Brant 1

Assignment One

English 1102 Spring 2014

Description of the location: League of Legends is an online gaming community, and as thus, is a fictional location.

There are several maps: Summoner’s Rift, Howling Abyss, Twisted Treeline, and The Crystal

Scar. During these observations, I played and recorded matches on Summoner’s Rift. On

Summoner’s Rift, there are two teams of five, each with a base on opposite ends of the map.

There are three “lanes”, areas with defensive turrets for each team that guard a path into

the enemy base. Minions, or “creeps” travel down these lanes from the base of each team, and

with the characters, or “champions” as they’re referred to, aim to destroy the enemy turrets.

These lanes have bushes in them, where characters can hide from the vision of the enemy team.

Connecting the lanes to each other is what is referred to as “the jungle”, a dense area

where the “fog of war” negates any vision other than one’s immediate surroundings. In this

jungle are monsters that grant perks and money upon death to their killer, and more bushes for

characters to lie in ambush.

Rules and Conventions:

There are many rules and regulations for how you behave in-game, both linked to your

performance and how you treat the rest of your team. As one would logically conclude, you

don’t swear at, degrade, or insult your teammates, as they don’t take kindly to it and it hardly

makes them want to help you in what is meant to be a team-oriented game.

As far as performance goes, there’s a universal acceptance that you do not purposely get

yourself killed, or if you are being killed repeatedly for whatever reason, you play it safe to try

and keep the gap from growing any larger until someone can offer you help. Another big rule is

that you do not try and go against what is referred to as “the meta”, a standard set of guidelines

that say what you should or should not do in a particular role.

Towards the end of the game, when one flummox can determine the outcome, it is

generally frowned upon for one or two people to try and do their own thing. It’s at this point in

the game that team fights occur, where each team fully assembles for a battle to the death that

will decide what happens next. And, since it is highly unlikely that one or two people could

make a come-back against a full enemy team, or that a not-assembled team will win the fight, it

is highly frowned upon for people to not be in the general vicinity when it is clear that a team

fight is about to occur.

Actors – Those who are of some significance and play a specific role in a figured world.

Actors: The Top Laner / The Tank: The purpose of the top laner is to try and force a stalemate between

himself and the enemy he is facing for the beginning of the game, denying that person minion

kills, (which grant gold), and not allowing yourself to be killed by building defensive items that

reduce the damage that the enemy can do to you. The top laner essentially aims to lock the lane

down, and keep it that way unless the jungler on their team comes in to give them the advantage.

The Top Laner is typically a large, stocky person, covered in large amounts of armor, typically

with a large weapon that is used for melee or short-ranged combat. In the late game, this is

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usually the character who absorbs hits for the rest of their team, initiates large fights, and protects

those on the team who cannot defend themselves well.

The Mid Laner / The Mage: The goal of the mid laner is to kill the enemy mid laner as many

times as possible in as short a period as can be managed. Because of the location of the mid laner

being near the middle of the map, they have high mobility which allows them to move to the

other lanes to assist their teammates if they are far enough ahead themselves. In the late game,

the mages stay back until an engagement occurs, often jumping in to do large amounts of

damage in a short period of time, and then escape. Mages tend to be much smaller in comparison

to the tanks on the team, not having much, if any armor, tend to have much longer ranges and

larger weapons that often are not used directly, but as conduits for spells that are cast.

The Marksmen: The Marksmen’s job is to, as one person so humorously put it, “Not impale

yourself on a tree branch every four seconds,” this saying of course coming from the fact that

marksmen’s are usually the quickest to die in a given situation, but also deal the most damage.

The goal for them is to kill the enemy marksmen and their support as often as possible, and take

the tower as quickly as possible so that they can move to other lanes to provide them with

support. Typical marksmen are rather small in comparison to most other people on the team,

having virtually no form of protection on their person, and being very intimidating with their

appearance, other than the weapons they carry which are usually some form or another of a

ranged weapon.

The Support: The job of the support is to, in accordance with the other saying, “Keep this idiot

from impaling himself on a tree branch every four seconds,” by offering aid, whether it be in the

form of a heal, a safe exit from a fight, or securing a kill for them. In the late game, this person is

the one who provides vision for their team, warning them of enemies lying in wait to attack, and

provides help in the form of “crowd control”, which are effects that in some way, disable enemy

players. Supports have two standard looks, one for each type of support that there is. Supports

who provide some form of health tend to be about as frail as the marksman themselves, while

supports designed for latching onto the enemy tend to be larger, more protected, and so on.

The Jungler: The Jungler is a rather ambiguous character type to play as, as there is no set rule

for them other than to basically play the role of whatever it is their team needs. In the absence of

a team mate, the jungler will often enter their lane to keep the tower from getting destroyed. If a

team member or members are in need of help, the jungler will often go to that person’s position,

and either scare off or kill the enemy. There is one global objective that the jungler is also tasked

with: slaying the dragon. The reason for this is, whenever the dragon is killed, it grants gold to

the team of the person who killed it, giving them an advantage over their enemies. Jungler’s do

not have a set look, as there are many people who are capable of fulfilling the position, and most

are capable of fitting into another role if they are played a little differently. Because of this, you

see Jungler’s with a wide variety of looks, with different play-styles, tactics, and so on.

Artifact – An object or idea of significance that serves a pre-defined purpose within the

figured world, and is given its meaning by said figured world.

Artifacts:

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The Dragon: As previously stated, when the dragon is slain by a team member or members, it

grants gold to that entire person’s team. The Dragon is located to the right of the center of the

map, in the river that runs through the jungle. Because of this, it is usually the jungler who is

responsible for securing this objective, sometimes with the help of their team.

Blue Buff: Blue buff is the term given to an enchantment that is given to whoever slays a

particular monster in the jungle, or to someone who already has the buff on themselves. Blue

buff lasts for several minutes and gives whoever has it lower cooldowns for their abilities (the

time in which they must wait before they can use an ability again), and increased mana

regeneration (mana is what is used to cast abilities).

Red Buff: Much like blue buff, red buff is located on either side of the jungle, and is given to

anyone who slays the monster that holds it, or to anyone who kills someone who is in possession

of the buff. Red buff, however, increases the damage of attacks and slows anyone who hits them

rather than allowing for abilities to be cast more often.

Baron Nashor: Baron Nashor is a large monster in the jungle, on the opposite side to the

dragon. Whenever Baron Nashor is killed, the team who slays him is granted with a purple buff,

which has the combined effects of both the red and blue ones previously mentioned, as well as

giving that team several hundred gold to spend on items. Unlike the other buffs, however, killing

someone in possession of the buff does not transfer it, the buff is simply gone.

Inhibitors: Inside each team’s base are three inhibitors, each corresponding to one of the lanes.

Inhibitors suppress the natural capabilities of the minions that walk the lanes, and so, when they

are destroyed, allow “super minions” to be spawned. Super minions, as the name might suggest,

are incredibly powerful, do large amounts of damage, and are much harder to kill than regular

minions. It should also be noted that in order to win, at least one inhibitor on the enemy’s side

must be destroyed, and that inhibitors respawn (come back to life) every few minutes after they

are destroyed.

The Nexus: The Nexus is the end goal of the game. When a team’s Nexus is destroyed, that

team loses. The Nexus is a rather large fixture that appears right outside the spawning point of

each team, a large platform with a rather sizable gem with the teams color (either blue or purple)

floating above it and slowly spinning. Upon destruction of the Nexus, this large gem explodes,

signifying that that team has lost.

Teamwork: The feeling of teamwork is in itself, both essential to the team and to the game as a

whole. Those who can’t forego differences and unimportant notions tend to not perform as well,

as they can’t behave as a team, or perform as one. Because everyone is reliant on everyone else

to do their job, it’s essential that each person get along, lest disagreements spark and cause an

unnecessary distraction that may bring dire consequences.

Discourse Communities:

The Ragers: The people who don’t understand that this is a game and that it’s supposed to be

fun, and will get mad at their team for not doing everything perfectly, and typically are so busy

Brant 4

typing angry words to them that they themselves do poorly.

The Elitists: The people who believe they can do no wrong and yet are mysteriously not above

trying to degrade their team and make them feel bad for not being as good as they are. People

tend to get fed up with these people rather quickly, and might snap at them, in an attempt to

knock them down a peg and off their high horse. Unfortunately, a lot of Newbies see these guys

as shining symbols of perfection and models on how to play the game.

The Team Players: The people who try their best to keep their team level-headed, and are

willing to make sacrifices for themselves if it means securing something for the team as a whole.

These are the ones who try and get a Rager to behave, and try to give Newbies helpful advice, so

that they don’t make the same mistakes in the future.

The Newbies: The people who have no idea what’s going on, and unintentionally wind up

making their team lose despite the fact that they should’ve had an easy victory. Usually the target

of a Rager’s anger.

The Lone Wolf: Those who do what they want, when they want, and how they want, regardless

of the pleas of their team. Have nothing but their own interests in mind and are often the reason a

team will lose, because they refuse to do anything other than what they have their mind set on.

Literacy Practice – A way of communicating that in some way or another is meaningful, helpful,

constructive, and important to the figured world.

Literacy Practices:

Pings: Pings are a simple, fast, built in way of communicating with one’s team. With the press of

a few buttons, you can give an alert saying that an enemy has gone missing, that you are heading

to a specific location, or warn a teammate of an incoming enemy attack. These pings are already

coded into the game by the developers, and are designed to keep someone from having to

attempt and type in the middle of an important moment, either or a fight or setting up for one, as

one cannot cast abilities while typing (at least, not very swiftly).

The Chat: The standard way of communicating in many games, where you type out a message

and send it to your team. Similar to an IMS, for things other than what can be said through the

use of pings.

Skype Calls, TeamSpeak, Mumble, Etc.: There are many forms of communication that people

will use to communicate with other people on their team verbally, given that they know them.

Skype calls are most common, as it’s easily accessible to everyone and tends to be easier to set

up.

Observation One

January 25, 2014

1:00 P.M. to about 1:45 P.M.

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Note: This time is from the time the game was booted up until the end of the first match,

and includes 3-5 minutes of character selection, and another 3 minutes of loading, the

match itself lasted about 38 minutes.

1:00 P.M.: Boot up the game, and conduct a skype call with Nathan, the person I decided to play

with to see his reactions to what was going on.

1:05 P.M.: Certain champions are banned and picked, I take on the role of the Jungler and

Nathan winds up being Support. The other three on the team pick their roles, and there is a bit of

disagreement over who our mid laner decided to play.

1:10 P.M.: The first wave of minions spawn, and teammates help me get my first blue buff from

the jungle monster before heading to their lanes.

1:14 P.M.: Our mid laner dies, giving their opponent first blood (the bonus for getting the first

kill). This is a result of him attempting to perform a dive, (attacking an enemy champion under

one of their turrets) and failing to do so. The Marksman on our team makes a rude remark and

the mid laner says it won’t happen again.

1:20 P.M.: Mid laner has died several times by now, even with my help, and has gotten into a

back-and-forth with the Marksman, with our Top Laner and Nathan trying to calm them both

1:34 P.M.: Our team is ahead in kills and objectives, but the mid laner (who is still doing poorly

as a result of dying seven times) and marksman have muted each other (makes it so they can’t

see what the other person says, keeps them from communicating). Our top laner is bragging

about how good of a job he’s doing, Nathan and I agree that a collective eye roll is appropriate.

1:38 P.M.: Our team wins a team battle in mid lane, because of a successful engagement from

the top laner and myself, and successfully slays Baron Nashor, obtaining purple buff and a large

sum of gold to go with the gold we got from killing the enemy team.

1:43 P.M.: Our team wins another team battle, this time by ambushing them while they tried to

kill the dragon, several of us “blinking” (using a short range teleport) over the wall to get them,

and pushes through the enemy base, destroying an inhibitor and moving on to destroy the nexus.

Observation Two

January 26, 2014

3:00 P.M. to 3:40 P.M. 3:00 P.M.: Start up a call with Nathan yet again, and enter the matchmaking system (the system

that pairs you with others playing to form the two teams).

3:03 P.M.: Finish the champion selection and ban phases, one person never called a role and

wound up taking a role that someone else had already picked, forcing them to go support and

throw off the entire team.

3:07: Get through the loading screen and into the game itself, person who did not communicate

Brant 6

during champion select refuses to talk and does not help the Jungler to obtain their first buff like

they are meant to.

3:09: Top Laner on our side gets the first kill of the game because of early assistance from the

jungle, all but the person who still has yet to say anything at all congratulate him.

3:11: Mid laner (the one who won’t communicate at all) dies due to repeated poking (being hit

by attacks that individually aren’t strong enough to kill, but weaken the person the more they get

hit), and finally says something, which turns out to be little more than a rage-filled sentence

blaming the Jungler for not helping him.

3:15: Me and Nathan push over the first bottom turret, which was currently undefended because

the enemy bottom lane left to go buy items, and start moving around the map, after killing the

Dragon.

3:18: Nathan, the Jungler, and myself kill the enemy mid laner by collapsing on him from one of

the bushes directly next to the lane, and push over both the first and second turrets before the rest

of their team can arrive to stop us.

3:22: The Jungler, top laner, and mid laner push over the first top turret after losing the one on

our side, me and Nathan join them to kill three of the enemies as they try to defend the second.

What happened here is that, after the three of our teammates had weakened them, me and Nathan

waited in a bush towards their base, and when they ran back to escape from the first fight,

ambushed them and killed them.

3:27 Our team loses a team fight, the mid laner being the only who survives, blames the rest of

the team for us losing two towers even though he was too far away to help with the fight from

the start.

3:30: Our team has respawned and collapses on the enemy team as they are fleeing, killing four

of their five and destroying two of their inhibitors shortly thereafter.

3:33: Mid laner starts bossing people around and throwing a fit when we think what he wants to

do is a bad idea, Nathan and I both mute him.

3:37 Mid laner dies running around in the Jungle as the entire enemy team ambushes him,

blames everyone else for it happening, him and the top laner get into an argument, and while

that’s going on, the rest of us kill their team. Thankfully, the mid laner, being a mage as he is,

was able to do a rather significant amount of damage to them before he had died. Combine that

with the damage I was capable of as a Marksman, and the fact that Nathan had several stuns, (a

form of crowd control that completely stops any actions of an enemy) it was easy for us to make

up for the mid laner’s death.

3:40: Enemy team surrenders, and ours wins the game.

Observation 3

Brant 7

January 26, 2014

7:00 P.M. to 7:48 P.M.

Note: There aren’t a whole lot of notes taken for this observation as the team as a whole did

not do much talking. The reason our team generally did poorly in this game is because

several of us were “countered”, what this essentially means is that, the champions we

picked, are weak against those who the enemy picked, and so we are at a disadvantage.

That, and our Jungler did not perform as one is generally believed they should, not

providing much support to any of the lanes, and instead sticking inside the jungle and

killing the minions.

7:00: Enter the game, everyone has chosen their positions and everyone is happy, we seem to

have a very strong team put together.

7:10: The first kill happens for the enemy team, killing both me and Nathan when the enemy

Jungler came in to support their Marksman and Support. How this occurred is that the Jungler

waited in a bush near our turret, and when the enemies pushed us back to it, he came rushing out,

taking the damage from the turret for his team as they closed in to kill us.

7:17: Enemy Jungler is now beginning to carry the enemy team, has enough kills and gold that

they are capable of killing just about anyone in a one-on-one situation.

7:24: Our team takes Dragon and is ambushed by the enemy team, three of us die to their four,

everyone else escapes and moves to kill the minion waves starting to group around the turrets.

7:29: Our team loses a team fight and the first inhibitor, but manage to kill the enemy team when

we respawn to make a comeback.

7:36: Enemy team takes baron and pushes our team back to our base, killing three of us, and

taking an inhibitor before fleeing.

7:42: Second to last team fight, we win, push into their base, but are slaughtered by the enemy

Jungler who comes from behind us.

7:48: We lose the final team fight and decide to surrender, because of the fact that several of

them are finished buying all of their items and only one of us is, figuring that at this point, we

won’t be able to win fights anymore.

Interview #1

February 4, 2014

Interviewed Steven Quan, a new League of Legends player

1) Where do you believe you fit in in terms of the groups that make up League of Legends?

A) The Newbies, I don’t have very much experience with the game so far and am rather far from

being considered any good.

2) What role do you think you yourself belong in?

A) I don’t know which one I think I belong in, but the one I seem to enjoy most is the Top Laner.

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3) Given your encounters with people in the other groups that make up the game, how would you

rate it?

Good, Bad, Terrible? Etc.

A) It’s hard to say, because I’ve seen quite a few people who are just plain nasty to each other,

and others who are reasonably well behaved, so I’d say it’s pretty average.

4) How willing are you to change your active role to another in order to improve yours and

others experiences?

A) I’ll do whatever is left open, usually, as I don’t mind what I wind up playing as, I do prefer

Top Laner, but I’m not disappointed when I have to do something else if someone else wants to

be the Top Laner.

5) Do you think you will continue to play a part in the game? Why or why not?

A) I would like to say yes, but there’s a rather steep learning curve it seems and I’m also busy,

but when I do have more time available I do plan to continue being active.

Pictures to help with picturing the game:

The Nexus and its turrets:

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The inhibitor and its turret:

The minions, and some of the bushes:

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A turret, and it’s radius (the blue circle):

The blue buff:

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The Red Buff:

The Dragon:

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Baron Nashor: