Hanyu Bao

UWP 1
Discourse Community

Legends Never Die

The Discourse Community of League of Legends Players

Introduction

With the development of information technology, video games have become an

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

discourse community of League of Legends players is formed of a huge group of

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,

actually, playing League of Legends is a method of social interaction, especially for

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

popularity of League of Legends.

League of Legends Language in Game

(Picture from Wikipedia)

 The normal mode of League of Legend consists of ten players in one game, and five

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

area thus waiting for appropriate chances to help other lanes.

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,

although they feature similar characteristics of advancement and social interaction.

(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

five kinds of smartpings in League of Legends to assist communication Enemies

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

communicate with teammates and focus more on the game itself.

(Picture from LeagueofLegends.com)

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

displeasure to teammates. The symbol of Enemy Missing is a question mark, which is a

customary ping to show players dissatisfaction of teammates. For example, when a

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

Another communication system is called emote, which is similar to emoji that

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.

Communication Genres of League of Legends

As an online game, obviously, the most common genre of communication should be

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

League of Legends is Twitch.

Commonly, live streaming video platforms are used for broadcast live sports,

however, Twitch is different from mainstream platforms. Twitch was created from the

ground-up rather than produced by mainstream technology companies. It was

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

one of the most popular genres for League of Legends players.

What does League of Legends bring to players?

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

Legends, described this game as a significant part of his youth. (Personal

Communication, 16 Nov 2017). Besides, he addressed, Playing League of Legends is

not only a method of entertainment, but also leads me to rare friendships. (Personal

Communication, 16 Nov 2017). Admittedly, I could definitely resonate with Wangs

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.

In addition to an entertainment among friends, playing League of Legends could also

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

and we enjoy playing with each other, thats enough.

Conclusion -- Legends Never Die

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

players would like to do costume play for those champions.

 League of Legends has been integrated into players daily lives; in particular, League

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

Kokkinakis, V. Athanasios, et al. Exploring the relationship between video

game expertise and fluid intelligence November 2017.

PLoS ONE 12(11): e0186621. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186621

Nuyens, Filip, et al. Impulsivity in Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Gamers:

Preliminary Results on Experimental and Self-Report Measures. Journal of

Behavioral Addictions, vol 5, no. 2, March 2016, pp. 351356.

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

instruction over Twitch. Computers in Human Behaviors, 2017, pp. 95-109.

 ScienceDirect DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.029

Bell, E. Christopher Sexualization and Gamer Avatar Selection in League of Legends,

Atlantic Journal of Communication, vol.25, no.2, 2017, pp. 65-87. Routledge

DOI:10.1080/15456870.2017.1286342