Pantho Tsali

UWRT-1101-090
Itawiwat
11/1/16
League of Legends: More than just a game. (very rough draft)
Perhaps the largest and most played game ever created; League of Legends a multiplayer
online battle arena or MOBA for short is played by millions of people around the world. To
others League may be seen as just a game but to the community it is seen as a way of life. The
League of Legends community can be seen as a complex, toxic, and or competitive community.
With at least 27 million players playing each day you can expect a player to fill one or more of
these roles.
League of Legends or, LoL, is a multiplayer game pitting two sides against each other to
fight for and push objectives to get to the enemys base and destroy the enemys nexus. First off
what exactly is League of legends? Lol is classified as a MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle
Arena. (insert info on what a MOBA is here). League started in 2009 by a group of game
developers called Riot Games. (insert more stuff based on their origins). You play as special
characters called Champions each having a unique set of abilities, lore, and designated role.
There are currently 133 champions that a user can chose from however a player must buy them
with an in game currency they can earn through simply playing the game called influence points
or they can drop real money on riot points. Every player is set up into teams of five each filling
one of five roles: Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC, or Support. Each role has a certain job to do for their
team and when all do well they can work together to achieve victory. (specify what each role

does). There are a multitude of items that a player can purchase in their store to strengthen their
character and gain advantages over their opponents. Players are able to buy items after getting
gold buy farming creeps, destroying objectives, and killing enemy players. Games usually last
sometime between twenty minutes to an hour depending on how each team plays. (Add a lot of
stuff about how to play the game and what objectives are and how to win). There are multiple
different types of game modes to satisfy players. These can be fun party games such as U.R.F.
and One for All, semi-casual games such as normal games, and competitive queues such as
ranked. (explain what the differences to each game mode are).
As with many online gaming communities League has quite a number of players who are
toxic. Disruptive behaviors such as flaming and grieving are pervasive and problematic in many
online venues. (Kou & Nardi) However league of legends is one of the most well known
communities for being toxic and aggressive. This may be a result as to a lack of voice chat and
physical interaction. Players may feel better typing hurtful or toxic phrases behind a computer
screen rather than actually saying these things to other through voice chat or personal
interactions. League of Legends receives thousands of player complaints about disruptive
behavior almost every day. (Kou & Nardi) The League of legends Tribunal System allows
players to report cases of a players actions to be reviewed and punished accordingly. Players can
be reported for things such as: Harassment, AFK or leaving the game, Verbal abuse, intentional
feeding etc. Recently toxicity has been exposed as a serious problem within the community after
a player named tyler1 has become infamous for his toxic behavior. Some players choose sides
of whether toxicity is ok or not. (explain more about tyler1) Often times you can distinguish
which players are most likely to be toxic and which players are most likely to receive grieving or
flame. (further explain what you mean Pantho.)

League of Legends is most well known for being a competitive game displaying a
definitive skill gap between players. League has a special queue called ranked queue that is
unlocked once you hit the max level (30) and own at least 20 different champions. As previously
stated ranked allows players to test their skills and compete against other players to hopefully be
the best in their region. There are seven ranks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master,
and Challenger. Each rank has 5 divisions with the exception of Master and challenger. ( explain
how to rank up and get promoted include player percentages and what separates players from
each division.) League of legends has also become a popular eSport. Having many professional
teams in multiple regions. The best players from each region are given contracts and are payed to
play games professionally. Many teams have sponsorships and advertising that generate revenue
for both the sport and the teams. Each region has a league that is set up like any traditional sport
and allows for team to compete against each other to gain first place. (explain the large regions
leagues and the top/ most popular teams in each one.) The best teams are allowed to move on and
compete in international tournaments such as IEM, MSI and the most prestigious of them all
Worlds. (explain how international tournaments work and whats at stake.)

Sources (ultra rough draft)

First I would like to apologize as I did not use most of the sources this is because I have found
the research but havent quite worked it into my paper. I will put these sources into MLA format
but due to me being irresponsible and having poor time management I had to just leave the urls
and pdf files as a crude way of keeping these sources. I apologize and will take responsibility for
my actions and hand in a well written paper for when the final is due. Expect this paper to
improve 100 fold
http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/paper_230_formattingfixed.pdf
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4fb0/e83f2d40da703b622c40cb6cc372ff6787be.pdf
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/27/riots-league-of-legends-reveals-astonishing27-million-daily-players-67-million-monthly/#4c493ce63511
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/technology/riot-games-league-of-legends-main-attractionesports.html?_r=1&register=google