Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UWP 1
Discourse Community
Introduction
inseparable part of many young peoples lives. Among various kinds of video games,
MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games gradually become one of the most
popular games in the gaming market. What is a MOBA game? MOBAs are action
strategy-games that typically involve two opposing teams of five individuals. Each
individual controls one unit in a bounded map and the objective is to destroy the
opponents base. (Kokkinakis et al. 2). League of Legends, published by Riot Games in
2009, is at present the most representative and the most influential MOBA game. Today,
more than 100 million people play League of Legends per month. Obviously, the
members. Why is League of Legends so charming that attracts numerous young people to
be enthusiastic about this game? Definitely, League of Legends has its unique sparkles,
which create a strong appeal to young people all over the world. Nevertheless, there
might be many people think that playing League of Legends is a way of entertainment,
and some of them even think playing League of Legends is a waste of time. However,
young people and video game fans, which cultivates various communication genres in
League of Legends community and benefits certain peoples lives. In this paper, I will
analyze the specific gaming language in League of Legends and communication genres,
thus exploring the gaming culture of League of Legends. Moreover, I would discuss how
the development of the discourse community of League of Legends players promotes the
of them consist one team. The common goal of League of Legend players is to win the
game. In League of Legends, players assume the role of summoner that controls a
champion to battle against players from enemy team. Since League of Legends is a
team-oriented game, players must cooperate with teammates in order to win the game. In
one team, five players need to go different lanes, which are top, mid, jungle, adc, and
support. Top, mid, and adc will separately go to top lane, middle lane and bottom lane.
Support needs to protect adc and provide visions for the team. The jungle is a very unique
position. Jungle players do not show up in the map at first, and they hide in the jungle
Smartping
In most cases, those five players are strangers, so how do they communicate with
each other in order to win the game? Indeed, those five players consist a work group. As
Nuyens illustrated that MOBA games do not take place in never-ending virtual worlds,
(Nuyens et al. 352). In League of Legends, there are a lot of methods for players to
interact with others. Of course, players could type in-game messages to each other, but
the most convenient communication method in game is the smartping system. According
to the smartping system, players could send simple signal to their teammates. There are
Missing, Assist Me, On My Way, Danger, and Enemy Has Vision Here. By
appropriately using smartpings, players could save time on typing in-game texts to
However, in a MOBA game, quarrels, complaints, and taunts are the most common
things that possibly happen in every game, since usually players are playing a game with
strangers. Instead of typing to complain, players also use smartpings to convey their
jungle player comes to a lane for help and he misses his important skills, his teammates
probably send him an Enemy Missing ping. Nevertheless, this ping does definitely not
convey its original meaning, but presents a complaint from other players. From this ping,
jungle players teammates are saying, What are you doing? Are you kidding me?
Emotes
popularly used by many young people. Emotes are formed of champions and special
creatures in League of Legends. Different from smartpings, emotes could also be seen by
enemy team. Hence, if players want to praise or taunt their opponents playing, instead of
typing to all players in the game, sending emotes should be a humorous method.
in-game communication, including tying, smartping system, and emotes. However, since
League of Legends has a huge fan group around the world, there are also a lot of other
methods for players to communicate with each other. Generally, fans of League of
Legends are active in various social mediums, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Weibo.
However, even every person uses those social mediums to collect or share information,
what is the unique communication genre that League of Legend players rely on? The
answer should be live streaming video platform. Besides, the most famous platform for
Commonly, live streaming video platforms are used for broadcast live sports,
however, Twitch is different from mainstream platforms. Twitch was created from the
developed for and adopted by gamers rather than organizations. (Payne et al. 96).
According to Twitch, audiences could watch other players live games and send messages
to other audiences in the live streaming video room. Those messages are called bullet
screens, which is widely applied in many video websites. In particular, those bullet
screens would directly and immediately appear on the audiences screens if they are
staying in a same live streaming video room. Thus, the live streaming video room
becomes a communication group that let people share their opinions and reply messages
constantly. The owner of each room is the gamer who is playing his live games, and he is
also the leader of that communication group. Besides, players could easily join or quit a
group by watching different gamers. Therefore, live steaming video platforms become
What is the spirit of a MOBA game? No one can deny that teamwork is the best
answer. I am a League of Legends player. Like many other players, I was invited by my
friends to play this game. Moreover, I also interviewed my friend about what he thinks of
League of Legends. Lambert Wang, my friend who taught me how to play League of
not only a method of entertainment, but also leads me to rare friendships. (Personal
word, since I enjoy my time playing with my friends. At present, people depend more and
more on the internet. Even if people go out with friends, they might spend much time on
playing smartphones. Besides, many young people are not willing to go out frequently,
since they need to spend time deciding which restaurant they need to go or where they
could have fun, thus playing video game becomes an excellent communication method
among friends.
bring players new friends. For many individuals, interacting and socializing with others
is reported to be one of the most appealing aspects of playing video games. (Kahn and
Williams 488). For example, after each game, players could choose to add friends of
other players if they feel they just went through a perfect cooperation. As Wang indicated
in interview, I added many friends in League of Legends, and sometimes I feel more
relaxed playing with those friends than going out with my friends in real life. (Personal
Communication, 16 Nov 2017). Indeed, I also found so many friends through League of
Legends. We did not know each other before the game; we did not know each others
name, gender, age, and background, but we found out that we could be great teammates
League of Legends is not only a game, but gradually cultivates a culture for young
people. Today, League of Legends has its own merchandise store and music albums, and
a lot of fans spend their time, energy, and money on supporting Riot Games to produce
more relative products. Due to the distinctive design of each champion in League of
Legends, many players assume those champions as their favorite characters, which act as
idols in their lives. Christopher E. Bell claimed a theory that cultural and social capital
gained from physical attractiveness can often be more useful and tangible than power
gained from other, more intrinsic sources, such as intelligence, hard work, or athletic
prowess. Objectification theory has been applied to dozens of contexts in the video game
milieu, including character design and the effects of character objectification on players,
which points out how impressive design of video game characters could promote players
motivation and enthusiasm of the game. (67). Thus, many players purchase clothing,
accessories, and art books of their favorite champions. In addition, there are a lot of
of Legend represents a popular living style. In 2017, Riot Games released the theme song
Legends Never Die for the 2017 World Championship League of Legends series, which
is the most magnificent e-sports competition in the world. As the lyrics say, legends
never die, and League of Legends is tightly associated with many young peoples lives -
- they discover their passion, friendship, youth, and love from League of Legends.
Reference
DOI: 10.1556/2006.5.2016.028
Kahn, S. Adam and Williams, Dmitri. Were All in This (Game) Together: Transactive
Memory Systems, Social Presence, and Team Structure in Multiplayer Online Battle
Arenas. Communication Research, vol. 43, no. 4, 2016, pp. 487-517. Sagepub DOI:
10.1177/0093650215617504
Payne, Katherine, et al. Examining the learning effects of live streaming video game
DOI:10.1080/15456870.2017.1286342