make the game better for the majority, not the elite

Plasma Servant·Sep 23, 2016·2 votes·727 views

Most of the players are not competition class. Many of them don't care two cents for ranked ... lot of them in fact. I'd think that if you take those that don't play ranked, and those that aren't gold and above, you would have a vast majority of the players.

So Riot, forget about the minority of your players, and design the game for the majority.

Forget what works for "higher levels" and shoot for the median ... I'd be willing to bet that is where you make the most money. Those that are high level won't be hurt by that ... other than you'd have to stop gearing the game to how they want to play. Gear toward your market, not your fringe.

5 Comments

Ego KillerSep 23, 20163 votes

Actually they make more money catering to the minority of players and I'll tell you why.

The end of season rewards are only given to gold players or higher, you're not wrong in asserting that this is a much smaller portion of their player-base. However, by setting the bar relatively high (I say relatively because getting to gold is actually not that large of a feat if you actually try to learn about the game), they make people play for longer periods of time. More playtime = more exposure to their marketing. Also by playing more you are less likely to stop playing completely. By giving people something they feel is important (end of season rewards) they are more likely to return for the next season, and the next season, and the next and so forth. Trust me, the higher up you go on the ladder, the more you'll hear people say that they don't play the game to have fun, even if at one time they did. These higher elo players are the ones who play the most and, typically, spend the most on the game itself.

This doesn't even go into the pro scene, in which marketing is a huge factor as well.

Plasma ServantSep 24, 20161 votes

Somehow I don't believe that millions of lower level players don't spend more than higher level players. Even at $20 each ... the millions would earn Riot way more than 100,000 high elo players. And with the way high elo players complain about wait times for matches, I'd think it would be at least a 100:1 ratio. I doubt seriously that high elo players spend 100 times as much as the low elo players.

MãgeSep 23, 20162 votes

The thing is, Riot does balance for the majority as well. But one could argue the majority benefits from balance geared towards the highest levels of play. You see, although most players are around that level, most players don't play a game so that they can feel competitive at it without actually having put in the time to practice or improve. A good example would be if Chess were balanced for the majority of casual, non-competitive chess players. Instead of making Chess so complex, with so many pieces, the game would be played with all queens in the back row, except for the king. The result would be a game that gets really stale, really quickly. When a game is more complex and difficult than the average casual player cares to dive into, fun can still be had given the right mindset without compromising the game for the "chess grand-masters" and such.

Plasma ServantSep 24, 20161 votes

Chess is totally different. It has been the same game for centuries (literally) and is not "balance" as all competitors are always playing with the same rules. Both players even play both side an equal number of times (in competitions) so it always does a reset at the end of every game, and it is totally the same for both players in any competition. No differences other than what the player chooses.

That is nowhere near what league is ... it is not analogous in any way.