[LOL] Evolution and Stagnance — LoL’s “Persona Experiment”
Original (by becker) : https://pgr21.com/pb/pb.php?id=free2&no=63810
When we talk about the origin of esports, Starcraft is probably the first thing that comes to many minds. And in Starcraft, 2007 is definitely a special year in the timeline. It was the year when Bisu took down sAviOr, the dawn of the TBLS(TaekBangLeeSsang) era, and the year when Proleague stabilized, giving viewers 5 days of Starcraft every week.
And this was when Persona was selected as an official map for EVER 2007 Starleague.
[2007 EVER Starleague official map Persona — do you remember it?]
It’s layout seems to classify it as a typical macro map, but Persona has neutral Dark Swarms in strategic locations. Dark Swarm is an ability that nullifies all ranged attack to units inside it, enabling the Zerg’s short ranged units to take aggressive fights on the map. Taken further, Terran vs. Terran matchups would result in the Dark Swarm nullifying each other’s attacks, creating eternal siege lines that would put the viewer to sleep. While the average Starcraft game time was 10~20 minutes, Persona created a record-breaking 74 minute game.
So why did Persona include Dark Swarm? To answer the question, we must take a look at the TvZ meta back then. For over a year, the Terran vs. Zerg meta had been “1 barrack expand vs. 3 hatchery”. For the League players, imagine during season 4 when the only two champions going top were Renekton and Shyvana.
Starcraft: Brood War is a game that has never had a balance patch since 2001. The players took years to develop game winning builds, compositions, and macro plays, which would result in a stagnant meta. Map makers wanted to change the meta of a growing esport. With Persona was their bold attempt, or experiment, to see how the meta could be altered.
However, the “Persona experiment” was a failure. Some professional gamers would even publicly criticize the map and map makers on the balance. Viewers also complained. The games that Persona fostered were either short and snowballed or long and boring. Persona would promptly go out of the map pool after the season, and official maps would not use any more special features. Rather than change the meta, the focus shifted to giving what the pros wanted- a 50% win rate amongst all 3 races.
This resulted in Starcraft’s meta growing stagnant for the next 5 years, with no balance patches to change the situation. The players who became top tier at the time, such as Flash, Jaedong, and Bisu, would be considered the best players until the end of Starleague in 2012.
Time passed, and in 2017, when Blizzard was preparing Starcraft: Remastered, they would ask the former pros their opinion on balance. No change was requested. The consensus was that there was no real need for a change in such a stable game. Reflecting the opinions, Starcraft: Remastered would release with no adjustments to balance.
Riot Games’ Never Ending “Persona Experiment”
Last week, Reddit and LoL communities were talking actively about a certain video. “The Downsides of a Constantly Evolving Game” created by Doublelift, a legendary ADC of NA, featured his honest opinions on League’s quickly changing meta and how it affects balance.
In the video, Doublelift states that patches and balance changes that happen too often result in pro gamers losing the chance to adjust to a meta. Also, the time potentially used to create content are being lost in scrims to figure out the new meta.
The change in video game meta is indeed quite progressive, especially when you take traditional sports into consideration. Imagine that the goal post in soccer increases in length every two weeks. If a team is aggressive, it would be great news, but teams boasting a defensive playstyle would probably have a word or two on the subject. Or what if you change the weight of a baseball in the middle of the season? How about playing with two balls at once? This would result in negative feedback from not only players and teams, but also fans, media, and other related companies to the sport.
While it may not be as talked about as Doublelift’s video, Netflix’s original documentary “Explained” features an episode on esports where it showcases how esports is so unique. In an interview, Riot Chopper, the esports director, explains the esports system thus, “If we compare League of Legends to basketball, we (Riot) are not only the inventor of basketball, but the NBA, as well as ESPN. Riot is doing three jobs at once”
The creator, the manager, and the distributor — this system is common in all games that have successfully ventured into esports. Overwatch is another example, and even Fortnite, who has recently jumped into esports with a tremendous investment. The companies who create the game have earned the power to set the league’s schedule and system, as well as control over many other aspects of its esport. This is quite different from 11 years ago, when OGN would run Starleague with no interference from Blizzard.
This is a big difference between esports and traditional sports. To change rules of traditional sports, you would have to win over countless organizations intertwined with it, spend countless sums of money, and also explain the situation to countless angry fans and players. However, League of Legends has already experienced how a stagnance can be negative firsthand, in 2014. This was a time where lanes had only a few viable champions, and players would complain quite often, especially about the Renekton v Shyvana happening in top lane every game.
2014 LCK and Worlds Stats, Champions picked over 65% of the time
2014 Winter — Elise , Annie , Lucian , Lee Sin (4)
2014 Spring — Lee Sin , Thresh , Kha’Zix , Lulu , Renekton , Shyvana (6)
2014 Summer — Lee Sin , Kassadin , Thresh , Kog’Maw , Lulu (5)
—
2018 Summer (ongoing) — Nocturne , Zoe (2)
To fight against such fixed compositions, Riot uses pre-season for big changes, as well as introducing ‘Midseason Updates’ starting 2016. This is basically a scheduled “Persona Experiment”. While fans and players seemed to adjust quite well, the 2018 season changes seem to be too much at such short notice. As a result, not only the fans, but also the pros themselves have trouble following the meta.
Some say that adapting is a part of being a professional gamer and team. Yes — and now figuring out the new meta and adapting to it is a necessity. Team Griffin, currently taking the LCK by storm, is a good example. However, this may not be such a good thing — teams who take advantages in traditional macro games fall into an abyss, and pro gamers will lack consistency in their form.
Being Vocal: A Virtue of Evolved Esports
It is not an easy task to find the sweet spot between fixed and changing meta that satisfies users and follows market trend. Even in the past 20 years, finding a middle ground that satisfies the viewers, sponsors, casual players, and the professional gamers has never been done before. This is a great question that the esports scene must look to answer. And although I wish I could end this on a confident quote saying, “we’ll find a way, we always have.” It is quite the daunting query.
So the reason I’m writing about this is not to give a solution — it is to share the positive aspect of esports that I have discovered while following this topic and the discussion.
It is the transparent, direct communication.
The video Doublelift uploaded was actually unprecedented. While professional gamers upload their highlights and plays on youtube, and sometimes clips of their balance complaints on twitch, a concise, well prepared opinion with evidence on balance, the game, and the league system was rare to come by. As such, Doublelift’s efforts have been received positively by the community, and also provides a reference on a new style of content that can be consumed by the viewers.
I also feel that this might be a way of defining the unique occupation known as professional gamers. While they are primarily players, pro gamers are also influencers who bridge the gap between esports and people. While traditional sports features players interacting with fans through their SNS and commercials, esports players can go beyond that and share their opinion of the game and the league freely. Perhaps this is another difference between esports in 2007 and 2018.
The interesting thing is that you could see attempts of this 11 years ago. Forgotten_, the creator of Persona, posted a long explanation of his philosophy and logic behind creating such a unique map. ( https://pgr21.com/?b=6&n=32178 ) Starting with the background behind attempting such an unorthodox design, to detailed notes on matchups and the timestamps used to test the map, the post ‘Notes on Persona’ was one of the most carefully written posts of Forgotten_ , and many readers gave positive feedback on it.
Unfortunately, that would be the end. The common opinion of pros and viewers leaned towards a more stable metagame, and the ‘Notes on Persona’ didn’t spark any debates or further contribution. Rather, it became more like self defense of a failed map maker. After EVER 2007, Persona would never be seen again, and it would become more difficult to find map makers providing posts explaining their creations.
In 2018, the viewership has changed quite a lot — nobody wants a stagnant meta like 2007. However, with the continuous ‘Persona Experiment’, the opinions surrounding it evolved as well. There are progressive viewers who believe that the game is more entertaining because of drastic meta changes, as well as more conservative viewers who believe that too much change will harm the game. (The western community’s constant debate and exchange is something that I envy and wish the eastern community had more of.)
Again, it is difficult to find an answer for such a complicated situation. There are countless factors to take into consideration, and it would be even more difficult to accurately determine the future based off of a change. However, I feel that as long as everyone involved can voice their opinions freely and transparently, this would only be positive for esports.
I hope that many people all around the world will speak out confidently on subjects they care about.
Translated by Orangegarage with permission from Becker
- Please DM/Mention me @jincontroller for any errors in translation!
- Thank you becker for giving me permission to translate.
