So the root of these cyclical outcries by pressure groups and over-excitable censors does seem to be the pervasive misconception that video games are solely aimed at children or even adolescents.
QFT.
Some games are made for kids, just like
some movies are made purely for gruesome shock value and
some music exists solely to offend people.
As for the art thing, all of this boils down to the conflicting paradigm of the establishment or academic/cultural elites being given the largely unquestioned authority to govern or dictate what medium is and is not art, thus leaving the subject matter, in this case games, unshielded from certain kinds of unfair criticism and scrutiny. Shielding that "valid" works of art tend to receive.
Unfortunately there is little that can realistically be done about it, as society does in fact grant this power to the unseen "they" to make this determination and until they do, games will continue to be labeled in quixotic ways, both positive and negative, with all the ensuing drama that entails. Of course being labeled art won't be a panacea of acceptance, rendering all criticisms of the medium moot (who would want that?). It may, however, act as a vanguard, especially as it regards censorship.
As with all other forms of entertainment and, indeed, art, it is censorship that remains the greatest danger to the right (yes,
'right') of the individual to have unfettered access to the medium. History tells me that gaming will almost certainly win out in the end.
To quote a game:
Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
Yeah, it's just a big conspiracy, huh? The
establishment is trying to suppress the enormous vision of the gaming world. Oy.
The closest things we have to video games in "real life" are sports and other games (board games, card games, etc.) Those are not traditionally considered to be
artistic in nature. If you compare a sport to a video game, there are a lot of similarities:
1. Rules that dictate how the game must be played.
2. Distinctive visual elements (sports have uniforms and equipment, games have graphics.)
3. Competition and goal-setting.
Yes, artists work on games. Textures and music and models don't come out of thin air. But then business brochures also have art in them, produced by artists (photographers, graphic designers), and few people would come out and say business brochures are
art.
I'm not saying that
no game should be considered art, but that gaming is such a diverse arena we should hesitate to say
all games are art. I think the biggest disservice we do to the argument of games as art is insisting that video games as a concept should be put under the artistic umbrella.
I don't think there is any question that
some video games should be considered art. RPGs that weave epic stories and contain strong characterization would be almost indistinguishable from a serialized TV show if not for the interactivity and formalized battle systems. Some games create an immersive experience and pull you into a richly-detailed and thought-out environment, which is ideally what any great work of art does. Some games challenge the conventions of the medium, which is an artistic move in and of itself--anything that challenges what constitutes art is inherently artistic, I think.
But then you have things like shoot-'em-ups, and those are a lot of fun, but artistically I think they're the equivalent of going bowling. It's amusing, there's a challenge involved, but it's probably not
art.
In short, I suspect a lot of the resistance to calling video games "art" is the insistence that the medium itself be considered artistic, thus encompassing all games under the umbrella of "art." And I think it's fair to criticize that approach. Gaming is diverse enough that we really should take the time to evaluate what sorts of games and what specific games really have artistic merit and which ones don't.
I am firmly in the camp pushing for video games to be recognized for their artistic qualities, but the question, "Are video games art?" has a much more nuanced answer than a simple "yes" or "no."
Sure, there's budget games, but having cheap stinkers is true with any media. And even budget games had an artist in there somewhere done the line. Trust me, I know 
