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I hate the "modern E-sports" community league of legends has created.

H3lla Moneys··7 votes·965 views

Lol's Modern E-sports philosophy has ruined this community by creating a coddled and whiny generation of gamers who complain about everything. The knee-jerk nerfing/buffing to create a "competitively balanced" game is a joke. This game is no more balanced now than it was 3 years ago. The only reason all this balancing goes on is to keep the game fresh for the young majority of gamers with no attention span. The competitive response to the constantly changing game is the complete lack of a stable meta game. A given meta is never allowed to be built upon or perfected for more than a few months before it is torn down and rebuilt by balance overhauls.

Take a look at SSBM. This game has probably the richest, most diverse, and most complicated competitive meta of any game ever made. That's not an exaggeration, and guess what? Its creator doesn't give a fuck about it. This game has been the same since 2001, which is arguably why it has such a thriving meta game and competitive scene. The lack of knee-jerk balancing lets the game's strategy organically grow and build upon itself, rather than pandering to the majorities immediate complaints.

So, don't be fooled, all of this change does nothing for the actual competitive nature of the game, it just panders to the short of attention span and encourages people to spend money on the game by helping them get the newest and best stuff for the current meta. I'm not saying that it's necessary to spend money to adapt to the meta, but I am saying that without a constantly changing of the meta, this game wouldn't make nearly as much money. Fluctuations in who and what is good causes people to constantly have to change, and if they don't have enough IP to keep up, there's only one way to adapt.

TL;DR: the LoL E-sport philosophy of knee-jerk buffs/nerfs is more about money than it is about actual quality gameplay.

18 Comments

LadyRenly3 votes

It really is true when you think about it. Riot's balance philosophy has never been about making the most balanced game, everything comes and goes in cycles. When Riot wants something to be used, they push it.

Mimy2 votes

Your comparing league to Super smash Bros melee?

Now I've seen it all

H3lla Moneys1 votes

{quoted}

Your comparing league to Super smash Bros melee?

Now I've seen it all

I'm comparing their competitive communities. SSBM has one of the friendliest, longest standing competitive communities of any game, so It's not a terrible model to shoot for. And you're on the league forums, I'm sure you hear worse comparisons on a daily basis.

3TWarrior1 votes

isn't melee obsolete now though? I loved the game though but controllers aren't even sold anymore because of the 3ds and wii u console takeover

Dominick Destine2 votes

{quoted}

Your comparing league to Super smash Bros melee?

Now I've seen it all

This.

Smash is a joke game, even the creator has stated he despises competitive play and that it is meant to be played only for fun. League of Legends is not a joke game, it has a thriving competitive , (Literally) world-class environment. These are not remotely similar, OP is fail.

Korillo2 votes

No it's just called the internet.

H3lla Moneys1 votes

{quoted}

No it's just called the internet.

I'm arguing that just because you have the ability to constantly change a game and thus coddle the community, doesn't mean that it's beneficial to quality gameplay and a more enjoyable competitive community.

Mimy2 votes

But SSBM is a gamecube game.. so of course its not going to get updated..

but League is an online game and in order to keep going online you need to constantly change, A game that never changes is cool but when people are on an online game sometimes people expect a little change because if league was the same as it was when it came out in before season 1.. there wouldn't be as many people playing it because they'd look at all these other mobas that are updating and think "Wow! those are cool changes and this game is getting stale for me" and move to the other mobas..

SSB may of came back in Wii and stuff but it was then again a different game.. because games need to change.

Video games are about making a product well enough to sell enough.. and once it stops selling.. you cut it. That's how the business works..

If Internet games don't update.. and they don't get enough money.... It goes down..

The reason people in the SSBM community is genuinely nicer, is because the game doesn't change so you generally have a lot of people who truely LOVE the game playing it in the competitions, because the people who would ask for changes are pretty much out the door once they get tired of it and move on to the next game.

So you tend to have a lot more happier people because they all love the game how it is.

in short, people complain because riot has to keep making updates to keep their game fresh to entertain people so they continue to play the game because if people leave and they don't generate enough revenue they'll have to shut it down.

This is where the double edge sword comes into play. You cannot appease everyone. So riot tries their best despite the community.

H3lla Moneys1 votes

{quoted}

But SSBM is a gamecube game.. so of course its not going to get updated..

but League is an online game and in order to keep going online you need to constantly change, A game that never changes is cool but when people are on an online game sometimes people expect a little change because if league was the same as it was when it came out in before season 1.. there wouldn't be as many people playing it because they'd look at all these other mobas that are updating and think "Wow! those are cool changes and this game is getting stale for me" and move to the other mobas..

SSB may of came back in Wii and stuff but it was then again a different game.. because games need to change.

Video games are about making a product well enough to sell enough.. and once it stops selling.. you cut it. That's how the business works..

If Internet games don't update.. and they don't get enough money.... It goes down..

The reason people in the SSBM community is genuinely nicer, is because the game doesn't change so you generally have a lot of people who truely LOVE the game playing it in the competitions, because the people who would ask for changes are pretty much out the door once they get tired of it and move on to the next game.

So you tend to have a lot more happier people because they all love the game how it is.

in short, people complain because riot has to keep making updates to keep their game fresh to entertain people so they continue to play the game because if people leave and they don't generate enough revenue they'll have to shut it down.

This is where the double edge sword comes into play. You cannot appease everyone. So riot tries their best despite the community.

Right, I understand what you're saying, riot HAS to update the game the way they do because they want money and mainstream attention. That's actually one of my points. What I'm attacking is the assumption that this constant updating and changing creates a community and final product that is better than one where the game is left to generate a meta game organically. This "cancerous community" as we like to call it is a function of all F2P online games because it comes along with the updates, the coddling and the pandering. It makes the community feel entitled and never lets the game generate a longstanding meta. Once again, my point is NOT to tell riot to stop updating the game, it's to point out that their balance perspective, whether necessary for survival or not, fosters negative byproducts, and ultimately is not aimed to benefit competitive balance like they'd have you believe.

Mimy1 votes

There isn't much riot or anyone can do about the community. Sometimes people are just jerks to be jerks..

But there is a place to start... It's with yourself, just try being overall positive and friendly. :3 Maybe it might rub off on people.

Asayake 5150glow1 votes

You do realize... in a game like League of Legends... it's literally based off of change. If there were no change this game would get boring super fast. Hell, that means no new champions, new items, new stuff. Just, new stuff in general.

Puynsi1 votes

E-sports its aids, people went from playing against eachoter for fun to playing against eachother for money.

Unpaladin1 votes

The whole "in cycles" thing is strange. Riot's going back and forth and doing some crazy balance changes every now and then that make you wonder what is going through their team's minds. I can't believe Lucian's getting a nerf after a week in the spotlight during preseason.

Remember the end of last year when Riot gave us a neat Shyvana skin, then followed it up with buffs, an odd Burnout damage bonus, nicer looking spells and then finally when Devourer get reworked she was one of the top tiers? I think Riot was trying to tell us they have a dragon fetish or something.

Kazaashi1 votes

Riot uses the idea of "Perfect Imbalance" to keep the game fresh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e31OSVZF77w source: extra credits

If you look at the most recent changes, Riot has moved away from the Nerf/Buff cycle that plagued Seasons 1-3. Now they are attempting to balance the game through offering more strategic decisions for the players. So instead of buffing/nerfing the numbers, they tweak how kits work to give them clear moments of strength and weakness. It's a good thing.

Social Justice 11 votes

Melee is the Scrappy-Doo of competitive fighting games

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