Boards›[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous

A Case for the League of Legends

AbiwonKenabi·9/5/2014, 5:49:03 PM·76 votes·7,246 views

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/022/e/d/league_of_legends_wallpaper_by_su_ke-d73cjvc.jpg

Hello, I am posting here in regards to the recent dev blog that came along with an interesting announcement. To sum it up, the lore team basically states the new direction they are going in: to segregate gameplay and story. The comment of note here is that Summoners, Fields of Justice, the Institute of War and by extension, the League of Legends are no longer canon. This is a huge announcement, one that was met with both joy and extremely negative reactions. In this post, I hope to shed some insight on why exactly those latter individuals are upset, and more importantly why the League of Legends should continue to be canon (you know, other than the obvious title issue).

I am fully aware that this will probably change nothing. This lore development has been worked on for a while and its going live regardless of what I have to say. But I still feel there are valuable things here to be said in regards to how many of us fans feel about the League of Legends lore. So without further ado, this is A Case for the League of Legends: Why the lore should retain its Summoner roots and how it can strengthen the game.

#League of Unique

To start, let's explore exactly what the Institute of War is all about. My summary:

Runeterra--the world of League of Legends--has suffered through huge, magical Rune Wars in the past. These wars became so catastrophic, an organization was created in order to prevent total destruction of Runeterra. That organization is the Institute of War. The Summoners that made up the Institute created the League of Legends, a place where resources, power, land and anything else could be fought over between the world powers using Champions. This was agreed to by all the factions as the best way to still get what they want and fight other factions without completely destroying the world that they live in.

This...is really unique. How many fantasy worlds can claim to have their own version of the UN? None that I can think of. Think of the cool, unique plots you could come up with under this simple premise. The factions and champions, in order to get what they want, have to tip-toe around the League; either fight directly within it, find ways around using it or exploit its rules for their own gain. Instead of doing away with this aspect, the lore writers should be using this as the lore's greatest strength. This could make the game League of Legends stand out among other games at least in terms of story.

Now, there are some obvious problems here. We have to connect every champion in the League to this one Institute. This can be solved by a simple adjustment of how we view the Institute and the League. It can be the center of power in the world: if you want to get things done--every champion has their own goals--you come to the League of Legends. Whether it be fighting for your country, exploiting the League for its resources, using it as a platform to gain the attention of the whole world, making the Institute and League the center of all the world powers makes it a place that the champions want to be at anyways.

  • Nami is looking for the Moonstone, but has no idea where to look. So she goes to the League, where they have many artifacts of power and plenty of resources to help in her search.

  • Lucian wants to rid the world of all evils, particularly the undead of the Shadow Isles. The League can give him the resources and influence in order to more effectively do so, and what's more is that many of the most powerful Shadow Isles inhabitants are champions of the League.

  • Lissandra's goal is to revive the Frozen Watchers...secretly. However, she still wants to also allow them to conquer first the Freljord and then the world, so of course she's deeply involved in the political powers of the world and the League of Legends.

I could go on, but these are a few examples.

#League of Plot Device

The main reason the lore devs decided on this change was that they believed the Institute of War was too restrictive. They couldn't make stories when conflicts were diffused instantly. So they decided the best course of action was to just get rid of it. I disagree. Stories can still happen within these restrictions.

I'd like to mention a trope called "Obstructive Code of Conduct". This post explains in more detail, but the basic gist of it is that some sort of rule the characters must follow is established in the story. The best way to use this plot device is to throw the characters into situations where the rule gets in the way: do they break it or do they find a way around? What is the right thing to do? This can invoke many defining character moments, as important choices make for interesting plots and characters.

Not only does this limiting factor potential make for better stories, it also makes war--when it does happen--a much more serious affair. Does a faction risk not only the costs of war--money, lives, resources--but also any potential sanctions the League may put against it? When war happens in Runeterra, it means things are really serious, and this can also be used as a plot device to display the gravity of a situation.

Now, there are admittedly some problems here. We saw in a special issue of the Journal of Justice that the Institute has the power to literally halt a conflict in its tracks. The solution is simple:

  • Nerf the Institute of War. A retcon might be necessary, but really, retconning a single plot point in the JoJ is a lot less disruptive than eliminating the existence of the IoW and the LoL. The Institute needs to be a limiting factor, but not obstruct the plot when it gets good. We want to see wars. We want the characters to fight. Let it happen when it makes sense.

  • The League only prevents total destruction. The "real life League" is probably the UN. Wars still happen in real life, despite the UN's existence. However, the UN still prevents World War III from occuring. The same can apply to LoL: they prevent total destruction of the world (i.e. another Rune War) but battles still happen.

  • The League won't interfere with personal stories. If Lucian decides to go man-mode, attack the Shadow Isles by himself and start shooting up zombies, the League shouldn't care. One person or small groups of people creating their own story is not grounds for League action.

  • Don't let this plot point limit the story. This makes me kind of chuckle, as this is the exact point the developers were trying to make. One of League's lore's problems is stagnation; we can't kill off or change characters because they are in the game for good. My solution: do it anyways. Since they constantly use the comic book comparison, I will use my own: comic book characters change all the time. They die, they change outfits, they change personas, they hang up the cape, etc. But they still appear in fighting games in one form or another, and still exist as characters elsewhere. The same can happen here. Let Varus be consumed by the Corruption, let's see what happens, let's see how the Institute and Ionia handle it. Things like this could make for good events too: have a special queue for this where we fight Corrupted Varus, have a legendary skin for him that shows how he changed.

#League of Players

This is probably the point I am most passionate about. The writers at Riot intend to segregate story and gameplay completely. I feel this is a huge mistake.

Video Games are an interactive medium. Let us interact. Let us be apart of the story.

There are games where the plot is "meh" but the gameplay makes the plot so much better. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princessis a game which has, I would say, an ok plot that has a large amount of plot holes and useless characters. But often the gameplay is so huge and epic, I still care about how the story turns out. In one moment in the game, your helper character Midna is injured. You are stuck in Wolf form, but Midna helps you with a lot of your Wolf abilities: since she's injured, she can't help you, so half of your gameplay mechanics are gone. You feel vulnerable, you feel like its urgent that you have to get help for Midna quickly since you feel you can hardly defend yourself let alone your injured friend. This feeling (combined with some great music) makes this a really memorable, poignant moment. The gameplay reflects what's happening in the plot so you feel it that much more.

Story is, of course, here to serve the game and shouldn't interfere with a great game. But story is also a tool to make a game better. I always thought the idea of Summoners was a great tool in this regard. Us, as players, were apart of the world. Factions, while simply a fan-made community, does a great job of utilizing this. Members are Summoners that fight for their faction, and their victories and defeats effect the outcome of the plot. This can be great, friendly competition that makes players care more about the plot because they took an active part in it.

I love that the new featured game mode is going to be focused on Shurima. That's awesome! This can further the plot along in a way that we get to participate. But why do Summoners have to stop existing in order for this to work? The answer: they don't.

Now I will address the argument of "champions become merely puppets when Summoners exist." Why do they have to be puppets? I always viewed the gameplay as differing slightly from what is canonically happening. To take a quote from a post by Prof Nekko in this thread:

In actual Runeterra it's more likely the summoners act as tacticians, guiding their actions and empowering them.

A good example of this is Pokemon: I'm sure many watch or have seen the show, and that many more play the games. Tell me: in the show do the Pokemon stand there, politely taking turns and attacking one at time, never moving? No, and that's because its not a direct translation of gameplay to what is actually happening. The Pokemon games are turn-based RPGs, and the show translates these battles into much more elaborate fights involving Pokemon darting around the battlefield, sometimes using their abilities in clever ways, all under the guidance of their trainers. We still see the familiar Pokemon and Pokemon moves in action, but we as players of Pokemon know that battles would probably look more like this, and when we imagine our own battles, we probably imagine them more like the show than the game.

This is how I think that lore should be handled with the context of gameplay in mind:

  • Summoners (the players) should be involved with the plot. The payoff here is tremendous, and can turn a decent plot into an awesome plot. That feeling of involvement in a conflict makes us care more about it, and is something no other medium can really do.

  • The gameplay is not a direct translation of the story. Of course villagers in Age of Empires don't stand around for hundreds of years if you forget to assign them to a task. Of course characters in turn-based RPGs don't take turns attacking. There are certain game mechanics where suspension of disbelief has to come into play. The idea that Summoners mind control champions is not what actually happens. They are more like tactical guides story-wise.

I feel you are wasting your time developing story for a game if you are not doing it in concert with the game. Regardless of if Riot's Lore Team decides to erase Summoners from canon or not, its a bad policy to completely divorce your game from its plot. I know I'm sort of contradicting an earlier statement of mine (the idea of don't let the game limit the story) but I just feel nothing good can come from forgetting the game when you are making the story. I don't want a Multiverse of League of Legends, I just want the one universe to be developed further. Why do the game and the story have to be two alternate universes?

#Conclusion

I'll attempt a tl;dr here:

tl;dr Riot's Lore Team is removing the canon existence of Summoners, the Fields of Justice, the Institute of War and by extension the League of Legends. I and many other fans disagree with this direction.

  1. The Idea of the Institute is unique among game plots, and by making it the center of influence, resources and political power, any League champion can have a reason for being there.

  2. This plot point does not have to limit the story overall. Because of this point, unique problems and conflicts can occur, and Wars can still happen (and become more interesting besides). If we view the Institute as a preventor of all-out destruction rather than of conflicts, stories can still work and do the things Riot wants them to.

  3. Summoners are a good (missed) chance to involve the players in the story. Their involvement will make them feel the story and care more about its outcome. Regardless of whether Summoners remain or not, gameplay and story are irrevocably intertwined, and divorcing them is a disservice to this game (or any game for that matter).

I added a poll, since I was curious what everyone thought on the matter, regardless if they post or not.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to discuss below.

Edit: Another poster that shares my sentiment for interactive media.

Edit 2: A bit of an angry post, but still argues well some of the reason us lore fans are reacting like this:

So I was only excited for the added depth to character relations, but now I can't be excited about what things you are developing because I have no basis for where they are coming from. Now you have just freed yourselves, and your characters to tell better stories, by removing the players from any involvement in your precious narrative. By simply removing the League's existance without any replacement as you have done, you have stated that the players are a hindrance to your work, and you are not willing to deal with that hindrance any longer, and saying "You can still pretend that annoying summoner's and silly League of Legends still exists, but we are upgrading to new adult stories now"(condescending words added) does not make you actions any less cold.

38 Comments

Solumindra9/5/2014, 6:22:45 PM18 votes

I'm glad that we finally got some sort of news. And that it seems the lore teams are trying to talk to us.

I agree though, getting rid of summoners and the league make me feel like I no longer matter. Like the Game for Ionia vs Noxus no longer matters. Like I am no longer important to the characters, game, or plot. I was important ever since the game came out. I took part in all these battles, all these conflicts. And now I don't matter. That's a huge lore change. And I personally do not like that change.

Sneak Dog9/5/2014, 7:52:07 PM11 votes

Honestly, I'm just seeing this retcon as a cheap way out. Then I expect them to just deliver stories that are about a conflict between two factions and focus on the champions in those factions. This kind of lore seems very simple to write and I expect it to be of decent quality, especially so because the world is a sum of generic factions. This probably means they'll have a world nobody cares about, only the characters in it are important. Ironically, this reminds me exactly of the way the old champion backgrounds were written. They were written only to have an awesome champion, that you just had to make up a new dimension for them to have been awesome in didn't matter. Only difference is that the new lore is written to be continued upon.

I don't mind it though, having lore focused on champions in a generic world is fine by me.

The one thing I cannot stand however, is the removal of characters I am invested in. They removed my Trundle in the Freljord patch, replaced him with a new guy and never even hinted at redoing his voice-overs, adjusting how his actions were described in the background to keep the old Trundles character intact in the new lore. Knowing characters can be replaced at the lore departments whims means I cannot invest in the new lore, it'd just lead to more suffering (ah irony).

Earl Eulrich9/6/2014, 1:55:12 AM8 votes

I really appreciate your text, it´s pretty much everything that has to be said about that topic. Great effort...though i´m afraid Riot won´t listen to reason from their players - would be the first time they do.

Mughi of Ruckus9/6/2014, 11:09:53 AM6 votes

I generally agree. The Institute of War is stifling, but the concept of it isn't inherently stifling of story. It creates another tool in your toolbox, and a lot of the changes they seem to hope to accomplish can probably be accomplished by altering how the Institute works and what it accomplishes instead of outright removing it altogether. In the world, it's another dynamic you can use to create stories. Absent the world, well, I suppose it depends on what you re replace it with. Replacing it with nothing would be the worst mistake of them all.

Also, agency is one of League's greatest potential strengths. People still talk with reverent, gushing tones about the battle for Ionia. (People also ask for skins that represent champion's advancement through their own story arcs all the time, which has nothing to do with agency, but which I also think is a snazzy idea.) These are things that can be done with or without The Institute of War, though, so frankly, whether or not they go ahead with these changes, I hope they begin to allow our interaction with the world and story of Runeterra on this level again.

Nwol9/6/2014, 8:23:59 AM5 votes

This post is amazing.

Taelyn the Lost9/6/2014, 3:02:08 PM5 votes

This is exactly my thoughts on it. I'm so glad someone could rephrase it in a more organized way. I really hope Riot changes their mind. The Institute isn't as bad as they say. I'm a writer, and I'm known by those who know me as someone who loves picking on plot holes. And though there are a few, I don't mind, because as a whole, I like it better this way. It may be weaker a story, but it makes the game world as a whole stronger.

TwoPacalypse9/5/2014, 6:20:22 PM4 votes

[deleted]

dialMARK4acti0n9/6/2014, 11:22:13 AM4 votes

You won me over, and actually, I want to add to the tactician part of the argument, by referring the original Fire Emblem for GBA. That game had a similar tactician motif as the one you mentioned here, and that's honestly one of the best parts of the story in that game so yeah! I'd like to see that in LoL

BlueBuffandChill9/6/2014, 11:37:55 PM4 votes

item 3070 Amumu item 3070 why rito why

Dylph9/7/2014, 3:03:32 AM3 votes

On the one hand, I'm glad that Riot has taken a renewed interest in lore. On the other, I don't think removing the League, institute of War, and Summoners was necessary.

For instance Skarner is the only one of his kind. He is pretty much all alone in the world. He is focused primarily on preparing for the arrival of his buddies. Skarner then decides joining the League is right for him (for reasons?) He should be more concerned with selfishly acquiring power than assisting the Institute of War.

The simplest way to resolve this in my eyes is to take away champions reasons for joining the League. "So then why do these champions fight in the League?" Simple. They were chosen based on their combat ability and forced into it. This would even make sense in the cases when say Noxus and Demacia champions fight on the same team.

"Skarner, you have been selected to fight in the league." Skarner "No way! I don't want to." "You were chosen because you're a bad ass fighter. If you don't do it, we will kill you." Skarner "Fine! I'll do it."

This allows for champions to have their own stories taking place while they aren't fighting in the league. It would keep the good parts of league while being less restrictive on the stories for the champions.

KSHarrison9/7/2014, 8:48:50 PM2 votes

Great post to begin discussion. I'm curious to see how much of the lore is going to be retconned before casting my vote. I do agree changes should be conservative. It's been 5 years since LoL has come out, and in that time a massive amount of lore has been communicated, officially as well as shared throughout the community often enough that it's taken firm root in many of our minds. It's a very considerable amount of progress that shouldn't be underestimated. Redoing everything would be a battle against identity confusion and a monumental project that I can't see successfully updating everything for at least a couple more years. By the time it's really relevant and coming into its own as a full-fledged, cohesive set of lore that's been wholly assimilated by the community, the game may be 8 or even 9 years old. It's such an inefficient way of doing things compared to seeking workarounds. I hope the amount of lore retconned is minimal.

To be clear, I personally don't have a particular attachment to the current set of lore; however, I do eagerly await an actively evolving lore, one that we can appreciate and engage in discussions over to the same extent as we do with, for example, esports. I don't want to wait years for this to happen, especially if a faster alternative may be available. The lore is good enough to me as is to opt for speed even if it means sacrificing perfection from rebuilding everything from scratch.

Takeyo Efthulc9/8/2014, 11:07:58 AM2 votes

You put your very soul into this post. I agree with every single word, and I really, really appreciate all the time and hard work you put into writing this out. I can't believe they are trying to claim that the benefits they have found for their chosen course of action strongly outweigh the points made here. As you say, the Summoners/FoJ/IoW/LoL device can only stifle them if they force it to, and you actually left out a lot of additional evidence from the old lore showing that almost none of the claims made by Tommy Gnox are really valid at the foundation. Speaking of foundations, sure the old stuff is old, maybe it's musty, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still the Foundation, and you don't just pull the foundation out from under your building because it's old and needs repairs. You repair the foundation where it needs it, but you never, ever just throw it out the window, especially if it's beautiful.

Bottom Line: (1)They built the entire game off of these concepts from the very beginning. Some of the stuff may need to be reworked, but they can't just throw the whole thing out like that when they've been building the entire game around it for 5+ years. (2)They practically pioneered the MMO-like active player-character lore participation in a MOBA. That was what made League of Legends unique from other MOBAs, not the fast-paced combat, or the selection of champions from which to choose, or the exceptional art quality. Those things all came much later, and good as they are, they still cannot alone carry the franchise into the future.

Let me put it into a metaphor: If your plane takes off, good-sense says you don't jump out halfway through the trip just because you like the looks of what you see below. If your plane takes off, good-sense says you ride it to your destination. Well, their plane sure took off, but it looks like they got tired of riding it. All I can say is that it'll take a pretty big, heavy-duty parachute to save them from this altitude, and there's no telling where they'll land now. You can bet that it probably won't be where they were looking when they jumped.

Mjolnir8029/6/2014, 10:52:43 AM1 votes

While all these changes will take a long time to take effect, I have to agree with the Lore team that it is for the better. Things can actually happen in Runeterra again. From all that I have read, it feels like nothing has happened since the IoW was founded. The world of Runeterra is kind of frozen in time the way it is now with nothing ever really changing. It feels like the lore of every champion before that Shadow Isles event is just a rough bio and some shoehorned in reason as to why they joined the League of Legends. The IoW just feels like some weird conduit to justify this massive assortment of related and unrelated characters to be fighting each other. Why would Garen be killing Lux, why would Lucian and Thresh fight side-by-side? The lore in its current form doesnt explain it, and there isnt a good way to explain why relationships would suddenly be redefined for a brief instant, just to be returned to what they were as if nothing happened.

As for a game needing the story to make it compelling, I think you are comparing League to the wrong genre of game. You are looking RPGs (Pokemon, Zelda) which are by nature story driven. League of Legends isnt driven by the story. A more apt comparison would be to the fighter genre, such as Super Smash Bros, Marvel vs Capcom Dead or Alive, SoulCaliber, etc. These are all games that are driven by gameplay, and may have story attached to them, but are not vital to the player to know what is happening. Look at Super Smash Bros, a game that draws characters from dozens of different universes and pits them against each other to make on of the most beloved game series ever. Would Mario, Sonic, Pacman, and Megaman(All originally made by different companies) all be able to meet in the same universe outside of SSB? Its difficult to imagine without awkward and convoluted stories. But in SSB, it can happen, and the how and why dont matter.

League of Legends is similar. It is driven by gameplay and has a cool story behind it. The only way that you see any story in a match of League is through the character design and interactions. What your champion does and says while under your control (for the most part) paints a picture of who or what they are, but beyond that we see very little of what the world outside the League is. By removing the bounds of the IoW and the LoL opens up the world for things to actually happen. The world can be dynamic, and things can change. We can see what happens when Annie grows up, we can find out what happened General Du Couteau, we can see what happens between the Solari and Lunari; and all of this can happen without having to be reflected in the gameplay itself.

I feel like this opens up a lot of possibilities for stories outside of the game, and the potential to expand into different forms of media.

yadayadanothing9/7/2014, 5:04:28 PM1 votes
    1. ***summoner 7 Blitzcrank {{champion:Aatrox 1}} ***
Diahane9/25/2014, 6:02:19 PM1 votes

(Edit: I'm obviously referring to the OP's post!)

Kudos for your well-thought and motivated post, with which I do agree to a considerable extent. Nonetheless, we should just resign ourselves that the change won't be reverted and our old lore lovers' voices won't be met with any step back. When they announced the retcon, they were already at their final decision and with probably a lot of work already done in advance. To retrace their steps would mean to burn that and no company could possibly have any interest in throwing two years of a team's work through the window. Because it's been so long that they meant to do this, as the total absence to any IoW reference in lores started a lot of time ago. Plans are probably being made on expanding the lore even more beyond the boundaries of the game and the separation of lore and the videogame is perhaps a prodrome to either a new game or the launch of the story through other medias - just glancing at the enthusiastic comments of those who liked the changes we can see that they'll probably grasp the opportunity to craft and sell some books or comics. It's all in the surveys most likely, maybe people crave and craved those and this is the most straightforward way to achieve such aim. We should as well remember that the target audience of LoL is quite the young one and the more subtle possibilities the IoW disclosed would have probably been lost on the youngest. The actual lore is just your usual fantasy setting, with a lot of cool stuff, of course, I wouldn't be so passionate about it otherwise, but still nothing that could look majorly original - as opposed to the IoW idea, which is not a common one.

Still, I wish the best luck to the lore team and appreciate their work, though I would appreciated another line of that same work. But, alas, we may as well be the minority here and we shall deal with it!

Porta Nova9/6/2014, 9:05:04 AM1 votes

The League and Institute of War and all that made a really cool statement. How awesome a world would it be if international disputes were settled over friendly games of chess. A world like that would have no conflict. It would be a Utopia. Good stories however need conflict. Good stories do not take place in Utopias. People getting along and living happy lives is all that happens in Utopias. "Darius was standing in line to buy groceries, when suddenly Garen cut right in front of him! He was so angry he decided to continue to fight him in the League of Legends!"

I personally could care less about the lore other than some of the character's individual stories were somewhat interesting, but if you like lore and want League of Legends stories? You should be loving the removal of the Institute.