Interestingly I think this article misses a fundamental point. I have a dear friend, a long time artist (who went to Goldsmiths and the Royal Academy) and who

Interestingly I think this article misses a fundamental point. I have a dear friend, a long time artist (who went to Goldsmiths and the Royal Academy) and who paints 8 paintings a week, rain, snow or shine. He has always talked about the need for art to emote, or at least provoke thought in (in the case of much modern art) the viewer. His art, he says, is trying to capture a moment in his life and display that in a way that others might glimpse his life even though they could never be him. By these criteria perhaps video games present the most formidable medium in order to achieve the lofty goal. While one cannot directly control the exact interaction a good video games can steer a player in the same way a good director or leads the audience or an author leads her readers. By setting up scenarios and situations which create the opportunity to feel or think an idea that is entirely novel to us because we have been guided to it. The power of interaction can bring this to a new level over traditional mediums because of the exploration of the player. In basic computer science we are taught about the difference between data, information and knowledge. The knowledge being that information which a person is not only able recollect but also directly apply. As an IT trainer I know from experience the way people gain knowledge is by taking an abstract piece of information, and discovering how it works. The phrase "let them work it out for themselves" is common, because it reflects the simple truth. If art is about experience, emotional or cognitive, interaction offers the most concrete vehicle of human learning to reach states of exerience as never before. I would contend that video games are indeed art of the highest order.