactive than a movie, but still having different characters, personalities, situations, choices to be delt with, and the consequences coming from those choices), but a lot of effort goes into making them look more visually appealing, too.

Yeah, in the end if someone can take away something meaningful from it, it's art as far as I'm concerned. That can really include any game. You've got to be quite creative to entertain people nowadays.

Yes, I believe video games are art.

I read these articles awhile ago and I thought it was pretty interesting.

http://willkendrick.tumblr.com/post/2879706691/are-video-games-art-aaron-smuts-abstract-in

and

http://willkendrick.tumblr.com/post/2880784048/10-video-games-that-should-be-considered-modern

Art speaks, tells stories, and has feeling.

Video games do all these things, and are surrounded by art, breathe art, and completely made by art. I am sure if you asked a producer of a video game, be it call of duty, left for dead, pokemon, final fantasy, vvorld of vvarcraft or any other type of game this question, they vvould all inevitably say "Of course my game is a vvork of art." ^_^

Dude I'm going to one of the top art schools in the country for game design. :V

There are so many aspects that can be considered art that it's hard to define what you would actually define as art. Art can be anything. I'm majoring in concept and design, so I'm taking hardcore illustration classes and design courses to ready me for actually coming up with the visual concepts behind the game. My friend is majoring in game design to be a game writer, and another friend is going for actual level layout and coding.