L[3] - A Suggested Lore for League of Legends: The First Steps
Hello to all the League players,
I have a few stories to tell...
[1] - A Brief Introduction
A lot of you will have no idea who I am but I'd like to change that. I got into League a few months ago to help a friend through a rough patch in his life. I was immediately enchanted with the game growing up on RTS/tower defense games. While he is now doing great, League stuck with me and I with it.
The first champion I could call my main was Lux. Her eyes were so wide and full of wonder. My friend joked that her beaming smile mimicked my own. It was infectious and she was free that week so I looked at her champion page. As a new player, all the tips were insanely useful. As a writer, I was pleased to find a Lore section.
Lore created a new play experience for me. Growing up reading many fantasy novels, I wasn't expecting too much. And frankly, in my mind, this was only a game and didn't need much. I found myself picking and playing champs based on their lore. In retrospect, it's funny that I gravitated towards mostly supports and am now a support main (Morgana mostly).
My first support (that I properly played as support; poking champs, warding, not stealing creeps and kills) was Sona. After one game, I spent all my hard earned IP and bought her. My win rate wasn't great back then and spending that much IP was and investment. But that first game with her was when most of my League friend would say I got my first, real hold on the game.
After the game, my friend asked me, "You did great! What was the difference?" I told him right then, Sona's lore. He gave me a confused look and I explained a bit further.
Sona's story condensed down to its basic is an disabled orphan with a magical instrument that allows her to communicate and interact with her world. Which is a beautiful premise and one I really enjoy. My friend not really getting what I was saying read her lore. He looked back to me and said, "Well, yeah. Sorta."
Sitting down to re-read the story, I discovered he was right. Most of the things I really loved about her identity were extrapolations of a basic story. I started reading every champion lore, story release, even delving into the Journals of Justice. Core elements were sometimes there but often obscured by the actual writing. A few weeks later, I learned about the Retcon and how long the players have been without any real lore. On a personal level, I was a bit crushed by the stories that had vanished before my eyes.
I had started going on the boards. I followed the red tracker, surrenderat20.net, the League subreddit. I didn't post anywhere because I didn't know what to say but I read everything. Every few days, I saw a complaint from the players regarding the lore. The posts really helped me to understand the underlying reasons the lore was pulled in the first place. While I was relieved that I wasn't the only one who wanted lore, that's when I knew there was a real problem. And I had an idea on how to fix it.
[2] - Our Problem as it stands
Before I get into this, I would just like to address a few things. Firstly, Riot has done an amazing job with League. Yes, there are problems but any system will have those. And I think all sides would agree that Riot should have delivered on their promises or informed the players on their progress. However, throughout all this, I think it is easy to forget the Riot services millions of players all over the world. As much as I think we all liked the lore, I think they were right to pull the lore they had. It will give Runeterra much more room to grow in the long run. I would encourage all the players to applaud their constant efforts to make the game, we all know and love, better.
Second, the community around the game is unlike any other. The players are some of the most creative, funny, kind people I have gotten the pleasure to know. The amount of sportsmanship I see across all of my games has astonished me. As I am writing this, I can think of a few times I was not on my game and was rudely reprimanded for it. But I think we can all agree, it is a truly great to be able to jump online after a hard day of work and play a game in such a great community. Kudos to us all.
However, we have a problem. I called this section OUR problem because it belongs to all of us. I am not blaming anyone or group but we are all accountable. The lore belongs to all of us. So, let's fix it.
[3] - The Fix
The core of the issue regarding the lore is that the vivid world and champions we have come to love, are just characters of a game. Currently, it doesn't matter where they are from or what they have overcome. The Meta drives many a champion pick. With some many well designed and interesting champions, why shouldn't a player want to play them all?
My fix for the current lore issue is to establish a system where by playing a champion over time and winning matches, a player would unlock more lore. I am still bouncing around a few glitzy names but the main idea, and what I will refer to it in this message, is Achievement Unlocked Lore or AUL.
AUL would have two main mechanics. Piggy backing off all the data collected through the Champion Mastery, perhaps even a part of the system, winning multiple matches would unlock more of a champion's lore. As a player got to know the champion better from repeated wins, a player could get to know what drives their champion and what they are doing on Runeterra.
The other mechanic that of Master Lores. By playing as multiple characters of the Freljord, a player would unlock more about the Battle for the Freljord. Certain lore would overlap shared chapters. It would be very difficult to tell Vi's lore without Caitlin. These events would all be driving towards colossal, world changing battles and foes for our champions to face. The culture of the states (Demacia, Noxus, Piltover, etc) and the shifts of global power (wars, the ascension of gods, etc.) are the kind of epic events that all players dream about and, I believe, want to read.
But really how does this fit in with the game?
[4] - From the Perspective of the Game
For Riot, the changes would be minor. The only change Riot would have to make is to have a dedicated story department. A small team of 3-5 people constantly working on the story. With Riot being as collaborative a company as they are, I would not suggest having only those employees being the only ones to write the story. Woody from Toy Story would have never been a cowboy had a janitor not popped his head into the writing room. It is great to have everyone involved, and for long-term innovation I'd say necessary, but the lore deserves a dedicated team. While Riot has said in past interviews that it wants to make the story for the players for no profit, I believe the dedicated community of players deserve this small investment.
There is going to be a system already is place to facilitate this. By adding an AUL, League would effectively gain a single player story mode. While none of the battles are happening for only a single player, the unlocking of the lore is achieved on a single player level. Through a system that is about to be in place, the game gains a new dimension.
The AUL encourages the community to play with other champions than just their favorites. I will be the first to admit, I hate playing with Yasuo because he doesn't fit my play style but I love his visual identity. If players were incentivized to play different champs, I believe champion selects would become very interesting. At the very least, it would give me a reason to buy and play Urgot.
[5] - My Solution
Immediately, I cannot offer the community much. Like many of you, I am only a player with a full-time job that unfortunately is not working for Riot. However, I can offer the one thing we all have been clamoring for.
My solution is to provide the community with weekly updated lore. I have big plans for our favorite champions and Runeterra overall. All I need from you all, is to be honest, true, and kind. With 123 champions and growing, it might take a while to get around to every one. These stories many not be perfect the first time. Please, bare with me.
Many of you are probably thinking how can one person fix the entirety of the League's lore? The answer is through your support, we can make this happen. We have to take the first steps and I want to step up for this wonderful community.
Below in the final section of this long first message, is the link to both my site https://saldamandar.wordpress.com/ and Chapter 1 of Lux's lore https://saldamandar.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/lux-chapter-1/. I would post the lore straight here but that's against Riot's post policies. However, I will be watching this board and will do my best to respond. Lux's lore explains the general context and direction I will be taking the champions over all. She was my first main and I see no reason we shouldn't start with the Lady of Lumonousity.
I look forward to getting to know all of you, GLHF
Saldamandar AUL Writer
p.s. If I get to it/if you guys react like wildfire and upvote this, I might post another champion's Chapter 1 tonight... we will see.
TL;DR - The League Community wants lore. Suggested plan to fix. I'm going to write weekly lore because you guys are awesome. Next post hopefully won't be this long. Here you guys go. Enjoy!
