[JohnBooty]

    a well-developed aesthetic that is used as an informed choice

Wow! I love the way you phrased this, and your post in general. It put into words something I had struggled to express.

For too long, pixel art and other "dead" technologies like Q1 mapmaking were largely treated solely as kitchsy "retro" or "nostalgic" aesthetics and not worthy of study, refinement, and enjoyment in their own rights.

[badsectoracula]

Personally i'm of the opinion that if you can point at a game and say "that looks like a XYZ game" where XYZ is some period-specific identification then that itself makes XYZ a visual style.

E.g. "that looks like a PS1 game" or "that looks like a 90s game" or "that looks like a DOS game". And that includes "that looks like a PS3/X360 game" too, even if it is probably too soon for many to accept that :-P

[foobarchu]

Huh, an interesting conclusion to me is that I'm another decade or so there will probably be nostalgic artwork recreating the HDR, brown, grimy vibes of late aughts action games

[JohnBooty]

oh god. oh... oh no.

well, i think you're right.