Park making: an art or just gaming?

A lot of people argue that some video games can be considered artistic, especially with the famous PlayStation 3 game Journey. But what about games where you can implement your own creativity? The gist of what I'm trying to say is, would park making in the Roller Coaster Tycoon series be considered an art form? There is no doubt that some people put an absolute exorbitant amount of time into making sure every single fine detail is perfect and that no stone is left unturned when it comes to making realistic parks that would be able to exist in real life, much how an artist in hyperrealism takes extra measures to make sure that the painting is absolutely flawless. Also; and I'm talking from first-hand experience, in order to get good at park making, you just need to keep doing it over and over again to hone your skills.

With all of this in mind, would it be considered an art form?

I think at some point it becomes more than just a strategy game... Personally I think RCT is arguably similar in nature to Minecraft in this case, not everything made in-game is art but with enough effort it can be.

For example, for the last few days I've been working on a realistic log flume called Renaissance Falls. While the un-customized log flume isn't art I like to think that what I've been working on gets pretty close...

The main difference between the two is effort, the one on the left took about 10 hours total to make and has a completely custom support system that follows the terrain, a custom station, and an underground section (Not to mention themeing)... The one on the right is the exact same design, but took about 2 minutes to make (Copy & Paste) and lacks everything above.

So to completely answer your question, if an entire park had the level of detail and effort that the left log flume has then I would definitely consider it art, however a park thrown together in an hour with basic coasters, no attention to detail, and an utter lack of anything custom would in my opinion just be playing the game.

^ The thing with conventional art (drawing, painting, movies) is that it can be bare bones and bad but still can be considered art.

I honestly think all of the sandbox portion of RCT is art, but the strategy part isn't.

It can be an art, and in many forms...

Some are good at building custom scenery, (thank YOU guys, the game wouldn't be half as good without those great custom scenery sets etc, they need to put some of you on the payroll!)

Others are good at coasters, others still at inventing stories and patter to accompany their screenshots, some go as far as to make feature-length movies...

Some have their forte all around.

And there is certainly a right way and a wrong way or "art" to doing something, and that includes park management and all the rest, they are very addicting arts.

I like to say that while the parks are only cyber, the happiness they bring to so many is real enough.

I also like to say that we take the business of FUN very seriously.

Thx

I think one of my 2 launch coasters in one of my first parks is art- Fire and Ice.

Fire. Ice. Over-banked curves. .