How to make the pro scene better

DabGottem·Nov 17, 2019·3 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

MeowganNov 17, 20194 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.

DabGottemNov 17, 20192 votes

{quoted}

a lot of us play this game for human connection.

ChompyWulfNov 17, 20194 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.

DabGottemNov 17, 20192 votes

Thank you for posting a comment ChompyWulf. I see where you are coming from in this regard. I do not however think that leaving it up to the teams will really achieve the same affect. For instance FNATIC does a pretty good job showcasing their team members outside the game. If you look at the top popular videos on their youtube 2 of the top 3 are guess your rank videos and the other one is a house tour. I can gather that those types of videos are more accessible and enjoyable to a majority of consumers and show the players in a more relaxed setting (however this is not always the case as you told about your personal preference). However, the production value is not always up to par and the players don't leave the game house. Another issue is when you look at team liquids page. They have some content that applies to my suggestion like hot juans (an obvious gag on Hot Ones) and such but a lot of their video page is crowded with videos from different games. The top videos on liquids page are dedicated to fortnite and Dota 2. Finally, we have FPX the winners of this years worlds. They do not even have a page that includes content on their players. I do not get a sense of any of their players. The only video I found on Doinb about his personal life and grind to the top was a 4 min video by a 3rd party. This creates a cultural divide in spectators and fans. I wont cheer for a team I do not know anything about especially one that does not even speak the same language as me that's just human nature. I would rather cheer for g2 even though I still know nothing about the players. I think if Riot did more content on lesser known players from different countries or less known orginization rather than PERKS, DoubleLift, Uzi, Faker we could have a more well rounded less nationalist/Euro-centric fan base.

All in all I think Riot should produce this content because video on players are not consistent across all the teams or teams might not even have content channels, It lacks production value and creativity when it is done by individual teams, and because Riot controls all other facets of competitive play I think it is their responsibility they showcase the players in a meaningful way to advertise not only their game but their players in a fun way. Of course hard interviews should be there too but you never get to see the true individual during those videos. Even the Travis interview with Doublelift after NA left worlds seemed only at face value. I think if they take more interest in their players they could essentially have an organization that has meaningful story lines akin to NFL. The NFL post videos on its players that are used to promote the brand of the NFL and strengthen story lines the commentators could use and could latch onto. I think Riot could expand its games just by doing that.

However, you are right. Riot is really busy right now. And truly spreading their game across the world and continuing to do so takes a lot of resources and time.

Thank you again for a different perspective. [sg-kiko]