Media Cultures

Case Study By Elaine Fu

Take League of Legends game community in China as an example, it is made up of many different modules, one of the most popular is a Video Hub, which includes official information, e-sports related, player-generated entertainment and guideline videos based on the LOL game. There are even variety shows created based on E-sports. The second is the inquiry service provided by the game official, where players can feedback, the problems encountered in the game and put forward their own suggestions on the game and have a good interaction with the game company. Finally, there also have forming team’s platform and creation zone, where any content, videos, comics, or text created based on this game can be published. This is also called fan art. By publishing original works, players have the opportunity to get incentive funds from game official. That is these community interactions, which are almost entirely based on games, that attract these game fans and create a fan culture that is unique to this community.

In this community, there are also game materials and guides, updates and other official information, so that players can learn more about the update status of the game from the community and get first-hand information. Therefore, the community is mainly composed of two parts: interaction and information. That two wheels turn at the same time. Once one is missing, the other can continue to turn, but the operation of the whole community will be affected. Without social needs, users can seek the information they need from the community, and this behavior will drive the generation of interaction needs. In other words, if players have need for information or interaction, the community can retain users. But when the player stops playing the game, then the need for information and interaction is lost, the community loses that user.

The core of what players want from a game is to acquire the game and understand the game. Access to games is provided by the game platform, and there are many ways to understand games, through the community, or through Internet search. By the game community players can not only learn about the game but also enjoy the process of interaction. They can do their own searches in the community. Users will communicate due to the inconsistency of their understanding and operation of the game. At that moment, the foundation of community operation appears. As the most basic and personalized content creation behavior of users in the community, players’ game content sharing is not only the foundation of that community, but also the basic behavior of users in that platform.

As a product of the Internet era, games make virtual communities popular among millions of netizens with the help of the power of media. With the virtual community spread fast, no time and place restrictions and some other characteristics, players abandon the real-world interpersonal communication and camouflage, to show their own personality through the account.

So common attributes, interaction, and an online platform are three elements that communities must have. This is similar to the social platform, but the biggest difference between the game community and the social platform is that the social platform is centered on the people, the community is centered on the content, because the game community is co-generated with the game, they complement each other.

The game community must be tasked with connecting users and creating user interactions so that they will love and enjoy the game. A content platform, or content-based community, that engages users with content on a specific topic, and make them into discussions, allows them to express their opinions, and to interact with each other based on the content. “Like”, “discuss”, “forward” and “share” content, so that content producers can gain attention and a sense of achievement. Also let content seekers gain information and the satisfaction of solving a problem. Therefore, most of the current community operation mode is based on the content preparation of the community. The operation focus of the platform is not only limited to the release of news guides to attract users to interact, but also expands the space for users to interact.

In addition to the above information and interaction, the League of Legends community also has its own profit model, such as selling game accessories, offering discounts for cooperation with Internet cafes, for buying heroes and skins in games. Players can also search for leaderboard information in the community, and the system will calculate the number of wins each season to rank players. Players can also check their achievements here, as well as a breakdown of each battle.

It is worth mentioning that unlike most games, League of Legends is a game with professional competitions. With the development of ten years, it is not only a game, but also a kind of sports competition. Each country has different divisions, in which the teams will first have internal competitions, and then hold a world competition in the last few months of each year. When LOL becomes a sports competition, it also gains the corresponding competitive fans. Behind each e-sports star player, there is a complex fan community. No fan can represent this community, but each person is an important part of the community.

Users use their previous game experience and activities in the game community to become as a game player, and then gradually start to contact the E-Sports promoted in the game community and gradually become fans. This is the largest group of fans of LOL sports events. In recent years, after the event became more famous than the game, more and more people were attracted to play the game. For example, in 2018, IG won the world championship, which was the first-time game club in China get that award. At that time, the scene in China was as popular as winning the gold medal in the Olympic Games. The news and information of the game sent out from the game community caused great waves among all ages, and many people who don’t pay attention to video games started to know this game. Then they got involved, and a lot of parents who hated games changed their minds about them. Statistics show that the number of players this year has increased by several times over the previous year, which is why community-generated E-Sports have had a huge impact on games.

Link to the community: https://lol.qq.com/main.shtml