Do you make art?

I’m not asking if you think that games are art in general. Rather, do you consider the games that you, personally, have made or are making to be art? Are you an artist as a developer? Why or why not?

I have a hard time thinking of my own work as being art, even though I do feel that there’s artistry to it. There are probably a few reasons for that, but I think what it comes down to is that it just feels a bit too haute to call myself an “artist.” I just make what I want to make, for my own reasons, and hope that somebody else out there enjoys my work. I also never really internalized the “games as art” conversation. I grew up playing games long before that discourse came and went, and I never took much of a position on it.

more people make art than realise it; many even make it not wanting to. i respect people’s wish to self-label their work, of course, but the point i’m getting at is that making games at all is art, no matter how corporate or shallow it gets.

is there any particular reason you would not want something you’ve made to be perceived as art? i have trouble conceptualizing a downside to it