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How to make the pro scene better

DabGottem·11/17/2019, 2:51:10 PM·3 votes·4,254 views

Hey Riot,

I love League of Legends and I am truly excited to continue to watch the game grow. This company and the game(s) it produces is my all time favorite. I cannot tell you the countless hours I have spent in this game or consuming content about the game. I even read a book dedicated to the rise of E-Sports and how Riot changed the landscape of competitive games by managing and controlling all the aspects of the LOL E-sports from the teams to the tournaments.

However, after watching this years worlds tournament I cannot help but make some suggestions that I think would greatly help increase viewership and excitement for the LOL brand and hopefully continue onto your other projects.

It is my strong opinion that League of Legends is not fully taking advantage of the players in the pro scene. I think Riot games should start producing a new segment about players doing things in IRL. What I mean by this is to have one of your many host grab some players from a team or a bunch of teams and have them do silly things almost akin to Korean game shows or the amazing race. Have Huni go skydiving, take faker to a cat cafe, let double lift go to couples retreat with Travis. Do fun things like that which shows LOL in a less formal stale way. Late night tv shows have already taken advantage of this type of idea by having celebrities do those such things. Have you ever watched Jimmy Fallon take Kevin Heart on a roller coaster, or Connan going to a Korean Spa with Steven Yeun this causes the audience to relate better to those celebrities and laugh alongside them. It is really hard to connect to a player like Doinb when I have no idea who he is or what his story is all about. So when you have a Chines team win worlds half of your fan base is sad because they have no idea who the heck FPX are. I honestly did not even know about Mickyx or Caps until I watched their play this worlds and the only reason I related to them was due to their play style and the fact that they spoke the same language as me. Another prime example is The Hot Ones wing challenge interview. A lot of celebrities want to go on that show because of the light atmosphere and challenge. Let these players show who they are in a more vulnerable atmosphere and I think you would get a lot more interest in the pro circuit. Then you wont have to try so hard at the commentators desk to create story lines that the audience can't or wont relate to. I think one of the best segments this year in worlds was who was the cutest kid Faker or Caps.

This will also create excitement with the pro players who will get to do more activities away from the game but still talk and advocate for it. I know there is a lot of criticism about your game even within the pro and twitch players. This is a great time to invest and produce new ways to have your audience relate to your players and product. League is getting old and I know y'all are doing a great job changing up the game play but now I think would be a great time to change the stale pro scene as well. Introduce those fun new interviews and ideas that lets us really appreciate those players. I also think this will help with the popularity of the new games y'all are developing by already having a formula to get the audience excited about new pro players for those games.

I hope you like this idea and I would honestly love to help make LOL a better place so please let me know if you have any questions. I would also love to share my more concrete ideas concerning the pro scene so if you like this please let me know. Have fun summoners! [sg-miss-fortune]

4 Comments

Meowgan11/17/2019, 4:06:00 PM4 votes

I totally agree. Currently, not a lot of these players are truly relatable because we know next to nothing about them. A lot of people lose interest after all the teams from their region are knocked out. Maybe I just don't know where to get this information, but even when you go to the esports part of this website, all they say about players are their names. It does seem like a lost content area when Riot is expanding their music scene, lore, animations and cinematics, game selection...they have a huge asset in these players and ultimately, a lot of us play this game for human connection. With out friends, and when we watch esports, with the pro players. Riot should definitely create content centered around players.

ChompyWulf11/17/2019, 5:58:07 PM4 votes

I'm not sure Riot should be the one doing this kind of thing, but teams especially should. Some already have. Immortals was notable for creating social content to connect to fans. T1 (formerly known as SKT1) recently restructured and brought in partners that will create content to promote the team. I know of at least one YouTube channel that sometimes makes bio videos about bigger Esports stars, maybe there are more. As a company, Riot has been...busy now. Finally. After 10 years they are finally making more than one game. They have a lot of control over a couple of the regions. They have a lot of employees working on balance, new in game material, and promotional material for their game. They have a lot going on, its probably better to unite fans in pushing teams and Esports outlets to make this kind of material.

Personally though, I'm not a fan of the gimmicky schlock that Fallon and O'Brian do. I'd rather see simple candid interviews out at an eatery, or a pro talking about or showing off an interest they have outside the game than forced gags and bits.