This is definitely an unpopular opinion, but I think when video games were embraced as art it caused a loss of appreciation for the unique way that video games are art (even the people who loved gameplay above all else proudly not considering it art). The play became just a vehicle for linear storytelling, 2d art and 3d modeled art. Don't get me wrong, I also love these art forms! But it was really sad to see gameplay stripped down to bare formulaic skeletons, when gameplay should be art itself.
Portal, Undertale, and Prince of Persia are some examples of games whose stories and art cannot be separated from their gameplay. For a while, in the late 00s-early 10s, there was a wave of both AAA and indie games like this. The gameplay was a central part of the dynamic, not something to quietly prop up the other two. The Wii really expanded on this potential. And that's not getting into all the fun possibilities of dance and music integration DDR and Guitar Hero opened up!
And of course, my favorite--interactive fiction, like parser fiction and point-and-click adventures. The sprawling tree of possible interactions blurs the line between game and story in a way it's difficult to classify as either! Watching a linear playthrough could never capture the experience of navigating it yourself, because there were so many possible combinations, not just a different order of events.
And everyone was always pushing to find something new. Now, even with the vast potential of VR, I haven't seen a lot of that.
I miss you, gameplay as art.
I love that nearly every game mentioned as an example in comments or reblogs is one of my favorite games of all time (Disco Elysium, Lisa, Hollow Knight, Shadow of the Colossus, Outer Wilds, From Software titles...)
