The Learning of Design

This weekend, I was visiting with friends, and ended up talking about how I learned to make games. I constantly tell my friends, family and complete strangers how much fun game design is, and that they should give it a shot. The short answer is that I studied game design in college, and took classes, but that's far from being helpful.

Making League of Legends More Accessible to New Players

(I originally posted this to Reddit, but it got absolutely no traction there)

Hey guys, I've tried to introduce my several of my friends to League, and have had some trouble when I do. It is oftentimes difficult for my friends to learn how to play the game. These include people with extensive gaming backgrounds- RPG, MMO, FPS and even RTS. They quickly grasp the basics, as taught in the initial tutorial, but have trouble figuring out mechanics that belong to MOBAs.

In the past couple of days, a post talking about how difficult it is for new players to get into the game made it to the front page (Link). While a lot of what he was talking about was the toxicity of other players, making the game easier to understand would be able to help.

I would like to see League become more accessible to new players and have a few thoughts that might help. I would also love to hear from you guys any thoughts you might have.

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.