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[capitalCORN]

When people bring up LoL they like to pretend toxicity is a problem exclusive to it and now, you know, rampant in ALL popular competitive multiplayer games.

I think it's overplayed. Been doing regular online gaming since 1999 and the vast majority of the time, it's silence. Whether UT, Quake, a 100 random Half Life mods (every week a new one!), CS, DoD, Firearms, NS, GGPW, nFBA, SF, Dystopia, SC, Dota, LoL, whatever MMOs, etc. The arcade scene was much more toxic back in my day. People used to throw fists because of SF, and there were the assholes who would reset the machine if there were losing, and also the fuckers who gave no mercy rounds, despite being house rules.

 

[galv]

For those who replied "where are all these players":

Walk into any college library or dorm area. I bet you you'd find at least 5 dudes playing or watching LoL within the first 2 minutes. You can even find people playing LoL at the cafeterias or fast food areas. Maybe LoL doesn't appeal to people who are deep into gaming or for those who have jobs (you do need anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to finish a game which can be tough), but it's massive for high-school and college kids.

 

[garath]

I am 39. I play every day. I know many people my age who play, played or at least are aware of it. I don't actually think it has a whole lot to do with age.

I honestly can't fathom how people could have avoided it. It has been the number one game for years, the top game on twitch for years and there are regularly front page stories on nearly every major gaming site about the game. Various stages of Worlds have sold out The Staples Center, Madison Square Garden and Sangam Stadium where the World Cup was held in South Korea.

Upper 30s players union? I'm 38 and play most days. It's a challenge with wife, job and kids but I love the game and have thousands of games played over the years. I try to slot at least an hour each day where I can get a game in.

It's not hard to imagine people on GAF not hearing a lot about the game. The community thread is active but that's in the community no man's land. Most threads opened in gaming about LoL tend to turn into a mess with the DotA vs LoL stuff so I know I personally rarely post in one. News about the game is rarely relevant unless you play the game too. New champ? Big balance patch? You'd only care if you played.

 

[corin7]

I wanted to get into it but every time I play it it just makes me want to go play Dota.

And I'm not even a big a Dota player but LoL just doesn't feel as good for some reason.

I get that. I think it just ends up being what you started with. I have tried to get into DoTa a couple times and every time I just end up missing the LoL mechanics. It's kind of shame there isn't more cross over but for most people it seems it ends up being a one or the other kind of deal.

 

[frontovik]

Well you know what they say about quality over quantity.

Spoiler

I'm kidding, relax.

 

[RedSparrows]

And yet there are still people who believe MOBA's are a "niche genre" and are "too complicated to become mainstream".

I am still astonished some people don't even know what a moba is!

 

[Belakor]

League of Legends might have the worst community in a MOBA game,but it's actually the best of its genre because it is both accessible,fun and highly competitive.

The fact that LoL was built from scratch to be played as a MOBA game as opposed to DOTA 2 which is still a mod for Warcraft 3 at its gameplay core,is its huge advantage over its other competitiors.

To sum it up,LoL is a fun,action paced highly competitive moba game with a really bad community.

 

[iBlue]

This game is only popular because its F2P.

In latin america people only play that because its free and they are cheap

 

[Prototype Viktor]

Doesn't Valve get the players to pay the prize money? Does Riot have the same setup?

Naw because Riot has to make things not shave money off the top of everything to stay afloat

 

[PSqueak]

I wanted to get into it but every time I play it it just makes me want to go play Dota.

And I'm not even a big a Dota player but LoL just doesn't feel as good for some reason.

I tried DotA, to me it felt like DotA had more complexity to it, more variables to the gameplay, i can see why you'd want to go back to it when playing the more stream lined LoL.

As i see it basically there is 3 tiers with MOBAS:

DotA2: For hardcore fans of the genre who have been into it since the original DotA and care little for newcomers. Requires a huge time investment.
LoL: Challenging but streamlined, Requires time investment, but you'll get the hang of it quick.
HotS: The most welcoming to newcomers, simplifies gameplay and more or less gets rid of focus on individual playstyles to shift it into more team and objective based matches. Very pick up and play.

 

[Archie]

Naw because Riot has to make things not shave money off the top of everything to stay afloat

Love this meme.

Where do you think Riot's esports money is coming from? Santa Claus?

 

[Hylian7]

League of Legends might have the worst community in a MOBA game,but it's actually the best of its genre because it is both accessible,fun and highly competitive.

The fact that LoL was built from scratch to be played as a MOBA game as opposed to DOTA 2 which is still a mod for Warcraft 3 at its gameplay core,is its huge advantage over its other competitiors.

To sum it up,LoL is a fun,action paced highly competitive moba game with a really bad community.

You serious?

By your logic you could say that LoL is a Warcraft 3 mod at it's gameplay core.

 

[Stone Ocean]

The LoL community is notoriously toxic. Every online game has toxic players to some degree, but LoL is just sort of known for it. I am a big fan of LoL though, and enjoy watching the NALCS, to which I've watched nearly every NALCS game since 2012

LoL is known for it because of its size. There are proportionally more toxic players because there are more players period. People act like League players are simply more toxic, as if other games don't have dickheads.

 

[Prototype Viktor]

Love this meme.

Where do you think Riot's esports money is coming from? Santa Claus?

Selling shit directly, where do you think most of valve's money comes from? It aint selling stuff they make
Not saying DotA 2 isn't profitable. Valve makes money directly off their tournament. Riot makes money indirectly off there's through keeping interest then skins based off it

 

[Abilidebob]

as opposed to DOTA 2 which is still a mod for Warcraft 3 at its gameplay core

What

Selling shit directly, where do you think most of valve's money comes from? It aint selling stuff they make
Not saying DotA 2 isn't profitable. Valve makes money directly off their tournament. Riot makes money indirectly off there's through keeping interest then skins based off it

You're right, Valve does absolutely no work at all when selling Compendiums and Battle Passes. And The International, a once-in-a-year event is the only way DOTA 2 can stay profitable.

 

[capitalCORN]

This game is only popular because its F2P.

In latin america people only play that because its free and they are cheap

You're right, no quality here. If only they could afford consoles...

 

[Sanjay]

I would really be interested in regional numbers. Is it big in Europe if so which countries, how big is it in America? Japan? Places like that.

 

[EloKa]

League of Legends might have the worst community in a MOBA game,but it's actually the best of its genre because it is both accessible,fun and highly competitive.

Just to give you a little information because your whole post is full of pretty random and wrong stuff.
The so called "MOBA" genre consists of exactly one game called "League of Legends". The term MOBA was created by Riot Games itself. Dota, Smite, HotS (and so on) players will most likely not call their game a MOBA.

They are either ARTS (Action Real-Time Strategy) or "DOTA styled" games because all other titles stick more closley to the original pattern whilest LoL is a strongly streamlined variation and belongs to its own genre

 

[Archie]

Selling shit directly, where do you think most of valve's money comes from? It aint selling stuff they make
Not saying DotA 2 isn't profitable. Valve makes money directly off their tournament. Riot makes money indirectly off there's through keeping interest then skins based off it

Yeah dude, Valve doesn't make anything

 

[Calvero]

that amount is suboptimal, if you ask me.

 

[PSqueak]

Just to give you a little information because your whole post is full of pretty random and wrong stuff.
The so called "MOBA" genre consists of exactly one game called "League of Legends". The term MOBA was created by Riot Games itself. Dota, Smite, HotS (and so on) players will most likely not call their game a MOBA.

They are either ARTS (Action Real-Time Strategy) or "DOTA styled" games because all other titles stick more closley to the original pattern whilest LoL is a strongly streamlined variation and belongs to its own genre

I think you might have that backwards, Valve is the one who tried to push the ARTS acronym to get DotA2 away from the [riot coined] MOBA acronym, but most people do call the genre either MOBA (to include games like MNC and Smite) or DotA clones.

 

[ashecitism]

Polygon is linking the Riftherald article for the numbers which in turn is referencing the Polygon article as the source. Huh.

 

[Leezard]

Polygon is linking the Riftherald article for the numbers which in turn is referencing the Polygon article as the source. Huh.

They belong to the same network. Polygon people held the interview, apparently.

 

[Bootsy]

Yeah dude, Valve doesn't make anything

The community made all that. Valve just packages it and takes half.

Riot employs thousands of being, giving them a career and job security. Valve has 300 something employees, most of which work on steam on other games, and pays a few people from the community who are lucky enough to get their items randomly selected a portion of the profit valve makes.

 

[drawkcaB]

Upper 30s players union? I'm 38 and play most days. It's a challenge with wife, job and kids but I love the game and have thousands of games played over the years. I try to slot at least an hour each day where I can get a game in.

It's not hard to imagine people on GAF not hearing a lot about the game. The community thread is active but that's in the community no man's land. Most threads opened in gaming about LoL tend to turn into a mess with the DotA vs LoL stuff so I know I personally rarely post in one. News about the game is rarely relevant unless you play the game too. New champ? Big balance patch? You'd only care if you played.

38? Christ, I thought I was near the top of the old farts pyramid in the OT.

 

[Abilidebob]

The community made all that. Valve just packages it and takes half.

Riot employs thousands of being, giving them a career and job security. Valve has 300 something employees, most of which work on steam on other games, and pays a few people from the community who are lucky enough to get their items randomly selected a portion of the profit valve makes.

Nope.

 

[Archie]

The community made all that. Valve just packages it and takes half.

Riot employs thousands of being, giving them a career and job security. Valve has 300 something employees, most of which work on steam on other games, and pays a few people from the community who are lucky enough to get their items randomly selected a portion of the profit valve makes.

The community made items like this

Compendium items are in house.

 

[kiguel182]

I tried DotA, to me it felt like DotA had more complexity to it, more variables to the gameplay, i can see why you'd want to go back to it when playing the more stream lined LoL.

As i see it basically there is 3 tiers with MOBAS:

DotA2: For hardcore fans of the genre who have been into it since the original DotA and care little for newcomers. Requires a huge time investment.
LoL: Challenging but streamlined, Requires time investment, but you'll get the hang of it quick.
HotS: The most welcoming to newcomers, simplifies gameplay and more or less gets rid of focus on individual playstyles to shift it into more team and objective based matches. Very pick up and play.

The thing is I'm not an hardcore Dota player by any means. I would fit way better in the League Of Legends category but it just doesn't scratch that itch like Dota does.

 

[LordRaptor]

I think you might have that backwards, Valve is the one who tried to push the ARTS acronym to get DotA2 away from the [riot coined] MOBA acronym, but most people do call the genre either MOBA (to include games like MNC and Smite) or DotA clones.

And in its turn MOBA exists so that people would stop calling LoL (and HON, but who cares about HON) a DOTA-Clone.

MOBA has stuck as the genre label for the emergent genre popularised by DOTA

 

[TharpDaddy]

That's crazy. I get why Tencent is wanting to make a League of Legends movie now.

That's a shame, considering the extent to which they nickel & dime their players and how Riot shares, relatively, almost none of the wealth with professional players. Also, Dota is the objectively better game by nearly every imaginable metric.

I agree that i'm a bigger fan of having every character unlocked in the Dota style than the League style, but your second point is laughable. Game preference is anything but objective. I've played an unholy amount of Dota 1, Dota 2 and League of Legends -- and I prefer League. It comes down to preference, it has nothing to do with imagined metrics. Whatever game you enjoy playing more is the only metric that matters.

And in its turn MOBA exists so that people would stop calling LoL (and HON, but who cares about HON) a DOTA-Clone

I think that's a good thing. The genre is big enough that it'd be weird to keep calling it Dota-clone. Still calling FPS games Doom-clones would feel similarly strange.

 

[Sr Kitsune]

Just to give you a little information because your whole post is full of pretty random and wrong stuff.
The so called "MOBA" genre consists of exactly one game called "League of Legends". The term MOBA was created by Riot Games itself. Dota, Smite, HotS (and so on) players
will most likely not call their game a MOBA.

They are either ARTS (Action Real-Time Strategy) or "DOTA styled" games because all other titles stick more closley to the original pattern whilest LoL is a strongly streamlined variation and belongs to its own genre

From the Smite's devs site.

Polygon is linking the Riftherald article for the numbers which in turn is referencing the Polygon article as the source. Huh.

Same network.
But they shared the same numbers in others interviews.
Riot Games has one title: 'League of Legends.' A decade in, there's still no rush to release another
League of Legends: the future according to the founders of Riot

 

[Wedzi]

I can only imagine the size of the prize pool for League's World Championship if Riot adopted Valve's crowdfunding model.

 

[garath]

38? Christ, I thought I was near the top of the old farts pyramid in the OT.

I hardly believe it myself. I dont FEEL near 40. I still laugh at farts, play video games avidly and love my toys. Just happened to have kept doing that for quite a few years lol.

League is almost a perfect game for me. Fills that competitive void that drives me, always evolving to keep things new and interesting and rewards strategy as much as twitch gaming. Just wish it took less time to get into a game. With 100 million players you'd think it would be a little faster.

 

[Vipu]

What



You're right, Valve does absolutely no work at all when selling Compendiums and Battle Passes. And The International, a once-in-a-year event is the only way DOTA 2 can stay profitable.

There is many events per year plus hats.

 

[TharpDaddy]

I can only imagine the size of the prize pool for League's World Championship if Riot adopted Valve's crowdfunding model.

I believe Mark Merril or someone recently said they'd be looking at expanding the prize pool going into the future. I'm not sure if they'll exactly follow the Dota model of having it crowdfunded, or if they'll just front the cost themselves.

 

[ChaosZeroX]

Here I Thought League was dying. I quit playing in 2014 and it was a great decision. So many toxic people.

 

[PhillipCostigan]

I still laugh at farts

this doesn't actually change with age right?

I don't think I want to live in a world where I'm 40 years old and don't laugh at farts

 

[danthefan]

And some people still say that PC gaming is "niche"

Nobody really says that tbf.

 

[Aselith]

Massive

 

[Abilidebob]

There is many events per year plus hats.

The only Valve backed event that has crowdfunded prize pool is The International. They earn money from hats just like LoL earns money from skins and champions.

 

[Wedzi]

I believe Mark Merril or someone recently said they'd be looking at expanding the prize pool going into the future. I'm not sure if they'll exactly follow the Dota model of having it crowdfunded, or if they'll just front the cost themselves.

Yeah. It's kind of shocking a game of this size and esports presence gets out spent in their world championship by Halo 5.

 

[LordRaptor]

I think that's a good thing. The genre is big enough that it'd be weird to keep calling it Dota-clone. Still calling FPS games Doom-clones would feel similarly strange.

Sure.
Its just not that often a genre label is so transparently artificial.

I mean, I in no way blame Riot for not wanting their game called a clone of a competitors game, its just common sense to want to slap an actual label on that genre.

From the Smite's devs site.

No, he's right, MOBA was 100% invented as a term by Riot.
The fact it has stuck as the genre label is in and of itself strong evidence for LOLs popularity.

 

[Wok]

How is that number even believable?

Earth population was 7.125 billion in 2013, so about 1 human being for every 70 would be a regular LoL player.

 

[dimb]

Yeah. It's kind of shocking a game of this size and esports presence gets out spent in their world championship by Halo 5.

They are funding leagues that stretch across most of the year. Just because the money is not funneled into one event does not mean it is not there.

 

[Son of a Witch]

I would really be interested in regional numbers. Is it big in Europe if so which countries, how big is it in America? Japan? Places like that.

Western Europe (not including Nordic countries) is the second biggest shard after China, which has 20-something different servers.

Japanese servers opened less than a year ago, no idea how it's gone there.

LoL is just the biggest game by far everywhere on Earth, except maybe Russia.

 

[Vipu]

The only Valve backed event that has crowdfunded prize pool is The International. They earn money from hats just like LoL earns money from skins and champions.

Wrong
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/Dota_Major_Championships

 

[capitalCORN]

How is that number even believable?

Earth population was 7.125 billion in 2013, so about 1 human being for every 70 would be a regular LoL player.

Well. the world's population isn't distributed evenly either. Endemic qualities happen. Even then, it's the biggest scene game out there. Also, core gamer media sleeps on a lot of stuff.

Western Europe (not including Nordic countries) is the second biggest shard after China, which has 20-something different servers.

Japanese servers opened less than a year ago, no idea how it's gone there.

LoL is just the biggest game by far everywhere on Earth, except maybe Russia.

Japan's obviously a shadows compared to Korea, but it's got a scene going. I imagine Scandinavia is CS land however.

 

[corin7]

Upper 30s players union? I'm 38 and play most days. It's a challenge with wife, job and kids but I love the game and have thousands of games played over the years. I try to slot at least an hour each day where I can get a game in.

It's not hard to imagine people on GAF not hearing a lot about the game. The community thread is active but that's in the community no man's land. Most threads opened in gaming about LoL tend to turn into a mess with the DotA vs LoL stuff so I know I personally rarely post in one. News about the game is rarely relevant unless you play the game too. New champ? Big balance patch? You'd only care if you played.

Absolutely add me, name is Corin7. I mostly play latish PST week nights and randomly on weekends. Tend to do more ARAMs than normals these days just due to time constraints.

 

[kayos90]

How is that number even believable?

Earth population was 7.125 billion in 2013, so about 1 human being for every 70 would be a regular LoL player.

Some are guaranteed to be smurfs. That being said, that's still a crazy number.

 

[Sr Kitsune]

No, he's right, MOBA was 100% invented as a term by Riot.
The fact it has stuck as the genre label is in and of itself strong evidence for LOLs popularity.

Never said otherwise.