League of Legends

About the Game

League of Legends is a Free-To-Play MOBA-type game available for PC. Published on 27 October 2009, the game of the american developer studio Riot Games has gained "a level of academic attention appropriate for its significance on both the eSports industry and the contemporary game culture." (p. 428) According to PC GAMER in a press release to the 10th anniversary in October 2019, League of legends reaches about 8 million player logins everyday and is therefore one of the most popular and relevant games throughout the gaming culture these days.[1]

Core Game Mechanics

Standart Game on 'Summenor’s Rift'

In a standard game, which usually lasts between 30 minutes and one hour, two teams composed of 5 players clash on the battle arena called ‚Summoner's Rift‘, each of them controlling one of 124 available champions. The Rift is a square area with a diagonal riverbed dividing the pitch into two halves. Those separated sections are in control of each team: In the bottom left corner lies the base with the so called ‚Spawnpoint‘ (starting point of the player´s champions) and the ‚Nexus‘ of the ‚blue‘ team. The upper right corner is the base location of the opposing team ‚red‘. The two bases are connected by three lanes, known as ‘‘Top,’’ ‘‘Mid,’’ and ‘‘Bot.’’ The mid-lane and river intersect, creating the four wedges of maze-like ‘‘jungle,’’ which make up the rest of the map, (P.429)

Nexus, Towers, Minions and Monsters

A winning state is brought about by the destruction of the opposing team’s nexus, a large structure fortified by defensive towers, which must be destroyed before the nexus can take damage. Five of these towers are located inside the base and there are two in each lane. The towers of only one lane need to be destroyed in order to expose the enemy nexus. (P.430)

The dynamic elements on the map include ‘‘minions,’’ ‘‘monsters,’’ and the players themselves. Minions are weak, nonplayer characters (NPCs) whose deaths yield gold to the slayer. They spawn in ‘‘waves’’ from both nexuses and march down the lanes, meeting each other in the middle if unimpeded by champions or other obstacles. When in range, minions will mindlessly attack enemy minions, champions, defensive structures, and eventually the nexus itself. Minions are a primary source of income for players, and a substantial portion of the early game consists of ‚‘farming’’— killing minions so as to earn gold. Monsters are neutral NPCs that populate the jungle and are immobile and harmless unless attacked. As with minions, killing monsters will provide players with a gold income. (P.430)

The three game-phases

Games can generally be divided into three ‘‘phases’’—laning, mid-game, and late-game. In the laning phase, players will focus on killing minions and monsters in order to gain gold so as to purchase or upgrade equipment. Top lane and mid lane will usually house one laner each, and bot lane will usually house two. Since champions from opposing teams share the lane while farming, skirmishes can often break out between players, although this depends on how willing they are to engage during this phase. It is common that one player will take on the role of ‚‘jungler’’—this player will not farm minions in lane but rather the monsters in the jungle, emerging into lane in order to kill an enemy laner if they have pushed away from the safety of their own defensive tower.

In the mid-game, champions roam the map and group in an attempt to kill large monsters, destroy towers, and pick off enemy champions who stray too far from safety. If one team is ‘‘snowballing’’ (gaining so much gold from killing enemy champions that they become exponentially effective at killing via the items they are able to afford), it is possible for them to win the game during this phase.

In the late game, most champions will be sufficiently geared and will be looking to kill all or most of the enemy team and subsequently destroy their nexus or, if this is not possible, destroy defensive structures or kill Baron Nashor (a powerful monster whose death confers significant stat boosts for the slayer’s entire team) if it is available. Once the nexus is destroyed, the game is over and players are placed into the postgame lobby where they can chat and view individual and team statistics. (p.430)

Research-Relevant Topics of the Game

Mechanical Expertise and Metagame Expertise

significance of two types of expertise in the popular multiplayer video game League of Legends (p. 426)

players will always draw upon existing knowledge derived from previous play experiences or engagement with extrinsic resources (p. 427)

a player will likely not find success in the latter stages of the game unless he or she acquires some level of social expertise (p. 427)

‘‘mechanical exper tise’’—knowledge and mastery of the game mechanics -> substantial portion of the ‘‘forgiving early game content’’ (p. 427)

post-60 content, which requires large scale cooperation and coordination between players. (p. 427)

‘‘handling of the game,’’ which concerns the ‘‘physical and motorical’’ activities of gameplay & ‘‘meaning-making activities,’’ which involves his or her ‘‘understanding of the game in terms of how the game is to be played, their role in the game and the culture around the game.’’(p. 427)

Single player games typically do not require this form of expertise (p. 427)

Metagaming as ‘‘the relationship between the game and outside elements, including everything from player attitudes and play styles to social reputations and social contexts in which the game is played.’’ (p. 427)

Related Research Approaches

Competitive Gaming

Metagaming