SVEUČILIŠTE JOSIPA JURJA STROSSMAYERA U OSIJEKU

ODJEL ZA KULTUROLOGIJU

KULTURALNI MENADŽMENT

League of Legends

Esej

Kolegij:Engleski jezik 5

Mentor: Student:prof.univ.spec.st.eur Mateo BelirLidija Getto

Osijek, 5.studeni 2015.

Games have always been a big part of our lives ever since we were little kids who used

to jump around or just play in the sandbox with a tiny bucket and some plastic toys or even

play some old fashioned „hide and seek“ with our friends. Those games were just a simple

step to greater and more complex ones. Since technology evolved so did everything else

including games and the Internet, „who“ helped to pave the way for those online games.

One of those mentioned ,modern online games is „League of Legends“ or just shortly

said „LoL“. It is a RTS game which basicly translates to „Real-time strategy“played online by

billions of people. League has a very wide playerbase of about thirtytwo million daily active

player or seventy million in total, if we add the ones that aren´t active but have an account.

Almost 90% of that are male League players and the remaining 10% belongs to the ladies.

The age is mostly centered between the age group of adolescents and older people over 30

from all across the world. For example, from China, Korea, Europe and even from USA.

Those numbers stack up pretty nicely which is also evident in the rewards that LoL, alongside

its company, received. Some of them include the Golden Joystick awards, a BAFTA award

and Online Game of the Year and many more. The company that earned these rewards and

ultimately produced and launched League of Legends is „Riot Games“. It was founded as an

„Indie“ game developer in 2006. in Los Angeles, California. The persons that are currently at

the front of the company are the CEO Brandon Beck and the President Marc Merill. The two

would go on to present League of Legends in 2008. but under the name League of Legends:

Clash of Fates , however that name was eventually scrapped and LoL was renamed to its

current name. Later, the game was finally released in 2009. and that marked the official

starting point of this long lasting game. This project wouldn`t of course be possible without

investors and stakeholders. The three companies which are: Benchmark Capital, FirstMark

Capital and „tech“ giant Tencent Holding have shown interest in LoL and poured their

resources into it. Later on, Tencent Holdings bought out a major share in Riot Games and thus

Riot Games became a supsidiary of Tencent Holdings with it being their major stakeholder.

After these investments and anexation, Riot began to grow and this had marked the beginning

of a powerful company that hasn`t yet shown its trump cards. As riot began to grow it slowly

became „viral“ or better yet, omnipresent, especially in social media like: Twitter, LinkedIn,

Facebook, Youtube and many others. It slowly opened and designed their websites which are

highly interactive, modern, colorful and easy to use. One can access them pretty easily since

the staff and the game are heavily „community oriented“ which is evident in their efforts

shown through Customer Service and Technical Support Departments. Among all of this Riot

also offers internships and job opportunities dispersed around the world in the seventeen

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offices they have around the globe. The game itself features very high quality graphic art

which is constantly evolving through champion designs,splash arts, videos and all the little

things that make the game so vibrant and playfull. Music is also na important part of the game

and it is featured in champion voiceovers, videos, themes and songs that Riot publishes in

accordance with their composer and symphonic orchestra. The creative use of both old and

new instruments is visible in the inovative rhytms and beautifully composed, sharp and edgy

sounds. They also collaborate with various famous and those lesser known artists in order to

create special music for various in-game events and other special occassions. In the past they

worked together with: Imagine Dragons, The Crystal Method, Jorn Lande from Avantasia and

with some lesser known artists like : Dada Life ,Bassnectar, Nosaj Thing, Rehnholder and

many more. Next thing worth discussing is the way the game functions. LoL features two

teams consisting of five players who control different character in their respective roles and

on three separate lanes and in the jungle. The most common role division includes : Top tank ,

jungler, magic damage mid laner, attack damage carry and support. These five roles must

work together to destroy the enemy base and takedown the enemy Nexus before they do the

same to yours . Along the way players can pick up neutral objectives such as: Baron, Dragon,

Turrets and Inhibitors to aid them in the destruction of the enemy base through multiple

assaults. It is very important to micromanage actions as a player. You must be able to assess

possible risks and rewards and act on those hunches because if you frequently make mistakes

it is very likely that those mistake might just cost you the game. The next thing to do is

macromanage the „flow“ of the game along with your teammates in order to carry the game

and snatch the victory for themselves. Ifa a team performs better it earns more points and goes

up in the standings, if it performs worse it drops down. It is the same for an individual player

but this is more important for professional players competing in their respective leagues

which eventually leads them to the World Champioship based on their circuit points. There

they can win astonishing amounts of money and compete internationally. There they test

themselves raising their expectations, standars and most importantly, quality which affects the

players very much. The main thing to consider is that quality actually affects the price of a

player. For example, if a player is performing exceptionally his „price“ will be higher and he

will become a wanted asset. This especially reflects again on those professional teams

competing for cash and it creates a big player market of mixed and interchangeable values and

talent. It also creates international transfers which are sometimes forced by company mergers

or are conditioned by a player`s desire to leave. The most popular regions are currently:

Korea, then China, followed by Europe, USA and Taiwan. Some trades were intiated by a

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Korean exodus ,due to said mergers, to China and Europe and from Europe to USA. Some of

the teams involved in those trades are : TSM (Team Solo Mid) from USA, SKT from Korea,

H2K from Europe and AHQ from Taiwan.

All in all, League of Legends is a very interactive, inovative and edgy game which

gives every player a taste of modern design, tense competitive style and a spirit of

sportmanship that echoes through every pore of this intricately created game, fueled by the

desire to acheive greatness and advance even further and integrate the community even more.

Personally, I belive that LoL already achieved a lot and left an uneraseable mark on the

gaming culture of the modern day and that it will forever remain a strong leading force that

won`t ever cease to amaze us.

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