One of the largest problems with playing League of Legends is that the knowledge gained does not apply to other areas of life. However, even within League of Legends, game skill itself is fleeting due to the constant changes that occur.
Patches occur at a rate of every two weeks, meaning that 26 times a year the game is changed, often in ways that significantly shift the proper ways to play. Even larger changes happen towards the end of each year as Riot revamps the game for the next season.
Players that learn to perform well during certain patches or seasons may find that they have to completely relearn how to play the game following new updates. Changes happen so quickly and drastically that those who stop playing for a short time may fall behind in adaptation. This means that not only do players have to put in long hours to excel, but they must be playing constantly daily in order to learn the meta of each new patch. While skills people can learn for a career build on themselves and are retained even with years off, even one week off of League of Legends can produce a noticeable drop in skill. Old practice can be rendered moot as certain methods lose effectiveness. As a result, even players that play for a decade may not be able to remain relevant if they take time off the game.
It’s important to remember that these patch cycles are done more for marketing than true balance of the game. One example of this is the constant release of new champions, which is done to generate hype through bringing new lore, abilities, and art into the game. Two week patch cycles also encourage an attitude of FOMO where players must constantly stay up-to-date with new statistics and game knowledge. Although Riot aims to promote the game as a serious eSport, these constant patch cycles are in contradiction to that ideal. Players like Reginald have commented on this detrimental aspect of the game before. Constant updates in this manner are not beneficial to those who are attempting to make a living off of the game through eSports or streaming. Instead of being able to play in a consistent environment, players must deal with constantly changing champions and items. Mastering one champion or strategy can carry really heavy risks depending on how the gameplay shifts in the future, with the direction of the game likely being something that even most Riot employees can’t predict. Constant changes are a contributing reason to why the careers of professional players is often very short lived. Players that at one point were at the top of the game can quickly fall into the shadows within a few seasons due to changes that are not in their favor. Aside from a few long lasting players, the eSports scene compared to Season 2 is consists of almost completely different rosters, with previous players fading into obscurity. While competitive gaming shouldn’t be looked at as a viable career path from the start, constant game updates make the idea of a long-term eSports career even more untenable.
“Well I mean, if you look at it from a fan perspective right, they have a lot of fun watching LCS and worlds of new champions and you know it just gets all crazy you see a bunch of new champions you see Darius and GP running around and just killing everyone but like from an owner perspective and a player perspective it’s honestly really discouraging playing in LCS when there are these major changes right.
Like, I would probably say it’s like, in order to make like an easy an example, I would say it’s like if you look at like the NBA right where they go into like the NBA playoffs, it would be essentially changing like the basketball so basketballs weight and changing it to like shooting a bowling ball instead of a basketball and a lot of my players practice like 10 to 12 hours a day and you know it’s not all fun practice either because they wake up at like 10:00 and they do VOD review from 10:00 to 12:00 and they scrim from 12:00 to like 9:00 PM and then they play solo queue they’re pretty much really invested into this right. And all their hard work essentially goes away and so from like a spectator standpoint it seems really funny when people don’t know what they’re doing and they’re playing all these champions.
But like, at the same time, you know, like, from a player standpoint and an owner’s standpoint, I said it was discouraging because…
You know, they spend their whole entire lives and most of their time practicing and essentially uh, with just like within like a second without any notice at all, the whole entire game changes and so that’s like I think that’s a big reason why you see a lot of player burnout and why players careers are so short right.”
- Reginald, CEO of Team SoloMid
While Riot Games earns money with new champion releases and skins, the long-term benefits of being a player are discarded. Players must cope with a constantly shifting game with an uncertain future. Although there is an existence of a balance team, change is usually not done for rational reasons, but simply to introduce more change. Short 2 weeks periods are not enough time to analyze the effect of changes, especially ones as major as the release of new champions or items Nerfs and buffs are often made on most-played trends rather than true analysis through Bayesian statistics.
Before we invest any time into these worlds, we have to understand that they are rigidly structured environments developed by others, that could be changed at any whim. Players do not really have any agency as they must accept whatever changes Riot makes to the game. The immersion of these games begins to break when you realize that Riot Games controls the all of the numbers and mechanics. From an outsider perspective, we can’t even truly see what they are planning behind the scenes, but it definitely isn’t an attempt to achieve a balanced game.
Many are drawn to League of Legends because it represents a whole new arena to excel at. People who have had trouble in school or other activities may see the allure of achieving high ranks and respect in the game. However, these achievements are fleeting because it takes so much to sustain them. In the end, desire to succeed in an ever changing environment can only lead to frustration with the game, developers, and other players. Reading comments on any major League of Legends outlet shows the never ending frustrations of players that are caught in this quagmire. Many players, standard and pros alike do not even enjoy the game that they continue to play.
If we want to find true success and fulfillment, it is important that we leave the activities of Lost Efforts behind. Seek real world progression, where you can build something tangible and valuable. The majority of players will not find enjoyment or prosperity from League of Legends. In fact, they are likely to become deeper in depression and financial problems. Instead of fighting so hard to be on top in a world that others created, we should create meaningful changes in our own lives.
