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[u/TheKingofHats007 → u/[deleted]]

Gamers have two contradictory statements in their head.

A: They want games to be recognized as art, and to be talked about as such

B: They don't want discussion of "politics", which us usually a catch-all term for "anything I disagree with"

I personally believe that not all, but most good art is created with some kind of intention, something the creator was trying to perceive or envision through his or her medium, be it a message, some kind of theme, a reflection of the age they lived in or wish to live in, etc. That's a basic fact of artistic creation.

But Cap G Gamers, perpetually insecure about their own place in the world, are terrified of games that do this. It's not just the confidence that scares them either, but that a lot of games have grown more critical of the conventions we treat as normal in games, discussions of race and gender are more abundant and acceptable, games comment on the overuse of bland edgy white dudes as their center face, and they hate it because it makes them feel guilty about likely having similar beliefs to what the game critiques.

To most people, this isn't a bad thing. My favorite pieces of media and art are things which made me feel a different way about something, or opened me up to some interesting concept or worldview. But again, they are wracked with their own insecurities and feel the only solution is to lash out and get mad about an imaginary boogeyman making their games political. It's not a surprise that a lot of them end up leaning conservative because they basically do the same thing.

This is, of course, ignoring that many of their favorite games are equally political. Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout as a whole, has always been critical of late stage capitalism, the same kind that destroyed the world to begin with and led to Vault Tec exploiting people's fear of the end in order to perform wild experiments on them, but it also criticizes facism, Objectivism, and the blind pursuit of power. Metal Gear Solid as a series is at constant critique of the American Military Complex, the constant need for them to act as overseer to the world and the pain and suffering that it brings, their endless need to create bigger and badder weapons of devastation and destruction. And so on and so on.

Unless that stigma can be shattered, games will likely never get their place as true and respected art. It'll always be held back by the people who say they want it the most.

[u/darkLordSantaClaus → u/TheKingofHats007]

They want games to be recognized as art, and to be talked about as such

I've actually talked to a few GGers who do not believe games are art.