Mohamed Mohamed

UWRT 1101
Ms. Jamie Burgess
November 20, 2014
The Gaming Culture
When I first began playing video games, I was around the age of eight. I was in fifth
grade when I received my first handheld Gameboy. I remember played some Mario based
games, as well as some Pokmon games. Whenever I would play the games, I threw myself
into solitude so I could play in piece. At school, however, I would talk to all of my friends about
it. We would play next to each other, showing each other our different levels, which level we
just passed, or even some rare items. I never really had any negative thoughts whenever I
played video games. At that time, my video games were restrained to the few systems we had
laying around in the house.
Once I entered high school, I was introduced the multiplayer online battle arenas, or
MOBAs for short. The main game I dedicated myself to was none other than the infamous
League of Legends. The game was based on a five versus five battle in which one would slowly
receive kills, which rewarded bounty, as well as style points. The more bounty, or gold as the
game refers it to, the players had, the more items they could buy, which would boost their ingame stats; which, in turn, aided in pushing to victory. I began playing League of Legends (LoL)
a few weeks of it official release. The players that were able to play the beta said that it was
awesome, and that any gamer should download it. I was informed of the game from my cousin
who lived in Jordan. It was one of the few ways I was able to connect with him.
Throughout my early years of being in the gaming community, I never really came to a
conclusion that the community was at all negative. I always saw positivity within each gamer I

1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/27/riots-league-of-legends-reveals-astonishing-27-million-daily-players-67-million-monthly/

would meet; and even though my story with LoL was a nicer one, the LoL community does have
its dark side.
For part of my research, I decided to play a total of ten games, and not all at once. Even
though I did try and win games, not all of the games resulted in victory. To be honest, I am
quite glad that not all of them were victories; in fact, I am glad that in a few of those games, I
was one of the main reasons we lost. All of the games resulted in different ways that the
players would interact with each other. The literacy showed by players would greatly vary.
Although, the interactions all lead on a similar path, obviously varying between positivity and
negativity. So, before I played the games
During my first day of my research, I played three games, one of which was a ranked
game, which tend to be more of a challenge. There are many modes in which can be played:
three normal queue modes and two ranked queue modes. For the normal modes, Blind Pick,
Draft Pick, and Team Builder exist. Blind Pick allows to play with nine random players, and the
enemy teams champion choices are unknown. Draft Pick is basically the ranked queue format,
but for players who would rather not play ranked, or just need practice. Six champions are
banned out, three bans each team. Then in order, the first player picks from one team, and
then two players from the next team pick, and then two players to the allied team pick, and so
on until all players have picked. The newer Team Builder mode allows a person to select that
persons desired role, and go in queue until a team picks that specific player.
My first game was a normal blind pick game. I entered the champion selection page, in
which everyone surprisingly got their desired role. Normally in blind pick, multiple players call
the same role, and henceforth begins fights. Normally, when I play the blind pick mode, I go in
saying that I will play the last role that is not called. Entering the game, seven of the players
typed in the traditional GL HF, which stands for good luck, have fun. A small conversation
started up between members of both teams. Coming into the game with the conversation, I

1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/27/riots-league-of-legends-reveals-astonishing-27-million-daily-players-67-million-monthly/

knew that the game would be fun. Throughout the game, all players made jokes and messed
around, which seldom happens in a game of LoL for me. Whenever a funny play occurred,
everyone in the incident laughed, or typed lol, lmao, or something along those lines.
Whenever an opponent made a good play, the opposing player would type wp in the chat,
which stands for well played. It was truly a glorious sight. At the end of the match, many
players began to add each other to their friends list, and some even went on to play another
match or two together. This was the LoL community at its finest. For that match, my team lost,
and I played quite poorly, but it was their responses that truly surprised me. They were
extremely kind to me, claiming that everyone has bad games or even its okay, you can get
em next game. Besides that game, it had been a long time since players were so sincere to
their allies mistakes and poor playing. A lot of the time, I try and be sincere with my teammates,
since I know I would like to be treated like that.
On the other hand, my next two games were, unfortunately, quite similar. The second
game I played was a team builder game, hoping to get my best role, hoping for a win. The third
game was a ranked game, since I believed I had warmed up my mechanics and was ready for
a ranked game. During both games, I played poorly. I had a weak start to both games and all
my teammates lost against their match ups. Since my role in both of those games was the
jungler role, it was my duty to assist every lane, attempting to aid them in their match ups and
hopefully, force the match up to succeed in our favor. Unfortunately, my first few attempts
around the map failed. All of them. I claimed to myself that I was just having a bad day and to
not worry myself. Theres always tomorrow! I would tell myself. Even though I would try and
pick myself up, most of my teammates from each game blamed me for losing the game. My
claim was you shouldn't need me to win your lane. I only help snowball the lane. Even though
this claim may be true, I should not be blaming my teammates. My teammates would constantly
put me down. Their literacy would negatively affect me for the rest of the games that day.

1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/27/riots-league-of-legends-reveals-astonishing-27-million-daily-players-67-million-monthly/

As a veteran player of LoL, a lot of things do not bother me as much as they normally
would. Insults on my play style, insults on my choice of stats, or even players attempting to
prove that they are a better player than I am does not bother me, but on the other hand, there
are many newer players that download the game each day. According to an article on
forbes.com, the amount of daily players is around 27 million people; while also stacking a total
of 67 millions players a month1. With all of the new players joining everyday, I can be difficult for
them to adjust to the new atmosphere. Obviously, there exist veteran players from different
online games, so they may be accustomed to the harsh atmosphere.
One of my friends decided to join the community a while back. He played a few games
by himself to raise his level and to receive basic experience. Once he was of level, I decided to
play a few games with him to makes sure he was able to grasp most of the basics, along with a
few skills that are usually picked up after a few months of playing. We normally played against
computer controlled players, referred to as bots (by the players) or AI (by the system). The AI
matches were not entirely difficult, although, Riot Games did release a patch a few months back
further improving the Coop vs AI matches. The AI bots were more aware of their surroundings
as well as smarter in item decisions. Once I felt as if he was ready for the regular player versus
player (PvP) mode, I took him into the never-ending void.
The day we decided to play some PvP matches, I was only available to play three
matches, due to extensive studies. I did inform him of the research I was conducting within the
literacy of players. In every matched we played, he played poorly, and I played greatly, but
there is a reason for this. The matchmaking system is not perfected. The maximum level one
can reach outside the game is thirty. This level determines how long one has played the game
as well as access to better stat boosters. Reaching level thirty has privileges, such as the
access to better stats, as well as access to ranked games. One is not allowed to play a ranked
game until he is level thirty and has unlocked at least sixteen champions. Besides that, my

1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/27/riots-league-of-legends-reveals-astonishing-27-million-daily-players-67-million-monthly/

summoner level is, indeed, thirty. When we decided to enter a queue for PvP for the first time,
he was level eight. What does this imply? Either I will be playing with lower level players, or he
will be playing with higher level players. Both sound unfair, so what the matchmaker does is
even out the level. In most of the games we played, the summoner levels of players varied,
from fifteen to the mid-twenties, with the exception of a few level thirty veterans. Most of the
matches were won, but my friend was somewhat affected by his poor playing.
He was mostly bombarded by toxic players. In short, a toxic player is someone who
constantly complains over anything. A failed gank? Yes. He died? Yes sir. His opponent is
better than him? Of course. A toxic player loves to complain. Throughout our three games
played that day, he was told a lot of rude things, such as: dude please uninstall you're bad,
dude learn to play or leave, and even dude you suck why are you playing. Even though the
amount of toxicity he witnessed was high, he vowed to not give up. He vowed to become a
good player no matter what.
After I asked him whether or not he was going to continue playing, he said Of course I
will. The game is fun, and I want to get better. Toxic players dont bother me. Theyre just
insecure about themselves. Even though the literacy of some players were entirely negative,
he decided to move on.
The literacy of the LoL community is completely situational. Whether one does good or
bad, wins or loses, or is even playing with friends, the literacy displayed within the LoL
community is completely random at times. Their literacy varies on the spectrum of positivity and
negativity.

1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/27/riots-league-of-legends-reveals-astonishing-27-million-daily-players-67-million-monthly/