[MrNash]

Constant discussion of whether or not games are art has really begun to wear on my nerves in recent months. By definition games are art. They're forms of creative expression. Period.

What people are really getting at when discussing "games as art" is whether or not they can be defined as high culture. Here's a quick rundown of the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, and his studies into high and low culture:

http://www.jahsonic.com/PierreBourdieu.html

Using Bourdieu's criteria for high culture, some games can indeed be defined as high culture because of barriers that surround them, preventing just anyone from picking up a controller and enjoying the title right away.

When people say games are art, they seem more interested in finding examples of specific games that can be held up as crowning creative achievements. That's fine, but they're really on a quest to find high culture. There is low and high culture in most other creative fields (film, literature, music, etc.), and the same holds true in video games.
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The Armchair Empire