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Video Games as Art · Gwern.net

gwern.net · 3,400 words · saved by 2 readers

Video games are art, but a strange art: their essence is transformation of the player, not description to the player. This makes meaningful criticism nearly impossible—you can point at the moon, but it’s not the moon, and once someone sees it, they no longer need the pointing.

--- title: Video Games as Art description: "Video games are art, but a strange art: their essence is transformation of the player, not description to the player. This makes meaningful criticism nearly impossible—you can point at the moon, but it’s not the moon, and once someone sees it, they no longer need the pointing." thumbnail: /doc/ai/nn/transformer/gpt/dall-e/4o/2026-01-17-gwern-gpt52-fingerpointingatmoonsunset-vectorartstriped.jpg thumbnail-text: "Video game criticism is like a finger pointing to the moon at dusk: it can but gesture in the direction of the reality, and like the Owl of A

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