This week, I playtested League of Legends, made by Riot Games, available for macOS and Windows computers. League’s “Terms of Use” state that the required age to play is 13+, while the ESRB has rated the game as suitable for ages 12 and up. I (somewhat unfortunately) got roped into playing League in eighth grade, as some of my friends were very into the game at the time. Although I agree with the age rating (although champions do “kill” each other, there is little to no graphic violence), it might be interesting to consider how the community itself might raise the age rating, as League is often the first game that people think of when they think of toxic gaming communities, and ethically, when it comes to chance and addiction, should thirteen-year-olds be subjected to gacha (with the new Mythic Essence system) and overall addictive gameplay and design?
In both its design of the general game, its random game mode ARAM, as well as, most explicitly in its progressively unethical design in “Loot,” League creates an addictive environment both in terms of gameplay as well as purchasing experience.
Although I had played League for a significant amount of years, I have since quit playing. I, too, was one of the players who found League to be an addiction, and so, finally broke from it. (Illuminatingly, League is one of those few games where the addiction gets so severe at times that players use the verb ‘quit’ when they stop playing.) Even this week, however, I found myself slowly beginning to get hooked in again; like Rose in Addiction by Design, although I was attempting to learn how the slot machines worked, and was taking it apart, I nevertheless found myself playing the same slot machines that I was working on. Nevertheless, before, I never thought critically about what factors made League so addicting to me, and this week, I was able to determine a few factors of League that might contribute to its addictive quality in terms of gameplay, stemming from randomness.
In some ways, League uses randomness naturally, and thus not unethically; for example, matches are made through an opaque calculation of players’ MMR, which, although like slot machines, the calculations for the “chip” is unknown, MMR generally takes into account the player’s recent wins and losses, and pairs the player with other players of similar MMR. Once the player enters the queue, unless the player makes a party with all five friends, their other teammates are random, and their opponents, even if the player does make a “five-stack,” are inevitably random. This randomness of matchup leads to a freshness, which is also intensified by Riot adding new champions, builds, and so, new metas. Even if the player can choose their own champion, they cannot control what their teammates or opponents pick. Additionally, League allows players to ban one champion each, allowing for more randomness; what happens when the champion you wanted to play gets banned? Almost like a slot machine, even the picking process is suspenseful; the game allows players to pick one-by-one, and the person choosing is obscured until they hover over a champion. The champion then flashes onto the screen once the player locks them in.
Figure 1: Champ select in normal game mode (image found online— I played multiple games of ARAM this time)
Even so, it cannot necessarily be said, however, that this randomness is completely unethical. Although this randomness certainly contributes to the addictiveness of the game, the randomness first and foremost contributes to novelty, and seems reasonably appropriate for a 5v5 game with different characters to choose from. Much of the addictiveness in terms of gameplay, interestingly, I also think cannot be blamed entirely on League’s design, as the design does not seem intentionally addictive, but the addiction rather stems so naturally from the concept itself. For example, many champions in League have skillshots, which make the game fun for its aesthetic of difficulty and skill. Pulling off a strategy perfectly, or landing a skillshot, might give players a dopamine rush. However, matched with random teammates and opponents, or sudden situations, so much of the game feels random, even if it, like a slot machine, still feels within a player’s control. After all, the player is participating actively in the game as one of ten. Nevertheless, the unpredictability of it all— the selected champions, the teammates, the opponents— leads to sometimes uncontrollable losses or unexpected wins. The tide of the game also changes so easily, with buffs from taking Baron Nasher or Drakes. There is no flashiness or opacity involved in this game design, and yet these elements parallel elements of gambling.
As a result of the randomness arising purely from the mechanics of creating a match, good and bad games feels almost random sometimes, and yet, it feels as if it is in your control (and the thing is, much of it truly can be.) The seemingly “random” win/loss design of League seems to almost parallel gambling. “It was just a bad match-up,” a player might say to themselves as they enter the queue again. “My teammate was really feeding, too.” Or, a player might be hooked on the dynamics of skill that League allows the player to tap into— landing skill shots, coordinating with their teammates, hiding in bushes to ambush, or ganking and stealing buffs. Or, like Alan mentioned in class, a player might almost fall into a gambler’s fallacy; win streaks make a player feel invincible, and lose streaks mean that a win surely must be in sight.
Figure 2: A long lose streak for a player on Reddit
Additionally, much like the slot machines mentioned in Addiction by Design, losses in League often feel like near-wins. Like the slot machines that show a winning symbol just above the blank, League’s back and forth gameplay, in which one team pushes ahead, then another team pushes back, allows players to feel that victory was almost theirs (and indeed, in many games, this is true; the tide of the game can be so easily turned.) However, because these are dynamics that arise so naturally from the mechanics of League, it is difficult to label the game concept itself (which is seemingly unproblematic) as unethical.
Still, there is a game mode that I began to be hooked on, especially near the end of my League-playing days: ARAM (which apparently stands for “All Random All Mid.” I just learned this!) ARAM is a game mode that typically lasts a shorter time than a Summoner’s Rift game (the standard game mode of League, with three lanes.) Instead of players being able to choose their own characters, ARAM chooses for the players from their owned champions. Because ARAM is typically much shorter than a normal game, the cost of commitment is lower, which makes it more approachable as well as repeatable. Additionally, ARAM truly builds on the idea of randomness; getting a random champion is somehow fun, and the mechanics behind the assignment is completely random. ARAM also, however, gives the player the option to reroll their champion (up to two rerolls.) The player’s discarded champion (which the player can also pick up again) is then available to the other four teammates. However, after the player uses up their two rerolls in two separate games, they must play more ARAM games, or wait a certain amount of time, to regain those rerolls. The opacity of the “chip” also creates mystery and addictive fun. Even now, I’m still unsure of how League organizes ARAM, especially with the number of possible combinations from rerolls, but from my experience, there have been a few champions that are almost always available or assigned, and some champions very rarely appear in ARAM.
Figure 3: First ARAM, starting with 2 rerolls— discarded champions at the top are other players’ rerolls, able to be selected
Through this design, however, players are incentivized to keep playing; once they run out of rerolls, but dislike their assigned champion, and other players are not discarding champions that they want, either, the player must grit their teeth and play this game, and potentially another, for another reroll that they can use in the next game. This is a design that may be less ethical. Players are forced to play for more control, but the game mode itself is designed to allow players to seek the thrill of randomness and fully explore the idea of “random match-ups.”
Figure 4: Eventually ran out of rerolls and had to play Zeri, who I’ve never played before (or dodge)
Although the game itself is addictive, besides the potential addictiveness of ARAM, the general gameplay design is not overtly immoral. What I was shocked by upon redownloading, however, was how drastically the shop and Mythic Essence system had changed. Gratefully, I have never been a person who spends money on digital goods (I witnessed one of my friends spend hundreds of dollars on Genshin Impact in high school.)
League has been slowly moving away from allowing free-to-play players (like me) to obtain skins. There was a wonderful time when connecting one’s Amazon Prime account (I connected my parents’) would allow a player to redeem monthly orbs, which contained skin shards, as well as RP (the primary currency for skins.) Players can upgrade skin shards to permanent skins, or use three skin shards to re-roll for a new skin shard. At one point, they introduced Mythic Essence shop with select skins that rotated after a while (a week or a month?), which would allow players to unlock Prestige skins, or skins that might have been available for a limited time. Players used to be able to obtain Mythic Essence from orbs and champion capsules (which I never really understood, but got for free after playing games, and which they have since apparently removed.) In this way, perhaps players motivated by rewards of chests and orbs also would be motivated to play more, if they were not already captured by the addictive gameplay.
Figure 5: Prime Gaming, now removed : (
Now, however, the Mythic Essence shop has been split into two parts: The Sanctum, which is gacha-style store, where skins are difficult to obtain, as well as a revamped shop, in which skins are on rotation for different periods of times. There is a “featured” tab, which displays items that are available for relatively longer periods of time, a “bi-weekly” tab for skins that self-explanatorily “refreshes” biweekly, as well as “weekly” and “daily” tabs. As mentioned in section, this time limit creates a sense of false scarcity for players, scaring them into purchasing now rather than later; if a player wants a particular skin that will rotate out of the shop in a week, they might be pressured into purchasing battle passes, or rolling through the Sanctum (which apparently drops Mythic Essence as a B-tier item.) Although Riot has removed orbs and capsules, they still apparently allow ME to be dropped through Hextech Chests and Masterwork Chests, but with a drop rate of 3.6% and 4.2% chance respectively. These low drop rates, combined with the false scarcity of the shop, might motivate players to purchase battle passes and Sanctum “Ancient Sparks.”
Figure 6: Introduction of new Gacha component!!! Note the bottom: S-Tier guaranteed on 80 rolls… >:(
Figure 7: Drop rates explained— S-Tier, which is the skin shown on the banner, is extremely low, with 0.5% chance of being dropped, but is ‘guaranteed’ after 80 rolls, making players feel just safe enough to keep rolling (may hit sunk cost fallacy after enough rolls.)
I had always appreciated League for offering skins even for free-to-play players (primarily through RP from Amazon Prime orbs and rerolls of skin shards, I was able to obtain almost all the skins that I wanted, and I even have enough Mythic Essence in my account currently from orbs and chests to purchase a Mythic Skin on rotation.) However, with the false scarcity and removal of free-to-play elements, and especially with the addition of the gacha component, League becomes unethical. Is it truly okay to trick thirteen-year-olds who might not yet understand gacha or gambling, into spending what probably is their parents’ money?
More shockingly, some time after I deleted the game, Riot released an Ahri skin commemorating Faker (undeniably pretty, and can be seen in the header of this post), arguably one of League’s best players, in their Hall of Legends event tradition. Ironically, although Faker is publicly free-to-play, League famously made the skin honoring his legacy cost approximately $500. The Hall of Legends event takes full advantage of the false scarcity, making the event a limited time. Players might thus be led into thinking that if they are a true Faker fan, they must purchase the $500, limited edition skin. This was an incredibly unethical move: putting the face of one of the most “legendary” League players behind the skin, but also one that famously doesn’t use skins in his gameplay, who plays to prove that spending money on games such as League is unnecessary.
It seems that although the gameplay of League is addicting, it is something that arises from their game concept, and not necessarily so much their design, which may be toxic players. Although this might work against their company and the activeness of their game platform, in an ideal world of ethics, Riot might consider intervention to prevent players from playing for too long (e.g. messages telling the player that they should take a break, timers that block the player after playing for too long.) Unfortunately, however, Riot does seem to be intentionally increasing the gacha and financially addictive elements of their game, through the Sanctum (which is explicitly gacha) as well as a Mythic Essence store on rotation.
P.S. I said I would only play 2-3 ARAM games, but ultimately played 8… addictive indeed.
Extra: some champs that I played during ARAM, for which I actually all had skins for even as a free-to-play player (but the luck of getting nice skins for free so easily seems to have ended with me):
