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Are the Five Nights At Freddy's Games Art?

For years people have debated weather video game design is a form of art. In my eyes it is, weather it is in character design, scenery, theme, story, plot points, etc. Before people found film making not an art form, but video games have an advantage over film as an art form because in games, you are interacting with it. But when a game stays in your mind long after turing off the game, creates an emotion in the viewers, makes you question the character's actions, or draws you into looking at the piece again, that is when a game is truly a work of art. Recently there are a series of games that has made people frightened, talking, dive deeper into the lore of the franchise, and has done something incredible that most games in the same genre are unable to do.

    In August 2014, "Five Nights at Freddy's" was released on Steam. The object of the game is the player gets a job as a security guard working a graveyard shift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, an entertainment center/restaurant similar to Chuck E Cheese. Your job is to monitor the animatronics, who are on a free roaming mode to prevent their servos from locking up. But you have to keep them out of your office because if they see you, they think you are a naked endoskeleton and would stuff you into an empty costume, killing you in the process. But what makes the game difficult is you have limited amount of power each night, and you have to get through to 6AM as your power drains.

    I saw several videos of people playing the game and I was laughing at the guys screaming like little girls. I bought the game for my tablet after many sites recommended it. It was very intense playing, but I was able to get through the first night without much trouble. I almost beat the second night but I ran out of power at 5AM, so I tried again but died half way by Bonnie the Rabbit. I had to stop playing, my heart was pounding so hard and fast. I had trouble sleeping at night after playing, I would wake up in fear hearing footsteps coming towards my room, even though it was just my cat walking around. I would also wake up several times to see if the lizard plush toy I have on my shelf was still in one place and not walking around while I was out! 

    This game did something most horror games I have played could not do, it brought a fear in me even after the game was turned off, by resurrecting a childhood phobia. What was I afraid of when I was little? THE GUYS WALKING AROUND DISNEYLAND IN THE COSTUMES! I always thought they were really monsters dressed as lovable cartoon characters as a facade! DID ANY OF YOU FOUND THEM SCARY?! ANYONE? Oh yeah, and also that scene from "Dumbo" where he gets intoxicated and hallucinates the pink elephants, most of the scene was trippy, but there were a couple of parts that freaked me out! I thought I just outgrew that fear and got over it as I got older, but it turns out it stayed in my mind the whole time. But as the game became viral, it turns out I was not alone, millions of people shared the same or a similar phobia.

    When the sequel was released, I was still drawn into looking into the game, even though I didn't buy it. I found the backstory of the games so fascinating, including how the sequels change the gameplay. And I found the gameplay changes for the second game so interesting, as subtle as removing the doors, winding up the music box to keep the puppet at bay, or the inclusion of toy versions of the previous animatronics is, it intensified the tension drastically. Once the third game was just released, the fear and paranoia was intensified once again, despite the fact that there was only one animatronic to worry about, making you feel schizophrenic. Without spoiling too much, the ending is bitter sweet, having people sad about the ending wondering if there will be more games in the franchise, but ok with how it ended. 

    So why is these games art? Let's look at the games overall: They are simple. Simple gameplay and layout, and to the point, so anyone can play whether they are hard core gamers or not. Its fear is effective to the majority of video game players demographics because most of them were children in the 80s and 90s, when places like Chuck E Cheese were very successful and popular. It got players terrified long after the games were over, something most horror games are unable to do, by doing something different: attacking an irrational childhood fear,  They are fascinated by the story of the games so much so they are demanding sequels so they know the next part of the story and how the gameplay will change. So I think we owe the series creator, Scott Cawthon, a little respect for making something pretty revolutionary in creating horror games. 

What do you guys think? Write down what you guys think of FNAF?

http://ai-don.deviantart.com/journal/Is-Five-Nights-At-Freddy-s-Art-518113242