Computer Games as Works of Art

Abstract

This chapter aims to answer the question: Can computer games be regarded as works of art? To answer this question, one has to analyse the notion of art and also the term computer games. Art can be conceptually analysed within a dialogue of continental and analytical philosophy: with different authors of philosophical aesthetics such as Hegel, Heidegger, Adorno and Danto, it can be systematically said that works of art have to be understood as a source for our historical self-understanding. Concerning computer games, despite their young existence they have already developed a significant heterogeneous tradition: an essentialistic concept of computer games is – in the same way as an essentialistic concept of any medium – inappropriate. Thus, the answer to the initial question can only be that some computer games are candidates for being regarded as works of art, while by no means can all computer games be regarded as art. Computer games do not differ from other media and arts in this respect: the fact that something is a movie or something is a song does not make it a work of art necessarily.