Spectators Guide to Summoner’s Rift

Many of my friends and family don't play League, and can't understand what's going on at all while I watch it. To that end, I've decided to write up a guide to watching professional level League. This is an on-going project, and I hope to eventually make it into a short video or something along those lines.

How to Watch eSports- Part 1: Why Watch eSports?

In my past couple of posts, I've been talking about League of Legends, not just as a game, but as a spectator sport. In my case, I don't have to many friends who watch the game regularly (two or three, at the upper end). There are very few people that I can talk to about the general tactics and strategies of the game and even fewer with whom I can discuss particular players or teams.

Mind Control: The Daily Reward

I just had a small realization that I feel silly for not seeing before. This isn't a major game design trope or long winded rant on some topic near and dear to me, but rather an observation. Many games have daily rewards. Some games, like World of Tanks or World of Warcraft have these rewards reset at a particular time (usually around 6 in the morning or something silly). Many people say that these rewards are tools designed to get players addicted to the game, and get them playing everyday.

While this is correct, they're not actually the ideal way to get players to do that. SolForge and League of Legends also have daily rewards. However, these rewards unlock not on a set timer, but rather 22 hours after you achieve them. This means, to get optimal rewards, players will schedule the game into their daily life. Every day at noon, I log onto SolForge to get my rewards. My daily schedule is affected by the game, I plan to play the game way in advance of actually playing it. WoT, I just hop on when I want to, with SolForge, I plan in advance to get the best reward cycle I can.

Game designers and their fancy mind control, making us play games we enjoy.

Accessibility and Understanding League of Legends.

In conjunction with making gaming more acceptable, I want to make it more accessible. Earlier today I set up my dad's Roku to be able to watch League of Legends and sat him down to watch a game. Almost immediately, he was lost. In retrospect, I think League (and other MOBAs) are the hardest to sit down and start watching. Just a warning, but this uses a lot of game particular terms and assumes that you have at the least a solid understand of League of Legends.

Games and The Larger Stage

It's been a while since I wrote anything, but the advent of the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship prompted me to return to a topic that is very important to me. Gaming, and gamers are often ostracized by society. When I played World of Warcraft, family and friends didn't understand that when I committed to play with a group of people, I put that commitment above other events. Playing games professionally is also looked down upon, and if I mention that I'm planning on spending some time watching high-level games I get really confused looks.