Video games

This thesis is based on a detailed analysis of various topics related to the question of whether video games can be art. In the first place it analyzes the current academic discussion on this subject and confronts different opinions of both supporters and objectors of the idea, that video games can be a full-fledged art form. The second point of this paper is to analyze the properties, that are inherent to video games, in order to find the reason, why cultural elite considers video games as inferior in relation to traditional forms of art. In addition to features of games like entertainment, competitivness and unproductivity, this part examines the circumstances that have an impact on current game design, like mass popularity and game developers pandering to wide audiance. Due to these circumstances, the majority of video games can be considered kitsch. Following passage through the application of theory of kitsch on specific video game shows and identifies tendencies in game design that cause this condition. Conclusion of the second chapter, however, shows that some video games exhibit characteristics that are generally regarded as positive elements of art works and by that they avoid being branded as kitsch. The last part of this thesis, based on cluster theory of art, identifies and analyzes..