A lot of video games are quite aesthetically pleasing to me, especially older ones when limited graphics meant that developers had to be more inspired in creating attention grabbing visuals. And a lot of video game music is fantastic.
I think in both departments a video game can be artistic without a doubt. I think what people think games lack in artistic credibility is the stories, even when games do have very detailed, well made stories they tend to be on par with an action film or a shonen anime. Something that can be considered groundbreaking art is very rare. But I think if you look hard enough you will find games that fall into that category.
Stories are not a vital component (though they can enhance the experience), at least not backstories or cinematic cutscenes. The real "story" of a game is the gameplay itself, the experiences from playing the game and the events that unfold while playing it. Video games truly are stories that unfold differently every time you play them. The beginning and the end is already written by people who worked on the game, but there are different endings to choose from, and what happens in between is up to you, the player. To an extent anyway, you still have to follow rules created by the designer, though you can break some of them through cheats, glitches and hacks, creating a shift in power so to speak.
When you think about it, every time you get a game over that is the end of the story technically, and thus more of these tales end in tragedy than in prosperity. Deep huh?
Just want to show that I can be as pretentious about video games as am about everything else.
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