A community that continues to thrive
Riot Games has become a major corporation because of League of Legends but hasn’t forgotten its roots.
Riot Games recognizes that community is incredibly important. They understand that the players are the driving force behind League of Legends and do their best to openly communicate with, and give back to the community which has grown around their game. They have regular Ask Me Anything(AMA)’s on Reddit, they reply to comments and posts on the community message board, and they have a whole section devoted to user-submitted Q&A’s on their website.
Riot Games handles things differently than most companies. Generally, companies release a game, support it for a year with irregular patches, and updates that they feel are best. At some point, they drop the game and the community is left to fend for itself. At best, MMO’s update patches every few months, but mostly for bigger content updates.
Riots regular patching and updates have driven League of Legends through eight years of increasing popularity. They address concerns of players for balancing champions and overall viability of every asset in their game. 2016 saw a focus on the assassin classes and mage reworks, while 2017 addresses the state of tanking champions. Some champions have been through multiple reworks to get to a place Riot feels is a “good spot”. Looking at you, Ryze.
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Many of the people who play League of Legends are very passionate about the way it is run. Any visit to the community board will show that there is a slew of comments, threads started on numerous topics, and passionate discussions on new skin ideas.
I think a lot of this comes from the way Riot Games interacts with the fan base. Granted, not everyone expresses love for Riot, some express outright hatred, but this is to be expected in a community of this size.
What about other MOBAs?
While Heroes of the Storm and DOTA2 get regular attention from their developers, many MOBA’s have not made the cut. Most notably, DC’s Infinite Crisis fell through after only six months and Lord of the Rings: Guardians of Middle-Earth is a wasteland after being abandoned by the developer. Many companies have tried to emulate League of Legends but none were able to capture lightning in a bottle like Riot did. Most players of Infinite Crisis and Guardians cited lack of communication, updates, or balancing. These are all things Riot does well.
I encourage you, as a player and a fan, to be part of the community. Participate in the AMA’s, the Q&A’s, and the message boards. Riot Games is one of the few companies who wants to hear what their community has to say. It is very likely you aren’t alone in your thoughts regarding champion balance or skin requests.
Graves got his cigar back. Anything is possible.