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Kevan Bateman
Jennifer Murray
ENC 1102-0031
September 5, 2014
The League of Legends Discourse Community
A discourse community can be defined as a group of individuals bound by a common
interest in which they communicate through approved channels where the discourse is regulated.
One single person may belong to several different discourse communities including but not
limited to professional, public, and personal groups. According to John Swales, in these
communities, people share their opinions and assumptions about what is considered to be
appropriate for discussion or further examination within their group. The League of Legends
gaming community clearly meets Swales requirements as a discourse community using his
essay titled The Concept of Discourse Community, where he states the phrase six defining
characteristics that will be necessary and sufficient for identifying a group of individuals as a
discourse community.
Swales first characteristic states that a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of
common public goals. The League of Legends community was formed to allow its members to
express their opinions about the game, not only to each other but to the creators and
programmers of the game (RIOT games). The communitys goal is to allow all individuals
voices to be heard, offer their suggestions, discuss disadvantages, and have any of their questions
answered. This group exists because the team members of RIOT care about the success of their
game, and solicit the opinions of their players in order to make future improvements. This

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results in continued success for League of Legends and keeps their players challenged and
coming back for more.
Communication is the key to success, meaning that you acquire discourse through being
active in the community. Swales agrees with this statement as identified by his second rule
which is A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.
Being able to converse with one another in the League of Legends community plays a vital role
in the success of not only the communication between individuals, but the game itself. A few
examples of communication tools that are utilized between the members and RIOT are online
chat forums, group meetings, patch notes, newsletters, and even informational videos.
Occasionally, there are members that may begin to form true friendships through playing the
game, which may lead to further communication such as phone calls, emails, and even text
messages.
Rule three by Swales says a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms
primarily to provide information and feedback. This implies that the members must make use
of all informational opportunities. In the League of Legends community, the members and staff
must communicate in order to inform players about recent updates, upcoming events, and new
strategies and techniques. This shared information allows everyone to remain current and
educated about updates and changes that RIOT has recently made. Once Riot has communicated
new changes, there is often conflict amongst members of the community. Some players may
consider the new change or patch a challenge while others consider it difficult and believe it
should not have been changed.
The most common topic that is discussed amongst the members is how to actually play
League of Legends, because that is what the discourse revolves around. Players can share their

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experiences or suggestions and in doing so, they can learn new techniques and strategies to better
play the game. Members discuss the newest updates released by RIOT and how it can impact
their game. This can be called the genre of this particular discourse community as Swales
fourth characteristic is a discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres
in the communicative furtherance of its aims. Genres are how language is used to accomplish
goals and to articulate the operations of the discourse community. Each and every community,
like the League of Legends community, has a discourse, and within it, a genre.
In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis,
says Swales as his fifth characteristic. This particular discourse community, the League of
Legends members, use lexical terms that most people would not know such as the term Gank,
which is when one or more members of the team help surround an enemy. Another term is
Jungler, which is a position or job within the game. The members use terms like these because
they save time and help others understand how they are trying to play the game.
Swales final characteristic states a discourse community has a threshold level of
members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. Although nonplayers are allowed to join, most members of the League of Legends community have a certain
degree of knowledge when referring to the game itself and a desire to play, or they would not
want to be a part of the community. When a new player joins, they are called a newbie and as
they gain experience by talking amongst the community members and playing the game, they
then become a novice. Through this process, players learn the language, genres, and increase
their skill level. After a player reaches level 30 the players become ranked by their experience
and skill level, creating some degree of stereotyping between players of different levels within
the game. There is no controversy when talking to the experts like the players in the League

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Championship Series (LCS), and the RIOT staff. Members of the LCS could be replaced by
newer members who achieve a higher skill level, therefore creating new experts.
Public goals, communication, participatory mechanisms, owning a genre, use of lexis,
and new members, are all necessary components of a discourse community. Based on each of
the six characteristics described by Swales, the players and staff of League of Legends are
considered to be a discourse community. A group cannot rightfully call themselves one without
all six of these characteristics, as they would be considered just an average speech group who get
together to communicate or get something done.

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Planning and Drafting?

The League of Legends gaming community is intriguing and personally interesting and
one that most people would not think of as a community at all. With this in mind, I want to share
my experiences within this community in my writing. I have been a part of this community for
over three years, have enough experience to call myself as expert, and understand all aspects of
the community and not just how to play the game. I plan on continuing to challenge myself as an
avid member, help others learn to play, and offer not only my personal opinion but suggestions
to the members of RIOT.
I hope to find additional ways to expand communication within this discourse
community, while reaching out to those who may not be aware of its existence. By sharing my
knowledge, passion and experience with fellow gamers who are not part of this community, I
hope to increase the number of members and improve the language and literacy functions within
the League of Legends community.