ISTA 301: Video Games as "Art"

I've been sitting here trying to think of a topic that I could talk about as "Art". I've been trying to avoid using video games, but ultimately, I don't see why I should avoid them.

Video games have risen to be a part of the culture of the 21st century. E-sports have been on the rise, with events such as "Intel's Extreme Masters" (IEM) hosting the ever popular online game League of Legends. These events may seem strange to those not fans of the game (I'm an avid League of Legends player, as are my  close friends and my girlfriend), but they are able to create a large variety of reactions. How does this make it art though? Well, think of the websites hosting these events as a theatre. The players can be considered actors of a play being hosted in this theatre. For there to be performers however, there needs to be something to act out. Where does that come from? A team of artists, designers, and musicians called Riot Games. 

The Shadow Isles, a locale in League of Legends

Take a look at the character design process for League of Legends, especially for one of the more recent characters: Elise, the Spider Queen. I chose Elise for several reasons, but the main one is that she was in development for ~3 years. Her concept has changed several times, and as a result her character has evolved. Besides her concept being changed, there are also several other examples of Art with Elise. 

Elise's Original Concept

Elise's Final Design

A sound team also developed unique theme music to be played during the login process of League. Though not the first time this was done (the first was with a different champion, Diana), Elise was the first to have a monologue associated with her login screen. 

Finally, though not unique to Elise, League itself has an extensive amount of art in the overall designs of champions. They all start with concept art and skill design. These are tweaked and sometimes completely redone from start to finish, with a team of developers working on it. This creative process can only be considered art, and is applied to every game. Video games are a combination of various art forms: visual, audio, and conceptual and League of Legends is simply one example of it.