"Balance"

"Balance," at least in modern gaming, isn't really about making a game fair or anything -- no, instead, "balance" is Suitanese (the language of greedy, slimy assholes in suits, if you didn't know) for "profitable."

In nearly every online game these days, we have developers rewarding the simplest, easiest characters / champs / heroes / whatever you call them far more than they reward anything / anyone that requires any amount of skill. Why? Well, the answer to that one is easy: Whales don't spend money if their egos are bruised by their inability to play more than the most basic in terms of complexity. So, in the wonderful spirit of greed, gaming companies go and throw quality out the window, and instead shift to full milking mode -- effectively destroying any semblance of balance.

So why does no one do anything, you might ask, and why do they get away with that? Well, that's because of a group of gamers we have today that call themselves "casual." Now, a casual gamer can be one of two things:

• The first, is someone who doesn't dedicate their lives to gaming, and rather just plays them for fun. They might play for 8 hours at a time, or half an hour a day. Though, casual gamers aren't averse to challenge, and most actually like difficult games. These are the gamers of the 80s to early 00s.

• The second (and by far the more common one these days) is someone who labels themselves as "casual," but would really be much more accurately described as "lazy assholes." These are people who really shouldn't be playing video games, since they're just a method of social preening, and are too lazy to lift even a finger or read more than 5 words at a time in order to play a game. However, these players are the majority of gamers these days, and therefor, the majority of the income potential for companies like Riot out there. Since the companies know this, they will build their games to accommodate the "casuals." This means that the games are very, very simplistic; have little to no story behind them; reward incompetence (playing easy characters for higher results); and so on.

Now, this doesn't mean all companies want to cater specifically to "casuals." But, since F2P started gaining traction 10 years ago, the "casuals" grew in number, making even long-time companies like Nintendo fall to greed.

But how does this apply to League, right?

Well, Riot is a company that was started by someone who speaks fluent Suitanese (Beck). He doesn't really care about gaming, doesn't really care about his product, and doesn't really give a damn about something silly like balance. No... Beck's just out for your money. He's got some pretty severe insecurities about himself, and uses money to make himself feel better. Not only that, but despite making millions into billions, he basically sold the company to Tencent, a far greater greed-fest in China. So now we have Ma (Tencent CEO) and Beck (again, Riot CEO) scheming together about how best to milk whales while maintaining the illusion that they give a damn.

What does anyone care about economy though in a game, right? Doesn't have any effect on the game itself!

Nope.

See, just the fact that League is F2P brings all kinds of negative things into the game:

• Lack of developer attention for the base game, instead putting resources into cash shop items / skins / etc.

• Lack of balance, since true balance would be stagnant, and wouldn't spike FOTM waves which boost RP sales.

• Pitiful work ethic, work that takes 50x longer than it needs to, etc.

• Lack of attention for anything that isn't directly related to income potential (Jayce hammer bug for years).

• ...

Seems nice, huh?

Thing is, while everyone hyped F2P as the best thing for gamers... it's really not. F2P is only good for the developer, and no one else (F2P games are much more profitable than P2P, but much lower quality).

So yeah, League will never be balanced, despite everyone complaining about things like Zed, despite ADCs being dominant since S2, despite Tali being very weak, despite easy faceroll champs being absurdly strong... Beck and Ma just couldn't care less about all that. They know that Zed makes money, and isn't allowed to be weak, and that ADCs / braindead champs being strong makes whales feel like they contribute to a game, and are more likely to spend money.

I honestly hate this shitty cash grab. I really do. But, unfortunately, the gimme generation (calling themselves "casuals") has destroyed the entire gaming industry, reducing everything to a bunch of poorly disguised cash grabs that really have no value or entertainment factor. As much as I'd love to play a game I actually enjoy, or making a game I'd enjoy... there's just no reason to hope for change in the industry. Greed is one of the most common character flaws in humanity, and modern society not only supports it, but openly advocates it.

So thanks kids, you went and tore my childhood hobby away from me, only so I could watch as it slowly died, knowing there's nothing I can do. And then, as if that wasn't enough, you took its skin and put it on something else, telling me that it was the same thing and just as good.

Honestly Beck, I really hope you and people like you have their asses handed to them one day. You all really need your heads forcibly removed from your asses. Maybe then you'd stop ruining things for other people just to fill that empty hole with money, and try to act like a decent human being (which would, you know, fill that hole)... but that's just wishful thinking.