[_cairn]

RE: 'games are not art because they give you choices'

This is a really unfortunate argument to make in my opinion, it's pretty misleading and essentially an unfalsifiable claim. Music, film, poetry, literature - also all give you 'choices' in various forms.

I personally look at it this way - one thing about 'art' that sticks out to me is the fact that the portion of it (across all mediums) that I find the most compelling is the section that makes no presuppositions about deeming itself 'art' or 'great art'. As the audience I only come to the realization that something is 'art' once I've experienced it for myself. Music, film, literature and video games (also not an exhaustive list of mediums) alike can all have this effect in my experience.

[rhino369]

There is some choice I guess: how to interpret it, whether to view it, how to view it, etc. But you don't really change the work.

However, I'm not really sure why that would disqualify video games as an art-form. You can't just find a difference and then use that as a rationalization.

[cromwellian]

What about interactive modern art sculptures? Why are exhibits which let me plot my own path through a physical space experience "art", but doing the same through a virtual space with risk/reward, not art?