Ethnography Essay
Introduction:
My Discourse community will be League of Legends
What is League of Legends? League of Legends is an online fast-paced, competitive
game with RPG and RTS elements. Two teams of 5 go head to head to destroy the Nexus and
declare victory. It has received wide fame throughout the years. League of Legends has
seemingly taking over the Esports scene and the world. In the mere five years since the game
release League of Legends have over 67 million gamers(2012) playing every day with a peak of
7.5 million concurrent users. Since 2009, League of Legends have continually grown
tremendously. Along the way of its success Riot, the developers, have created tournaments/
championships which is extremely popular in the League community.
Community:
The community is very large. People from all over the world. The community is found on
YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook; mainly on Reddit. They share the love for the game on all
these social websites and also share their ideas with one another and upcoming news of new
champions, tournaments and skins. They create funny pictures or share their own videos of the
game. Every year, every season Riot holds Tournaments leading to Championships. This is a
huge part of the community and the most recent Championship was held on October 19, 2014 in
Seoul, South Korea at Sangam Stadium. I saw this Community very interesting especially in my
observations and interviews. When I interviewed about the Community, my responses were:
RazorX: “The community of League of Legends is like a mental hospital. Some people are really
dumb, stubborn, annoying, too nice, etc. It's just like any school; there are jerks and there are
kind people. It differs greatly."
Emperor Carebear: “Friendly and Funny".
Jorge: "The player base is so huge that there's all kinds of people playing the game. I've met both
super nice people and people that sound like they need help.”
Now what about this Community that interests me? What about this game makes players to play
it all day and how long? Why are players so hype on the game and why do they take it seriously?
"When interviewed about this community why did they say what they did?" All these question I
ask myself.
Literature Review:
Not many communities that I know are based off of an online computer game. League of
Legends is a social online computer game. They communicate among social websites and the
game itself. In order to complete their goals and self-goals they would need to communicate
among each other. League of Legends is all about communication, without it, it would be
nothing and no one would get their goals achieve. Their goals involve winning the game and
their own lane. Now according to Swales in “The Concept of Discourse Community” a
Community is made up of set goals, social group and communication/membership among with
each other. League of Legends functions as a Discourse Community. It has all the points that
makes it a Discourse Community. A very main point Swales inform us about what’s makes
a Discourse Community was social groups. League is social network and the Community is
among these social networks. Out of the game, they communicate with each other on these other
social networks. In this Community when they play League of Legends they have a goals to
achieve and most important one main goal. "A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of
common public goals.” states Swales. Swales also states that a Discourse Community involves
communication within its members. League of Legends is all about communication to achieve
their set goals. In the game of League there is identity and membership. Every player is a certain
level and rank which identifies you in the game and where you stand. This membership identifies
the players of how good they are and separates others not alike when you get in a game. Now
what makes this community different than others? This community revolves around a computer
game.
Method:
When researching a game community especially an online community. I knew that it
wasn’t going to be in books or magazines. That I would have to get my information online or
media sites. I went to the main website of League of Legends to see what I can learn and they
had their own page about exactly what League was about. Luckily I have a friend that plays the
game himself so he gave me other reliable websites that go more into detail of this interesting
community. I learned about the gameplay, the community, Worlds and much more. When I
learned the basic subjects of the game I wanted to go into more detail of the subjects that make
the game and that’s what I did. I want my audience to know everything about the game to the
point where they are interested that they want to know more. I needed information from books so
I decided I use the books to understand the basics of computer games and its history among the
community of the 80s-90s. Another was to see if I can find a book about kids and teenagers that
play games in general and the affect it has on them. So that information I can use it for
comparing my discourse community to others that play too. When finding people to interview it
wasn’t hard because my friend and brother had friends so I quite had a lot of people. It was all
online chat because they all live in different areas. I decided to do my interviews on the actual
League of Legends game. That was the only place I can get a hold of them. I planned
interviewing a pro player but that seemed impossible for me. From interviewing them I learned
lots of player’s views about the game and their point of view talking to another player. The
answers they gave me answers my questions and expanded my research
Research:
History of computer games
- In 1947 was the first known electronic game to be on screen. In 1950 was the first
computer game designed but unfortunately at the time there wasn’t enough of technology to the
game to be produced. It wasn’t until two years later a tic-tac-toe game named “Noughts and
Crosses” was produced on a computer by Alexander Douglas. In 1962 video games and
computer games were finally getting the public’s attention. A small group of friend led by
Stephen Russell created Space War, A combat style game two players had to face each other in a
space shootout. Among the people who played Space war was Nolan Bushnell, an engineering
student mid-sixties at university of Utah. In 1969 he was working for a company named Ampex
and joined forces with friend Ted Dabney. The duo worked at home in a small lab creating a
prototype of Space war into of a single player game named Computer space. The difference of
the two was that in Computer space it was based on time rather than lives. Unfortunately the
game didn’t really do that well. In 1966 Ralph Baer had an idea of playing games on TVs. The
project started early, by November 1st there was a prototype for a two player ping pong game
thus creating home and arcade video games. Well what about computer games? The first to
realize the appeal of computer games was Steve jobs and Steve Wozniak Creating Apple
Computer. Jack Tramiel defined the new concept of home computer. He created the company
Commodore. Along the way of 1979 commodore apple Tandy and Atari were raising more
interest but yet the computers were still too expensive to buy. The home first computer to be
officially released was the ZX-80 in 1980. During the 1970s and 80s many computer, arcade and
video games to be released and had everlasting fame such as Breakout (1976 Atari), (Night
Driver 1977 Atari) (Galaxian 1979 Namco). While the death of gaming consoles happening in
the 80s the rise of home computers began. Atari were making home computers as well as
Commodore but Commodore 64 was the most popular home computer ever released in 1882
generally creating games for the home computer. In 1992 it was discontinued. MSx was a
computer based of japan companies such as Sony, Canon, Toshiba and others started developing
MSX computers. They played a huge role on gaming creating some much known game such as
Metal Gear, Bomber Man and Puyo Puyo. Games were starting to become developed seriously
but computer games weren’t until early nineties. Atari ST was released in 1985 and improved the
following years and in 1992 it was discontinued. Amiga 1000 was released after followed by
Amiga 500 replacing the Commodore 64. The Amiga was used for games by kids but also
professionals used it because of its operating system. By this time Nintendo came out with the
popular known gaming systems. Since then People craved more game systems and home
computers and all evolved through the years to advance technologies.
Game play:
Game Mode. There is different areas in the Fields of Justice called Summoner’s Rift,
Howling Abyss, Twisted Tree Line and Crystal Scar. Each has its own purpose in game.
Summoner’s Rift was first in development. It is just 5v5 Normal Competitive arena. It has 3
lanes which is called Top, Mid, Bot. In my observations I notice Top has one champion (Tank),
Mid has one (AP) and Bot which has two (ADC & Support). The Jungle lies between each of the
lanes and contains neutral monsters. If defeated they give extra gold and buffs that help the team.
A player may be played a champion in the jungle aka “Jungler”. Also in The Jungle there is a
Dragon and a Baron Nashor. The dragon located in the river of the Bot lane and usually it is best
to attack as a team group. Defeating the Dragon gives bonus gold to each player. Baron Nashor
located in the Top lane and it is the most challenging monster gives gold and experience as well
as power buff. During gameplay, Champions must defeat the Nexus which results in a win. But
first champions need to defeat Turrets and Inhibitors and opposing Champions. To move forward
Champions must defeat Turrets, which are heavy fortification that attacks enemy minions and
enemy Champions. They deal heavy damage and they will continue to attack enemies till death.
All Champions can only do damage with auto attack with the help of minions or ally Champions.
They will target you only if you attack your opposing enemy or you are the last target in range.
Inhibitors are important in each and every game. They are located at the base of each lane on
both sides of the map once destroy they spawn super minions in that lane. They are durable to
help destroy the enemy Nexus. They spawn 5 minutes after being destroy. The Nexus is the main
structure of the entire game. It’s protected by two Turrets and it generates minion waves for each
lane. Once it is destroy its game over and the team wins. Minions are controlled soldiers that
march down each lane attacking their enemy. Killing them “Last-Hitting” will give you gold.
They will attack opposing minions preferably, but they will attack you if alone. Consider they
are strong in a big group. . While observing the game, I notice teamwork and communication.
Many things were going on at once. I saw 5 champions in different areas conquering their own
lane. They all were focusing on themselves yet also at each other. The Jungler was always
helping an ally Champion. I saw Champions buying items to improve themselves. Every
Champion always bought Boots, Warding Totem and Health Pots. I noticed other than
communicating by text they communicate by “Pings” which meant a player would place a
indicator indicating “On my Way”, “Assist Me”, “Be Careful” “Missing Enemy”. Later in the
game they seemed to always be in the mid lane grouped up together.
Champions:
Each Champion has roles. There are 6 roles in total, Assassin, Fighter, Mage, Support,
Tank and Marksman. You can also identify Champions based on their damage. There is Attack
Damage Carrier (ADC) they go bottom lane with a Support. Attack Damage (AD), also known
as a Tank and they go Top Lane. Ability Power (AP) and go middle lane. Last but not least, the
Jungler, they roam around the whole map defeating neutral minions and helping allies. A
Champion is a person that you play in battle of the Fields of Justice. Riot games, the company,
develops new Champions and with each having new abilities that makes them different and
unique from others. Upon launch of the game Riot released 40 champions. Every 2 weeks or so
they would release. Every week they have a rotation of ten Champions that are free to play. You
can buy Champions with Riot points or Influence points. Influence points are points given to you
from how well you are playing. The amount is based on the game type and the outcome. Riot
points is actual money you have. Each champions has a unique diversity of their own. As of
September 16 2014 there is a total of 121 champions latest being Azir. Every champion has their
own dance, laugh, joke, and taunt. Each champion have multiple skins of their own and are
available to buy.
Items:
During a game your champions earns gold either by "last hitting" minions or a enemy
champion or assisting a kill and having runes and certain items for additional gold. With this
gold you can buy items to become more powerful each items build depends on the champion.
Small items be into bigger items. There is usable equipment such as wards potions.
Community:
In the 1970s 80s and such the public started to see video games as evil and had negative
impact on the younger generation. Parents blamed video games for their children faults and
basically all the young generation. It is believe that it’s a waste of money energy and time.
Which resulted in some towns banning video games. In 1981 President Marcos of the Philippines
banned all video games in the country. Mayasia also banned video games stating "video games
are all about killing violence and racism". Many people were unable to understand new media
and its uniqueness. During the 80s, video games became huge to teenagers and kids alike but
still not accepted to a larger part of society. Today’s computer games and video games are still to
be a problem within parents. Stating that there bad for health and school work. Teachers fear that
children and teenagers are not interesting in school work because of these games. Teenagers
have a hard time explaining what good video and computer games are to them because its frown
upon. Kids do not a voice in society regarding their life or games. Most of the League players
have said that League of Legends don’t get in the way of their schoolwork or social life. It
increase their social life by connecting with people around the world and to stay in touch with
friends while not at school. This may not apply to everyone in the community but to the people I
interview they all agreed. The League community is run by the internet. The game and its
community are on social websites and it’s an online game. Not a lot of games are like this where
its people from all over the world that play this game. The community is so diverse and that what
makes it different compared to others. Something that makes up and is a huge part of the
community is the Championships and Tournaments that Riot holds. Thousands of people view
these Tournaments. What is it, is players that are very skilled in the game AKA “Pro Players”
join up with other skilled players to create a National Team and compete in these
Tournaments/Championships. Examples of North American teams are Team Solo Mid (TSM),
LMQ and Cloud 9. The way Riot sets up on who goes to compete in the Championships in North
America are by smaller tournaments. The way it works is that they have a ten-week split,
summer and spring The Spring and Summer split determines the best of North America. Eight
teams will play for Spring and Summer split. The split is a regular season that goes in the
playoffs. In Regular season each team go against each other 4 times and determines the winner
by best out of one. Top 6 teams from the regular season go into the playoffs and the 1st and 2nd
winner goes to Semifinals. The 3rd – 6th winner goes to quarterfinals. It goes into the Spring split
to the Summer Split to Worlds. The top 3 teams from North America enter to Worlds. World
Championships is the tournament between Countries. Sixteen teams from all over the world
compete to determine the best of the best. This year World Championship had 4 stages being
played in Singapore and Taipei. Three teams from North America, Europe, China and Japan and
two teams from Taiwan attended this event. The teams were divided into 4 groups of 4. Each
team playing against each other twice in Taiwan and Singapore in September before moving on
to Busan, South Korea for the quarter-finals in October. Out of each group the best two enter to
the Finals. Determining the winner was best out of 5. The semifinals and grand final was held on
October 19, 2014 in Seoul, South Korea at Sangam Stadium, also known for being the location
of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The results were with Samsung Galaxy White winning 1st place
and $1,000,000 (South Korea). 2nd was Star Horn Royal Club winning 250,000 (China). In 3rd
winning 150,000 Samsung Galaxy Blue (South Korea).
Outside Worlds, we have the everyday regular players at home. Players play mostly on a daily
basis. During games many players were harass each other and saying not nice things. Some
players were having fun and “trolling” yet some players took the game very seriously. In an
interview I received a comment saying that community shouldn’t stop from you from playing or
to keep playing. That’s what it seems like, every player is either mean or too nice. The
community knows this and still decide to play weather having a good player or not. The
community is diverse but yet so similar. Examples were in my interviews, every person I have
interview had similar answers to one another. When asked, “Why do you play League of
Legends?” Their answers concluded me to think they play because of friends, staying connected,
and it’s something to get away too when they’re bored. In one interview in three questions a
player mentions his friend. Which showed me how this game really connects you with people.
When asked, “Do you find yourself mad at other players and why?” They responded with
answers similar to one another. These were my responses:
Jorge: "I sometimes get annoyed when my teammates do dumb stuff, but I only get mad when
they purposefully try to lose the game, which actually doesn't happen very often at all."
RazorX: “I never really find myself mad at other players. Just baffled because some people are
just really dumb.”
I have noticed that the community take this game very seriously while others don’t. One player
that I interviewed used to play for fun but not anymore because he wants to improve. Jorge: "I
used to play only for fun but I recently realized how little you improve that way. Lately I've been
trying to improve my play by taking the game seriously". Which also showed me why players
gets mad at one another. This game isn’t really a game to a huge part of the community. The
game has a huge impact to this community somehow. Also this Community is very unique not
ways as the game itself but the community. They don’t act ways normal gamers would do. They
have this different vocabulary that they use that was built on the game. A vocabulary that I
certainly never heard. Examples are: “REKT” “Trolling” “Noob” “OP”. The interviews I
conducted even showed these different unique personalities. These were responses when I asked,
“Who’s your favorite Champion and why?”
EmperorCarebear: "Thresh Hooks for days.”
RazorX: "My favorite champion would be Ezreal because you need a map."
Analysis:
All this research, observing and interviews lead me to believe when they’re bored at
home they have League to play and connect with friends. This game is all about team work and
communicating. Reasons why people get mad at each other is not because they don’t like them
or do it on purpose, it is because that player feels a teammate is not doing good in the game. This
results the players getting upset because when they play they want to win. If a person messes up
or not doing what their supposed to do it is a chance for them to lose. I believe that players get so
wrap up in a game that they don’t think of what they’re saying. This leads to insulting people and
even bullying. Playing every day is something they are used too. I believe reasons for it is
because it’s a fun addicting game; they all want to be better than the last game. They improve by
playing a lot and this game is all about being better. Every game they play, it’s serious
but overall they want to have fun with each other. You will encounter all kinds of people with
different unique thoughts but with all one purpose and that is to win. The way I see it, it is not a
game to them it is something real to them that is happening every day in their lives. I believe that
why they get excited because it’s their time to be themselves and have fun with people.
Conclusion:
Don’t get me wrong this game isn’t evil. It’s a discourse community that involves people
around the world with different unique thoughts and personalities to join together playing a game
they love. A community that is of different people loving a single game. Where they join to
watch World Championships. Making friends and connecting with one another. Everyone has
their purpose in League of Legends and that is to help each other conquer every game they face.
All to have fun. Now looking back on my interviews and notes I have taken when observing I
notice one huge thing. They are a family. The community is one whole family with different
kinds of people. Just like a family there is the smart one, the annoying one, the cute one and all
kinds of personalities that make up a family. In this one there is a Jungler, Support, ADC, Top
and Mid.
Sources:
“League of Legends.” League of Legends. PVP.net, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014
“League of
Legends Wiki”. Wikia, n.d. Web. Oct.-Nov. 2014
"League of Deman & Joe • /r/leagueoflegends." Reddit. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
“YouTube”. YouTube, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
"League of Legends Wiki." Leaguepedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
Dillon, Roberto. The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multi-billion Dollar Industry.
Boca Raton, FL: K Peters/CRC, 2011. Print.
Swales, John. The Concept of a Discourse Community. Writing about Writing. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N.
pag. Print.
Prensky, Marc. "Don’t Bother Me Mom – I’m Learning" N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
League of Legends: An Ethnography Essay
By: Stephanie Abigail Benavides
Mrs. Deezy
Composition -130-209 MWF 8:00-8:50