I don't see the validity in your argument,
@Hellis. I see where you're coming from, but it's contradictory. On the one hand you're telling me that "art" is an interpretation to be classified by the viewer, while on the other hand attempting to classify the same medium we're talking about.
Isn't that for the viewer to decide? I'm not trying to sound snobbish, but just to point out the flaw in your argument, I would respond with something along the lines of "Who the fuck are you to tell me that Heavy Rain isn't art?" Maybe you didn't enjoy it. But if someone else did, can they not classify it as art? Isn't art in the eye of the beholder, as we've been saying all along?
You can call it "not a game," certainly. Though "barely a game" is probably more accurate because it is playable, making it a game by definition. By your logic, The Walking Dead series of point-and-click games by Telltale aren't games either because they've taken out the gameplay, and those have been pretty critically acclaimed. In fact by your logic, any point-and-click adventure is not a game, which seems ridiculous and a bit hypocritical.
For the record, I'm aware that KARA is not a game. But I pointed it out because it's a perfect example of
what games can achieve in terms of depicting and conveying emotions to an audience in a manner that games traditionally do not use.
Isn't that what we just mentioned earlier in the thread as being what art is, in the first place? The ability for a piece to invoke thought and emotion on its viewer?
Bottom line, I'm not here to start or continue an argument about what classifies (or declassifies) a game as an expression of art.
I made the post specifically to point out how emotionally powerful games can be as works of art.
In KARA, I am made to sympathize with the primary character and experience emotions related to that character within just mere MINUTES of watching. One of my points is, imagine that type of storytelling drawn out over a game played for dozens of hours, where we can really develop the character and connect with the character. That type of good storytelling is rare, even in non-gaming media.