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The discussion is turning circles because it is already the same as always: We are talking about DRM at all, we are talking about the basic problems and it does nothing more. What is changed for now? Has anybody quit Steam for now? Even if most participants here have a common sense for DRM after writing in the forum here the next step is therefore to login in the Steam-profile searching for next release. Indeed that does not change anything and turning circles. Indeed a game is not comparable to an operating-system but to be clear: What about the activation of Microsoft Windows? What about the forced cloud-usage of the so-called Adobe Creative Suite? What about dongled software from Autodesk? Even if DRM is mostly used for games it won't stay there as it also demonstrated through beloved AACS for example. And it would be horrific if the companies have the complete power to intend what should be consumed or even which information should be known. We are already there! Do we have to support that voluntary by using tools?
My point is: Even if chess isn't art, you simply cannot extrapolate that no game is art. A piece of art is still a piece of art even if it is somehow functional. And most forms of art require rules, materials or other "non art stuff" to exist. But there's no universal definition of art, and no clear distinction between art and entertainment. Just like there's no objective definition of "good" art.
Agreed. No offense meant at any point of the conversation or course. My less than stellar social skills (and more often than not my dry sense of humour) sometimes make others assume hostility. On the contrary, I tend to like people, and what little I've gleaned of your character here on GOL makes me inclined to like you as well. So let's just amiably agree to disagree, although I'm still not sure we actually do.
edit: typo
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Art in games is used as a means to an end to convey the rules that define the gameplay. This does make rules themselves art. Therefore, games themselves are not art.
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And again, what makes a text adventure a game? It's not the "art", it's the rules, and a ruleset is not art.
We're not discussing the relative importance of a game's constituent parts, or even which of these parts have artistic value, but if their combination can be viewed as art. The ruleset might be vital to make a text adventure into a game, but the art is essential to make it worth our time. A game is not a concept you can cover with a single rule of thumb, as evidenced by you lumping chess and Gone Home into the same category, so your mileage may vary.
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I would say that all abstract human expression qualifies as art, which could even be argued to include a cohesive rule set which would make your entire argument invalid to begin with when coupled with my definition.
Nothing in this definition disqualifies the inclusion of a rule set either.
In the end though all this argument is really attempting to do is degrade games enough in order to justify your apathy, which I still can not help but find strange from someone who is invested enough to be active on a gaming focused forum.
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To put it another way, the closer a game is to art, the less it looks like a game.
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And, as such, that is a very poor definition of art, otherwise you're placed in the absurd position of arguing that the rules for chess are a work of art.
I think a much better definition can be found with a simple Google search: "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power".
I do not think games qualify as art based on this definition, which is a more widely recognized understanding of the term than the ridiculously broad definition you dug up at "The Free Dictionary" (and why do I get the feeling that you kept looking until you found a definition that suited your argument?).
I'm not trying to degrade games at all. I appreciate them as a form of entertainment, but I don't try and make them something they're not. What I find baffling are the people who feel the need to falsely elevate games to an artform in order to justify their interest in them. Isn't it enough to say that I enjoy playing games? For that matter, I enjoy watching football, but I don't need to convince anybody that the game of football is an artform in order to justify my interest.
I think the late Roger Ebert put it very well:
"One obvious difference between art and games is that you can win a game. It has rules, points, objectives, and an outcome. Santiago might cite a immersive game without points or rules, but I would say then it ceases to be a game and becomes a representation of a story, a novel, a play, dance, a film. Those are things you cannot win; you can only experience them.
[...]
"Why are gamers so intensely concerned, anyway, that games be defined as art? Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan and Dick Butkus never said they thought their games were an art form. Nor did Shi Hua Chen, winner of the $500,000 World Series of Mah Jong in 2009. Why aren't gamers content to play their games and simply enjoy themselves? They have my blessing, not that they care."
"Do they require validation? In defending their gaming against parents, spouses, children, partners, co-workers or other critics, do they want to be able to look up from the screen and explain, 'I'm studying a great form of art?' Then let them say it, if it makes them happy."
http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/video-games-can-never-be-art