Can There Be An Impressionist Game? (ihobo)

Over on ihobo today, my rather late Round Table entry, which is largely a discussion of why I failed to enter the Round Table this month. Here's an extract:

Can there be an impressionist game? Certainly, we could make a game with an impressionistic art style. But would it really be an impressionist game? I find myself doubting this. The essence of what we mean by “game” is a formal system, and the formal is precisely what impressionism was rebelling against. Perhaps we could make an interactive impressionist experience, and some might call it a game, but this for me falls short of the challenge of this Round Table.