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[SALT] Emotional Investment of a MOBA

Sir ArmaMalum·9/8/2014, 5:02:00 PM·17 votes·3,537 views

Hello and welcome to the continuation of my debate series of Sir ArmaMalum's Let's Talk. If this is your first time, welcome! The idea here is for me to present and outline a certain topic, complete with my own bit at the end, for the sole intent of talking about it. I tend to stick to out of game subjects like ethics, behavior and other such things but that doesn't mean I won't do gameplay related areas of I think I can do it justice.

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Quick Guidelines on replies:

  • Be constructive
  • Ask questions wherever you can
  • Be willing to be questioned yourself

What is a MOBA?

Real quick, if you don’t know what a MOBA is don’t worry, you’re not the only one. It stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. That means a game like Dota, LoL, Smite, all of those kinds of games that pit small teams against each other in a relatively small area (an Arena) and battle it out.

To be clear, these games are MOBA’s:

  • LoL
  • Smite
  • Dota (2)
  • Heroes of the Storm
  • Dawngate

#Emotional Investment in a Game

This term means, broadly, how much you care. You can be emotionally invested in a book series for example, and shed a tear when a favorite character dies (Dobby anyone?). Or you can be emotionally invested in a sports game and scream your head off during a touchdown. (As a Hokie, this cannot be understated more)

If you’ve played a game long enough, or are just a passionate gamer, chances are you’ve already seen what happens when a player gets invested in a game. Don’t get me wrong, that’s awesome and something that game developers strive to achieve every day, a game that players not only enjoy, but care about. But as any League player can tell you, this can also extend just as much (if not more, because we humans instinctively focus on negatives) towards emotions like anger and hate.

MOBA’s Amplification

Here’s a theory:

MOBA’s mechanics and layout actually increase the average player’s emotional investment than other genres

In other words, MOBA’s require more emotional investment than other games like shooters, puzzles, RTS and I’ll even venture to say a vast majority of other game genres. Keep in mind that this will get somewhat more subjective/bias than my usual SALT’s because I’m theorizing. Here’s my logic:

#High team reliance

MOBA’s usually work with about five people, it’s a nice number of people for teamwork while still allowing individual contribution to have a high impact in the game’s outcome. In a MOBA there are four people on your team that are relying on your individual performance. There’s no hiding in the mass of a 15-20 person team (like CoD) or escaping a team entirely in 1v1 games (like Starcraft). To some this may not matter too much, but to others this can be a large emotional investment.

In summary, a single player in a team is in command of a significant (there’s the keyword) portion of their entire team’s performance. A single player can still make or break a game for all five people

#Momentum strategies

MOBA’s have a defining characteristic that play a very large part in why they’re so nail-biting for players. The nature of the nice combination of lane pressure, levels, gold and map control allow MOBA’s to make losing an advantage hurt, and keeping an advantage in play a high priority, and also a high risk (lane pushing, roaming, etc). An advantage equates to the hope of winning, and losing it is a blow to an emotional investment, a loss of hope. Inversely, it also means an equivalent gain to the other team.

In summary, plays and decisions made at any time in the game are significant in one way or another.

#High Tempo

There’s always something to do in a league game. Whether it be last hitting, warding, roaming or taking objectives one thing everyone learns pretty quickly is that there are few times where you’re just standing around (waiting in spawn for a bit of gold doesn’t count :P). While this strays a little away from emotional investment it is still a factor in my eyes. Most games have downtime of some kind, where the player can take a quick breath and jump back in. League and other MOBA’s however don’t have that luxury. Even when you’re dead, I’m betting most of you keep an eye on your team or quickly look at your items to plan out your next buy.

If you don’t believe me when I say this can be legitimately exhausting, try grabbing a few friends and entering a tournament, this factor is amplified a lot when there are prizes at stake. I’ve played in two and I can tell you it’s damn tiring after the third game in a row.

There are plenty more I’m sure, but the ones I primarily think about.

#The Question(s)

You are, of course, not limited to just these questions.

  • Do you feel a MOBA in general is a more emotionally taxing genre than other games? If yes, What do you think you can take away from that? Is this a good or bad thing?

  • Are there any other factors that make MOBA’s more of an emotional investment than other online games?

  • Does League have anything unique about it to make it more of an emotional investment than other MOBA’s? Do other MOBA’s?

#Addendum

Very sorry for the delay all, I’ve been having severe ISP issues and have only been able to chip at these SALT posts when I’m on campus instead of back at my apartment. Sadly, until am3 gets their collective asses in gear I will be unbearably slow with these T_T

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17 Comments

Angry Monster9/9/2014, 8:10:09 AM2 votes

I have to totally disagree on premise of this topic and question if you ever played a shooter online. I am not talking bad halo shooters. I am talking about the kinds that get small clans and teams formed up. I used to play competitive TF2 (yes its a thing) I was on GunRunners for over a year and other teams before that. To say that the casual player or the competitive player is not invested is some of these titles makes me wonder where you got this idea from.

Have you seen what valve has done with the hat system. Its one of the reasons i left but most people have gone wild for them. Some of these hats have gone for over $1000 USD. Not a single person in league would actually pay that much for something in league.

Now if you want to compare with console online players online i can see where you are coming form. But consoles in themselves are the limiting factor more than the player base. Consoles do not have a msg board system and typing on them us awkward (you really do not type).

Then their is the fact that consoles are bought by 2 main types of gamers. The child gamer aka the parents of a child that do not want to spend 1000k+ on a breakable machine. Or the casual adult gamer, these people are the ones that go really do not care and good enough is good enough to unwind.

Everything you listed can be found in really good PC games. And sometimes they are not but they are replaced with other features that people find exciting.

I really think you are just way off base on this one. I am guessing that you have never been evolved about another title/genre before.

MrBuffington9/8/2014, 6:19:41 PM2 votes

and shed a tear when a favorite character dies (Dobby anyone?)

Spoilers! :P

Anyways, I thought you were going to address emotional investment related to specific characters (in light of news regarding lore changes. Not to bring that whole discussion into this thread).

What I've found interesting about LoL is that, in my opinion, there's less room for casual gameplay. URF mode was probably the only relief from that, and even then things could get pretty tense in games. Sure, there are other gamemodes, such as ARAM, but they don't seem void of emotional investment.

I don't think any game really is void of emotional investment. You can take a single player, casual game like Angry Birds, and there's still something you're trying to do, some objective you have, and that puts tension on you completing that objective. There has to be something motivating you, some sort of investment you have in completing the objective, otherwise you would never play. I think really, different games affect different people in terms of emotional investment. I've had friends who played LoL, liked LoL, but never cared one way or another whether they won or loss, or how they were doing in the game. The could go 0/21/0 and still just enjoy running up and killing minions. They never got invested in the deeper strategy of the game, because it frankly didn't grab them the way it does most of us (and that's okay). There are people who get very invested and frustrated with Sudoku puzzles, and players at championship sporting events that remain calm under pressure.

Anyways, back to the topic, I don't think a MOBA is necessarily more emotionally engaging than other genres, or that a game being a MOBA makes it more taxing. I've played a couple casual MOBAs on Steam (Awesomenauts, Smashmuck Champions, etc.) that were really just fine to mess around in. Of course, I had my LoL brain turned on to try to break down the game, and form a meta-game around the characters and abilities, etc. but my aforementioned friend played with me, and we could just relax and kill things without much care.

I think emotional investment consists of at least three parts:

  1. Competition (with the self or with others)
  2. Time investment
  3. Intensity over the duration

In my observations, competition is what charges things emotionally. I'm sure a psychologist could speak more clearly on this/correct me where I'm wrong, but self-esteem seems somewhat relevant here; where competition with others compares us to other players, and competition with self compares us to the image we have or wish for ourselves. LoL has elements of both, which gives it a good amount of emotional investment. With the second consideration, LoL games take a fair bit of time. It's easy to get over failing a level in Angry Birds since you're not literally investing as much time in it; you can retry it rather immediately afterwards. Summoner's rift games easily take half an hour or longer, in addition to the time spent in queue and in champ select, it adds up to a fair investment. You see people get very invested in golf, even though it has relatively low intensity (as far as actions; focus is still important) because a round of golf can literally take several hours. For my third point, as with golf, there are moments of very high intensity that are very important to the outcome of the game. In golf, most of the time is spent walking or planning your shot; there's a window of a few seconds where you need to be near perfect to execute the shot you want, and your entire game could revolve around that single shot. In LoL, that could be a single teamfight, a single trade, or even a few CS, that decide the game. I find LoL similar to football/futbol/soccer in that there is pretty consistent stimuli, with moments of high intensity stimuli that are vital to the outcome of the game, and can occur at a moment's notice, leading to heightened awareness throughout the game since there are few clear cues to players signalling that the next moment is going to be game-changing.

To be continued

Tuss9/9/2014, 1:25:08 PM2 votes

I think the main cause of investment, and by extension the cause of all the negativity in the game, is because of one simple thing: you can not leave.

In other games, shooters mainly, you can often leave whenever you like, with the only penalty being that you won't get any currency or exp for the match. But if it gets you away from that spawn camping sniper bot, it's a small price to pay.

There's also the fact that many other team games allow players to join in the middle of the match, meaning that if someone does leave the disadvantage won't exist for long.

However, simply because of how MOBAs work, allowing players to join mid match should someone leave is simply impossible, and because even just one player leaving is such a detriment to a team, harsh punishments have to be hung over the act of leaving. So if you start a game, you're stuck there no matter how it goes, no matter how annoying or inept your teammates are or how much better your opponents are than you, because if you do leave you risk the chance of having the ability to play at all stripped from you*.

So you're pretty much forced to care and focus and put in every ounce of effort into a game that won't end until 20 minutes in (though probably later as despite having no inner turrets your jungler got a lucky triple kill just when the vote came up)

*Most wouldn't think to make another account I would assume. I know I didn't before I learned that smurfs were a thing.

MackleDoge9/8/2014, 5:31:49 PM1 votes

I'm bogged down with schoolwork and class today, so I'm going to make my participation in this one short and sweet. I don't think that MOBAs have any particular increase or decrease in emotional investment over other types of games, at least not on average. Obviously it will vary for each individual person, but there isn't much to discuss there in my mind. I'm tempted to say that people get way way too emotionally invested in League, but I'm going to separate it into two different categories, if that isn't too much of a bother.

Attachment to the Game

I define this as a person's interest in the game itself, things about the game, and Esports. This is the right kind of emotional attachment and investment to make in my opinion. I love Esports, I watch every LCS and Challenger Series game (both NA and EU) and watch as much of OGN and LPL as I can with my schedule. I love the game itself and I love the strategy and level of detail and nuance in between player matchups, lane matchups, and the team competition. I also thinks its great to emotionally invest a bit for memories of fun games or times where you did something crazy and it worked out.

Attachment to Individual Performance

This is where it all goes wrong for me. I don't mean to be rude or condescending, but the League community tends to think they are more important then they actually are, or at least they take themselves playing this game far too seriously. Ever see those people in ranked that get so upset that they have to insult everyone on both teams when they made a mistake? To me, that's a sign that they are way too invested in the game, and not in a positive manner. I know people hate this, but it is a game. Even professional players will one day retire and move onto another actual career. There are more important things in life: school, work, family, friends, your health, etc. I just think people prioritize playing this game (or any game really) far too much when they start getting upset or angry or just flat out mean when something goes wrong.

Earl Eulrich9/9/2014, 12:09:55 PM1 votes

Interessting topic...so here´s my take:

I think there´s many ways to get emotionally invested into sth...and Mobas like LoL just thrive the competitive emotions, which often result in frustration when things go badly. There seems to be too much pressure to win games, and too many people/factors you can blame other than yourself. In single-player games there´s just noone to blame other than yourself (or the developers) if you fail...but in the moba-environment it´s always balancing or your teammates (or a combination) - which leads to a situation where you take part in winning games, but if you lose it´s everyone else...investing a lot more negative emotions than positive most of the time, especially when you don´t play premade...as the teamwork-factor is just sth. you do to win a game mostly, not sth. you do for it´s own sake.

So no, i don´t think Mobas create more emotional investment than other games, but they rather invoke negative emotions - which is somewhat the fault of the environment/design and somewhat the fault of missing immersion I think. In a story-driven-game where you are part of the world you can find motivation to do things way beyond just winning the game, and you can joyfully fail (currently you partly can do that in LoL, and I think in story-driven matches like Factions or just some fun premade games of void-comp or similar there´s just a lot less pressure on winning...you just want to see how things play out, no matter if you win or lose) or just walk around and aimlessly explore the world. Without that immersion it really is just about winnin the game anymore, everything else is void.

Stephenizgod9/9/2014, 3:33:01 AM1 votes

Hmm i wonder how i should word this because i got a lot to say about it...

Short and Simple: I dont think MOBA's have more of a emotional investment then other games, although i do not think you are totally wrong ;D.

Since im not quite sure how to word it i will use an example of my all time favorite game Dark Souls:

At first it was just a regular old rpg style game, but as i began to play it more i learned there is more to combat then hack n slash. This was my first step in becoming more invested, i wanted to find a fighting style that fit me (i chose a Faith build, for those who know what im talkin bout) and so i looked for items. Once i started finding more and more items i was made even more aware of the different options available to me. Then the biggest change of all, i started to read the items lores. I learned of all these different people and places, i started to delve deeper into every little thing i read or heard or saw. The storyline i thought to be non-existent turned out to be far greater then any game i have ever played ever. I was not good enough to find everything, nor was i smart enough to pick up on every little thing, so i looked to the community and found this whole Youtube community devoted to the lore.

As some of you know i like to write and be creative, i became emotionally invested through the vast creativity of its lore and story.

Now this is not the same thing i get from League of Legends (even though i love to write concepts) but yet the feeling is just as strong. What i get from League is a test of my reactions, quick mindedness, and ability to work with a team even when all alone. Basically i feel League is a test of my skills as a gamer and this is fun, especially when playing with (or against) my friends. Now im not saying Leagues lore is worse then Dark Souls (although im thinking it) but it is not the reason i play League. So i feel i have the exact same amount of attachment to League and Dark Souls, but they attached emotionally in two different ways.

So in a sense what im saying is all games can have a deep emotional investment, but they do it in different ways and i do not think any certain genre does it better then others. I am more attracted to deep lore and creativity which is what made Dark Souls my fav game, but i also love League and Borderlands (which has like no storyline) and hopefully Destiny (is anyone else as excited as i am???).

Drive By Max9/8/2014, 9:24:06 PM1 votes

I personally feel as if a moba is more taxing than almost every other genre out there. The reason is simply because a MOBA is, in my opinion, the most teamwork oriented game out there. In a shooting game, if that person leaves, oh well, one less person for the enemy team to kill, and one less feeder. In a moba, that person is condemning their team to a likely loss, as teamfights will be 4v5, and the team of 5 will push that advantage. Team of 5 has more damage, cc, and pushing potential than the team of 4.

League as a moba is emotionally taxing, simply because it's such a large game. As the most popular game in the world, people think that it means they should always win and they become pro, so they start raging at you. Don't get me wrong, the league community is getting better. I've noticed it happening in my games. League as a game though is probably the only game that I've stuck with for more than a few months. Any other moba is nothing but a minor distraction, as I always come back. There might be a better company with a moba out there, but league just draws me in, I can't stop playing. It's an addiction for me.

Mattarias9/9/2014, 12:15:42 AM1 votes

I'd just like to add: As much as I love League, as much as I wanna get through my placements...

Now that I'm back into WoW, I have zero motivation to play League. Warcraft is just so much more relaxing. No pressure, no competition (unless I want it), just me and a bunch of flammable NPCs.