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new idea for LoL eSports - in-game player substitutions

MMac·12/19/2014, 4:23:28 PM·1 votes·651 views

What if in LCS games or other live LoL tournaments, teams were allowed to make a certain number of player substitutions (like 2-3) per game? Kind of like a 5-man basketball squad can sub players on and off the court, or closing pitchers in baseball.

Obviously the champion would remain the same, but the player's style and tactics would change up, and it'd be a cool way to bring an extra layer of strategy to the game. Some players might be better at early game and some might be better at late-game, etc.

My initial concern is that it would further the trend of eSports tilting toward organizations with lots of money (since having a large roster of specialized players would cost more), but that's the direction of the trend anyway, and this would provide a bit more strategic consideration than just the current feeding frenzy to sign the players who are best overall. I get confused at the long list of "subs" on each team who I never see playing.

Anyway, thoughts?

1 Comments

nsanity2712/21/2014, 5:33:05 PM1 votes

I like the thought that you are making to try and make esports just like actual sports, but this idea wouldn't work. The point of substitutions in sports such as basketball is to give players a break as they are exhausted from physical activity. Playing LoL may seem intense, but isn't physically demanding. As to your idea about switching strategies, I would personally consider this to be unfair to teams that are unable to find the talent required to be able to integrate a completely new roster with a new strategy, as esports isnt nearly as big in number of players as "actual" sports. This is why you don't see things like the NBA draft and also why most new additions to teams are Koreans since they have the largest number of people that would consider a job in esports. Also, LoL is designed for one person to play one champion, to allow two people to play the same champion in a game would be strange and is something that no other game has, and for good reason. I like your idea of trying to make the established sports' traditions be integrated into esports, but some things such as substitutions just won't work with games such as LoL.