If Awe Makes Art, then Shut Up Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was pretty adamant that videogames can never be art

What makes great art? Often, the only answer is some form of "It inspires awe."

Well, can videogames inspire awe? Yes! In 5 ways at least.

Videogames have always been tied to the novelty of
new technology. Graphics capabilities especially have
been a constant source of awe in videogames.

In fact, videogames have helped drive the progress of computers,
just as the progress in computers has inspired new videogames.
Awe is a constant companion to this push.

Videogame concept art is often awe-inspiring in the way it pulls
the viewer into a whole new world

Game rules themselves can send a rhetorical message
just like any other medium, as is the case with
the 2006 game The Marriage by Rod Humble

Videogames also inspire the development of
awe-inspiring levels of skill. One man beat
Super Mario Bros. 3 in just 11 minutes.

In fact, this skill is so appreciated by other gamers that
eSports is now a legitimate industry, with League of Legends
holding its world championships in 2013 in the Staples Center in LA,
the same place the NBA finals were played the year before.
Tickets sold out in under an hour.

Some games also are extremely detailed, to the point that it can
cause us to look at our own world more closely.

Games can also be inspire awe with their sheer size. For instance,
if the world of Minecraft were real, its surface area would be
9 million times that of the Earth.

The number and dedication of participants in videogames is also awe-inspiring.
Players of Minecraft have rebuilt entire cities (fictional and real) brick by brick.

The number of mind-blowing statistics around videogame participation
is itself mind-blowing. League of Legends has 70 million players. Players have
spent a collective 6 million man-years in World of Warcraft.
Twitch.tv has over 45 million users who watch an average of 106 minutes a day.
Pewdiepie has 15 million YouTube subscribers and over 2 billion video views.

The relationship between "art" and humanity is largely established
on the basis of awe.

Videogames have that same relationship. Why aren't they art?