ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at a common way videogames are often categorized as works of art. It argues that the answers to distinct questions regarding what makes an object art and how that object is to be appreciated once identified as art are often conflated. The chapter discusses the way in which scholars often argue that videogames are legitimate works of art, noting the lack of reference to game mechanics. It examines the case that specificity of art form plays a central role in the appreciative understanding of works of art; in the case of videogames, part of their distinctness as works of art is that they are games. The chapter offers an account of game mechanics that explains the impact that the gamehood of videogames has on the aesthetic attitudes toward the medium. It also offers a few examples of how game mechanics affect the aesthetic experience of playing videogames.
