Yes. Certainly they are.
But are they GOOD-worthy-of-being-taken-seriously art?
No. Not very often anyway.
This discussion was going on in a comment board I was reading and a video game guy defended video games from the charge of being "war porn" (because video games fetishize blowing shit up and discourage the player from criticizing violence) by arguing that the content of games wasn't the issue because, in his words, "Gaming is about gaming, not the story."
Exactly. And that is a good explanation of why the vast majority of video games are completely disqualified from being serious art. They may be clever ways to waste time. They may be great escapism. They may even help the use to develop cognitive or problem solving skills. They can be a fun hobby that allows you to interact with other people. (Like all hobbies and pop culture, games are a good ice breaker and a good way to develop casual friendships. The stereotype of the antisocial loner gamer is, in my experience, false.) But none of those things make something good art. If we do use the "art" standard to evaluate most games, they might be art, but they are dreadful art. Because the story generally doesn't stand up to much strutiny. Because that isn't why people play video games.
Most video games are indeed "about the gaming" and "not about the story." Certainly plenty of art is non representational or non narrative, so it's not that "story" needs to be an important concern of a work of art, but the idea that the plot doesn't matter kinda means you aren't dealing with art. "War Porn" is a pretty good term for what many of the most sophisticated games we've got these days are. It's fun to pretend to be a super soilder/secret agent/hitman/name your fantasy fighting dude character, but a narrative built around characters like that is going to have an awfully hard time passing the sniff test.
That doesn't make games "illegitimate." I have yet to read about a video game that has anything to say about the human condition that isn't recycled from either a really shitty sci-fi novel or a Micheal Bay movie. But so what? Everything doesn't have to be great art. I really liked the first Tranformers movie. It isn't serious art though. To borrow a metaphor from another post, I also enjoy masterbating from time to time. That isn't serious art either. Although I do tend to take it rather seriously at the time. . .
People into geek culture (I'm talking about people I know and about past versions of myself, not about some straw geek out there) have a tenancy to confuse "stuff I like" and "stuff that is cool" with "serious art." "Serious art" is evaluated by "serious art" criteria. You are free not agree with "serious art" criteria if you'd like, but don't be all insecure. The truth is that great art happens either because of the friction created by great artists or by folk traditions that allow for individuals to put their own stamp on archetypal tropes. Blockbuster big budget consumer culture DOES have elements of both of those things, but the ways that commercial pressures work in those kinds of media generally mean that seriousness is impossible. Hell, the GENRES that big budget pop culture productions like fancy video games have to work in make serious at really hard to come by. Face it, when you are doing something that involves pretending to blow up things with big ass guns, you might pick some kind of standard for us to talk other than "art." Unless you really enjoy looking silly.
Not saying video games are stupid. Not saying people shouldn't play them. Am saying you really shouldn't expect the rest of us to take them seriously. Not yet. There's no reason why a videogame couldn't be serious art. To my knowledge, it hasn't happened yet. There's lots of really fun, amazingly crafted stuff out there. But I'm not aware of a video game that has anything to say about aesthetics or about the human condition that's remotely valuable. But that's not really the point of a video game is it?
Just to clarify, when I say "serious," I don't mean "without humor" or "dramatic." I mean "worthy of critical scrutiny," "changes something about the way the viewer sees the world," and "overcomes the constraints of genre and convention." "Serious" art is worth considering no matter what. You often have to learn how to fully appreciate it. Even if your first encounter is engaging and fun and easy, you need to go back and see what's there. "Great art" is something that you engage in a life altering, serious way. You may not like some serious art, but if you grapple with it, it'll make you a better, more thoughtful person, even if you decide that it's a load of shit. There are handful of really exceptional videogames that do what they do so well that the player may be awestruck, but I know of no games that a non-gamer would have any reason to give a damn about.
Blah, blah blah. I'm done.