League of Our Own: Making a more automated system for connecting with players.
Ever feel like you don't really know anybody when you play League? Sure I have friends, but everybody else is just a random stranger I will probably never see again.
-Our community is too big to not be given better organization tools.
I did some more thinking on this idea recently. How do we go about finding our way in this giant anonymous glob called the League of Legends community? Organizing it, that's how. I figured that in many online games you have clans, companies, guilds, whatever you want to call them. There has always been a system that has been available for players to organize a group that goes beyond a simple party. These are excellent subcommunities that are there for players while being supported by a convenient system provided by the game. These subcommunities are essential to the sustainability of the main community. It organizes players for them so when they have a bad day or things go wrong, they have somewhere to fall back to. Video games are fun but in my experience it is the people that keep us playing them.
Even though we CAN do this already, it can be made much easier for us. New players will be easily retained. They just started. They aren't going to usually use forums or try to connect with players they don't know. Give them a better system that will guide them so they are more motivated to stick around when things are too hard for them.
-How about a UI that helps us connect with other players and maintain that connection?
We'll call these leagues.
This UI support will help us get groups of players that we enjoy playing with and allow us to set our own group standards. This means we can decide if certain people are in or out. Then when you want to invite people to custom games or regular groups you don't need to invite people one at a time. You can just invite through your league.
It would also be neat to set up a lobby for your league, kind of like a hub you are in to talk to like-minded individuals. I know we can have private channels but as stated before we need to actually tell people to do it. Instead, they can just click a button and bam they are there.
I realize a lot of this is possible without the need for automation but I feel that the automation will make it much more appealing and easy to use. Setting up private channels like a chatroom within your league hub can also be available. :)
For leagues that are huge, you should be allowed to purchase the ability to support league-exclusive matches/tournaments using queues. Say you have 500 people in this league. You can then queue up in matches within this league and it will match you up based on MMR. The appeal of this is that you'd be allowed to have an automated way of setting up matches without the hassle of doing it randomly at a snails pace. It also automatically balances matches for you. There will be a limit on IP gains and all that to avoid potential abuse. Not that there will be many gigantic leagues, but this is also a possible solution to players who just want to avoid toxicity if they are playing in a league that will not put up with nonsense.
-Let's create subcommunities through the UI that simulates a town-center experience.
The main appeal of all of this is to help the player experience. League is a big community and it is more than just about the games and the champions. It's about people. Even basic free-to-play games have hubs like a town where you run into people and say hello. I'm aware we have channels we can use but not everybody even realizes we have those. So I think we could do more to introduce them to ways of getting connected with fellow players. Sometimes I feel that because the community is so big we are a little disconnected from each other. It is important to encourage players to interact and a UI to help automate that process makes it easier.
-Create a system that naturally drives us to seek out other players.
The main issue is everything is really manual in how we connect to other people in this game. In MMOs, you inevitably run into people and there's a natural system of interaction. On a game like League you gotta go to the forums and find your own groups. I feel the manual nature of this does not encourage us to connect with others. Since League is supposed to be a game that is all about the community, wouldn't it make sense to have a little more guidance in helping players find each other?
-Access to the forums from the UI.
Another feature I would like is also including forum access on the client UI. I think it would result in more participation when the option is conveniently there. For newer players it is also going to help them have convenient access to some people that can help.
-Newbie Scenario
You log in. You see a giant button that asks you if you need help finding a league to join. Bam, a listing you can shop through with each listing explaining what the overall standards are. There is also a button that will lead you to the forums for new players.
-In-a-League Scenario
You log in. You are automatically in your league's hub and see who is on and in what subchannels. Join the room you want. Chat. See what people are up to. There is a button that will send you to the forums.
