Exploring player experience and social networks in moba gamesthe case of League of Legends

Resumo

In spite of the popularity of Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games such as League of Legends (LoL), both the Player Experience (PE) and the structure of the social networks that arise in this relatively new genre remain largely unexplored. As players spend increasingly more time playing online competitive games, the positive and negative impacts of doing so become relevant; it is, therefore, important to understand how PE is structured to systematically address mechanisms that elicit a response from the players. This work begins by obtaining and characterizing a sample of League of Legends players and proceeds to use the resulting variables and structural social relationships as inputs to explore their links to PE. In the end, PE is pivotal to engage players and, therefore, it is key to the success of any digital game. Our results show, among other findings, how League of Legends players perceive the game as “fair” for their competence level for all ranks, while their relatedness towards teammates is affected by their social structure. Empathy and negative feelings, however, seem to be unaffected by team composition. Knowledge about PE in League of Legends can not only be employed to improve LoL or MOBA games, but also to develop better and more engaging games while improving their quality. As online competitive gaming is quickly becoming one of the largest collective human activities globally, PE research also becomes crucial.