DOCSLIB.ORG

Analysis of Player's In-Game Performance Vs Rating: Case Study

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Analysis of Player's In-Game Performance Vs Rating: Case Study Analysis of player’s in-game performance vs rating: Case study of Heroes of Newerth Neven Caplar Mirko Suznjevic Maja Matijasevic [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Institute for Astronomy - ETH University of Zagreb Faculty of University of Zagreb Faculty of Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and 8093 Zurich, Switzerland Computing Computing Unska 3, 10000 Zagreb, Unska 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia Croatia ABSTRACT ers are often very negative towards less skilled team-mates, We evaluate the rating system of\Heroes of Newerth"(HoN), creating a very hostile atmosphere for the new, or just less a multiplayer online action role-playing game, by using sta- skilled players. tistical analysis and comparison of a player's in-game per- So, on one hand, the player rating system should be (and formance metrics and the player rating assigned by the rat- typically is) designed so as to take into account the player's ing system. The datasets for the analysis have been ex- in-game performance to create the player ranking list; and tracted from the web sites that record the players' ratings the players know which actions and achievements count for and a number of empirical metrics. Results suggest that the the score. Most player rankings are based on the end-of- HoN's Matchmaking rating algorithm, while generally cap- the-match score. On the other hand, knowledge of the game turing the skill level of the player well, also has weaknesses, inner mechanisms in general, and the ranking algorithm in which have been exploited by players to achieve a higher particular, is tempting. Taking advantage of design flaws, placement on the ranking ladder than deserved by actual software bugs, as well as the regular game features in a way skill. In addition, we also illustrate the effects of the choice not intended by the game designers, has also always been of the business model (from pay-to-play to free-to-play) on \a part of the game". Hence, the purpose of this paper player population. is twofold: first, it studies the relationship between player ranking and in-game performance metrics; and second, it re- veals the player behaviors that attempt to exploit the weak- 1. INTRODUCTION nesses discovered in the ranking system. To the best of our Aside from their huge entertainment and media business knowledge there is currently no study which directly anal- prospects, multiplayer online role-playing games (RPGs), yses the correlation of in-game player performance metrics with millions of players worldwide, are also an exciting area with the rating assigned by the system, though a similar of research. In this paper we focus on the player rating sys- evaluation has been performed for one of the chess rating tem, using \Heroes of Newerth" [2] as a case study. systems [8]. The results of this study may be useful for de- As the main goal of each player in an action-RPG is to ad- veloping new matchmaking algorithms, based on a broad set vance on the player ranking ladder, the player rating system of player skills and metrics to create more fun and balanced is one of the key elements for the mid- to long-term success matches [6, 24]. of the game in a growing and very competitive video games The game used as a case study is \Heroes of Newerth" market. The user experience, i.e., the player, is king, and (HoN), a multiplayer action-RPG, developed and published thus the player's rating should, ideally, represent an \objec- by the S2 Games. We perform a statistical analysis of the tive"measure of the player's skill. (Perceived) accuracy mat- performance of HoN's rating system through comparison ters, as well as speed. A good rating system has to place the with several in-game performance metrics. The dataset used player quickly on his/her skill level in order not to discour- for the analysis contains the player performance data (both age the player by setting him/her against too easy, or too the players' ratings and the metrics) for 338,681 players, but difficult, opponents. Also, as in all team matches, in action- majority of the analysis is performed on a subset of the data arXiv:1305.5189v1 [physics.soc-ph] 22 May 2013 RPGs it is necessary to create teams from players having due to computational and visual reasons. comparable skill levels. If the team is unbalanced, the play- The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: in Sec- tion 2 we present the related work, followed by a detailed de- scription of the HoN's rating system and game mechanics in Section 3, to make the reader familiar with the terms which will later be discussed. Section 4 contains the measurement methodology, and in Section 5 we present the results related to the correlation of players' in-game performance metrics and assigned ratings. We conclude the paper in Section 6. 2. RELATED WORK 3. HON MECHANICS AND RATING SYS- Various algorithms have been used for player ranking and TEM rating in online games, from simple position swapping of the HoN was inspired by the Defense of the Ancients (DotA) players based on the results of their match, to very complex map, which originated as a custom map for the Blizzard statistics based systems. The rating system based on fuzzy Entertainment's real time strategy game \Warcraft III". The logic proposed in [14] matches the players according to their game was officially released on May 12, 2010, as a pay-to- estimated skill and the desired skill of the opponent. Some play game, and re-released as a free-to-play game on July 29, rating systems are based on overall player performance in the 2011. According to S2 Games, in July 2011, HoN already game [21], or on player's reputation [16], but in this work we had 460,000 unique active players [3]. focus on those intended for match-based games. An analysis In HoN a player controls one character, dubbed \hero", comprising several datasets of match based games has been with unique skills. Players are joined in groups of five, and presented in [15]. assigned to one of the two combating factions, \Hellbourne" Elo rating system [7], named after its creator Arpad Elo, and \Legion". Each faction has a \base", located at the op- developed for the purpose of rating chess players, has been posite corners of the map. The goal of the game is to destroy widely used in online game rating systems, as well. A de- the building in the center of the enemy base; achieving this tailed analysis of Elo system for chess rating has been pre- requires the players to destroy a number of enemy buildings sented in [9, 12], while recent modifications for its use in beforehand. Each faction is also helped by its own non- USA Chess Federation have been described in [11]. player characters, called \creeps". Creeps have simple artifi- The original Elo system has been slightly modified for differ- cial intelligence with well defined and known rules. Creeps ent game genres which have \match based" structure similar of the opposing faction can be destroyed for gold and ex- to chess. For example, World of Warcraft (WoW), as the perience, same as the \neutral" creeps, which are positioned world's most popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role- across the map at certain locations, and do not fight for any Playing Game (MMORPG), has initially used a slight mod- of two factions. ification of the Elo system [1] for match based player vs Gold and experience are resources used for improving one's player combat (also called arena matches). The system un- in-game character. Apart from killing creeps, they can be derwent certain changes in order to fight the observed ex- earned by destroying buildings and, most importantly, by ploits (very skilled players leaving teams and fighting inex- killing enemy heroes. When killing an enemy hero, the slay- perienced players, win trading between arena teams, etc.). ing hero is richly awarded by getting a large gold and expe- The first Bayesian rating system was \Glicko" by Glickman rience bonus. The hero who has been killed has to wait for [10], which estimates players' skill over a certain period. Its a certain amount of time before returning to the game, by limitation is that it is designed to address only matches be- \respawning" at the base. While \killed", a hero is unable tween two people and many online games have combat be- to earn gold and experience for himself, and can not oppose tween teams of multiple players. Therefore, Microsoft has the enemy team in achieving strategic advantage. developed a \TrueSkill" rating systems, a Bayesian rating Within the game, each player is assigned an individual rat- system which calculates the rating after every match and ing. As the player rating is applied to automatically group is able to do it for multiple players [19]. The TrueSkill sys- together players with similar skill level by a matchmaking tem is designed to track the uncertainties about player skills, algorithm, it is called Match Making Rating (MMR). The also models draws, and it is able to extract the individual default initial rating assigned to new players is 1500. Players player skills from team results. The next step in the evolu- typically get ± 5 points added to MMR after each match, tion of the TrueSkill system is presented in [5], with addition depending on the outcome (+5 for wining, and -5 for los- of a smoothing system through time instead of filtering.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • TUBC 2015 Case
    0! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! “GROWING E-SPORT IN SOUTH EAST ASIA” ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1 | TUBC 2015 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Supawat Likittanawong prepared this case with assistance of Pakapol Thangtongchin under the supervision of the case company. The case was prepared solely as a basis for ! discussion. Cases are written in the past tense; this is not meant to imply that all practices, !organizations, people, places or facts mentioned in the case no longer occur, exist or apply. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or !illustration of effective or ineffective handling of a business situation. ! The case was written under the permission granted by the case company. © 2015 by BBA !International Program, Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University. This publication may not be digitized, photocopied or otherwise reproduced, posted,or ! transmitted without the permission of BBA International Program, Thammasat Business !School, Thammasat University. TUBC 2015 | 2 ! ! ! ! “At Garena, we focus on bringing joy and convenience to people across Asia through the power of our technology platform. We aspire to make the world an ever more connected community through innovative products and services.” -! Forrest Li, Garena’s Founder, Chairman and Group CEO ! 3 | TUBC 2015 ! 1.! INTRODUCTION It was July 2015 and Nok was waiting for the rest of her team in the main meeting room at Garena’s office in downtown Bangkok. A week ago, Nok attended the top team meeting at Garena’s headquarter in Singapore where the topic of growing eSports in Southeast Asia (SEA) was the center of discussion. Being a leader in online gaming in the region, Garena is at the forefront of the industry development.
    [Show full text]
  • Case Study: Dota 2'S Game Design and Player Experience
    CROSS-CULTURE IMPACT ON VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY Case study: Dota 2’s game design and player experience. Tran An Lapland University of Applied Sciences Innovative Business Services Bachelor’s Degree 2017 Abstract of Thesis School of Business and Culture Innovative Business Services Bachelor Degree Author An Tran Year 2017 Supervisor Eija Turunen Title of Thesis Cross-cultures impact on video game industry. Case study: Dota 2’s game design and customer experience. Number of pages + App. 58 + 19 The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the culture’s impact on online game designs, how the game could attract players internationally with culturally adaptive design and last but not least create its own digital culture among its players. The main finding of the thesis was the importance of culture in the current online game industry. Since the players were from all around the world, their cultural impacts on the game’s design could be greater than ever. Companies who are aiming for the international market should take different cross-cultural factors under consideration while having the game developed. By studying Dota 2’s design from basic cross-cultural viewpoints of Hofstede’s theory, it was able to explain partly the success of this phenomenon in e-sports, bring out the reasons how an MMORPG can build up its own borderless empire and digital culture. On the other hand, the thesis also suggested solutions to deal with a few current problems the case game’s in-game features and its item designs. Key words cross-culture, online game, video game, game design, customer experience, multiplayer online battle arena CONTENTS 1.
    [Show full text]
  • 434556 Master Thesis Final
    Levelling Up Leadership An Analysis on the Development of Leadership Skills through Competitive Gaming Name Alan Byssing Lafi _______________ Student ID 8452 Name Anders Rud Liltorp _______________ Student ID 85717 Master’s Thesis (LA) Supervisor: Helle Zinner Henriksen Copenhagen Business School MSc in Business Administration & Information Systems Submission Deadline: May 15th, 2018 at 16:00 pm Number of Characters: 264.607 Number of Pages: 118 Abstract As gaming is rapidly becoming increasingly popular, the need for research on the effects and use of gaming as a tool for learning and personal development is increasing. Additionally, the need for leaders who feel at home in the digital world is rising, as technology is becoming an increasingly important factor in almost any business. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate if participating in the in-game management of a competitive gaming team, can improve an individual’s leadership skills. The thesis adopts and interpretivist philosophy in order to understand the differences between humans as social actors. The research approach is deductive as the existing knowledge on leadership is integrated and summarized through a literature review, which is then used to create a framework of leadership skills. The framework is then tested by interviewing competitive video game players and analyzing the data they provided. The respondents were found by using a variety of websites that rank teams and players, in order to guarantee that the respondents were playing on a sufficient level. Based on the collected data, models were created to visualize and compare the differences in leadership skills across individuals, game genres and in relation to career length.
    [Show full text]
  • A Tutor Agent for MOBA Games
    A Tutor Agent for MOBA Games Victor do Nascimento Silva and Luiz Chaimowicz Departament of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil Abstract 2 MOBA Games Digital games have become a key player in the entertainment in- Before describing our approach, it is important to present the game- dustry, attracting millions of new players each year. In spite of that, play, characteristics and features of MOBA games. We also discuss novice players may have a hard time when playing certain types of the profile of the gamer that generally plays this game genre, pre- games, such as MOBAs and MMORPGs, due to their steep learn- senting its behavior in community. ing curves and not so friendly online communities. In this paper, we present an approach to help novice players in MOBA games over- 2.1 General Description come these problems. An artificial intelligence agent plays along- side the player analysing his/her performance and giving tips about Multiplayer Online Battle Arena is a genre originated from Real the game. Experiments performed with the game League of Leg- Time Strategy (RTS) games, in which players control an unit (Hero) ends show the potential of this approach. in a map, taking part in a battle to destroy an enemy base, like a cap- ture the flag game. As the popularity of RTS games increased in the Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Game Tutorials; Game Learn- last decade, players began to develop custom maps and features to ing games, called MODs, using tools distributed with the game. Thus, a custom map from Starcraft was the start point of MOBA games, Author’s Contact: giving rise to Aeon of Strife.
    [Show full text]
  • Download/90/67> [22 May 2015] Hofstee, E
    An analysis of its origin and a look at its prospective future growth as enhanced by Information Technology Management tools. Master in Science (M.Scs.) At Coventry University Management of Information Technology September 2014 - September 2015 Supervised by: Stella-Maris Ortim Course code: ECT078 / M99EKM Student ID: 6045397 Handed in: 16 August 2015 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY Student surname: OLSEN Student first names: ANDERS, HVAL Student ID No: 6045397 Course: ECT078 – M.Scs. Management of Information Technology Supervisor: Stella-Maris Ortim Second marker: Owen Richards Dissertation Title: The Evaluation of eSports: An analysis of its origin and a look at its prospective future growth as enhanced by Information Technology Management tools. Declaration: I certify that this dissertation is my own work. I have read the University regulations concerning plagiarism. Anders Hval Olsen 15/08/2015 i ABSTRACT As the last years have shown a massive growth within the field of electronic sports (eSports), several questions emerge, such as how much is it growing, and will it continue to grow? This research thesis sees this as its statement of problem, and further aims to define and measure the main factors that caused the growth of eSports. To further enhance the growth, the benefits and disbenefits of implementing Information Technology Management tools is appraised, which additionally gives an understanding of the future of eSports. To accomplish this, the thesis research the existing literature within the project domain, where the literature is evaluated and analysed in terms of the key research questions, and further summarised in a renewed project scope. As for methodology, a pragmatism philosophy with an induction approach is further used to understand the field, and work as the outer layer of the methodology.
    [Show full text]
  • On Successful Team Formation
    On Successful Team Formation Nataliia Pobiedina Julia Neidhardt Maria del Carmen Vienna University of Vienna University of Calatrava Moreno Technology Technology Vienna University of Austria Austria Technology [email protected] [email protected] Austria [email protected] Laszlo Grad-Gyenge Hannes Werthner Vienna University of Vienna University of Technology Technology Austria Austria grad- [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT As more and more human activities are moving to the Web, Teamwork plays an important role in many areas of today's the Web has become a mirror of modern society. Data is society. Thus, the question of how to form an effective team easily available and can be used to study human relations is of increasing interest. In this paper we use the team- and behavioral patterns. Thus, the Web provides an un- oriented multiplayer online game Dota 2 to study cooper- precedented opportunity to observe social interaction on the ation within teams and the success of teams. Making use large scale. of game log data, we choose a statistical approach to iden- tify factors that increase the chance of a team to win. The Our aim in this context is to study cooperation within teams factors that we analyze are related to the roles that players and success of teams. To do this, we use the multiplayer can take within the game, the experiences of the players and online game Dota 2. In this game two teams, consisting of friendship ties within a team. Our results show that such five members each, play against each other, and the task data can be used to infer social behavior patterns.
    [Show full text]
  • Leadership Development Through Online Gaming
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Nuangjumnonga, Tinnawat; Mitomo, Hitoshi Conference Paper Leadership development through online gaming 19th Biennial Conference of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS): "Moving Forward with Future Technologies: Opening a Platform for All", Bangkok, Thailand, 18th-21th November 2012 Provided in Cooperation with: International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Suggested Citation: Nuangjumnonga, Tinnawat; Mitomo, Hitoshi (2012) : Leadership development through online gaming, 19th Biennial Conference of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS): "Moving Forward with Future Technologies: Opening a Platform for All", Bangkok, Thailand, 18th-21th November 2012, International Telecommunications Society (ITS), Calgary This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/72527 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence.
    [Show full text]
  • Critically Approaching the Playful and Participatory Genealogy of Mobas
    Critically Approaching the Playful and Participatory Genealogy of MOBAs Josh Jarrett University of the West of England Digital Cultures Research Centre UK, Bristol, BS16 1QY [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper gives close attention to the term ‘Multiplayer Online Battle Arena’ (MOBA), establishing what it implies in popular discourses as a term with specific generic connotations and more critically, what its short but eventful history represents alongside wider participatory trends across the Internet. Despite its far reaching influence and now commonplace usage, MOBA is not a neutral term and it signals a precise transitional moment towards a new normalisation of playful, cultural and economic control for the genre. Through adapting Foucault’s term of the ‘dispositif’ and applying a genealogical approach towards mapping the transition from the mod of Defense of the Ancients (DotA) to the genre of MOBA, this paper argues that MOBAs continue to be laced in significant bottom-up movements and characteristics. It is these lingering characteristics of playful and participatory residue that many of the genres most notable game design and paratextual aspects can be found. However, it is also here that critical questions surrounding the platformed state of these relations also make themselves evident. Keywords MOBA, DotA, League of Legends, Participatory Culture, Dispositif, Platform Studies, Playful Genealogy. INTRODUCTION It's hard to deny that gaming is in the age of the MOBA. Valve's DotA 2 is the most popular game on its Steam service; League of Legends is arguably the most popular game in the world. How did a genre that started from the humblest of beginnings — a genre whose definition and even very name is in dispute — come to take an industry by storm? (Funk, 2013) In September of 2013 when this statement was made the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre had already assumed its position as one of the most played online genres in the world for over a year (Gaudiosi, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Uma Comparação Entre Esportes Eletrônicos E Esportes Tradicionais
    Universidade de Brasília Faculdade de Comunicação Departamento de Audiovisuais e Publicidade O videogame como esporte: Uma comparação entre esportes eletrônicos e esportes tradicionais. Silvio Kazuo Pereira Orientador: Luciano Mendes Brasília, Distrito Federal Novembro de 2014 2 Universidade de Brasília Faculdade de Comunicação Departamento de Audiovisuais e Publicidade O videogame como esporte: Uma comparação entre esportes eletrônicos e esportes tradicionais. Silvio Kazuo Pereira Monografia apresentada à Faculdade de Comunicação da Universidade de Brasília, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Bacharel em Comunicação Social com habilitação em Publicidade e Propaganda, sob a orientação do Professor Luciano Mendes. Brasília, Distrito Federal Novembro de 2014 3 AGRADECIMENTOS Em primeiro lugar aos meus pais Silvio e Edilce, pela compreensão e paciência. Eu não imaginava que a jornada fosse ser tão longa; e se consegui completá-la com tranquilidade foi pelo apoio incondicional. À minha irmã Yukari que me mostrou que carinho e admiração não tem fronteiras. Ao meu tio Edson, que talvez involuntariamente me despertou o interesse pelo jogo como esporte. Às minhas avós Júlia e Dina, que foram essenciais para a formação do meu caráter e ao meu desenvolvimento cognitivo e social nas primeiras etapas da minha vida. Ao meu ditchan Antônio, cujo carinho e memórias nunca vou esquecer. À professora Selma Regina por me incentivar a correr atrás do tema que eu realmente queria para a minha monografia. Ao meu orientador Luciano Mendes por ter topado o desafio e pela paciência com a minha inconstância. Aos outros professores da FAC, especialmente Wagner R., Edmundo D., Fabíola C., Tiago Q. e tantos outros que tanto me acrescentaram com aulas e conversas.
    [Show full text]
  • The Auto Battler Case Study
    Acta Ludologica 2020, Vol. 3, No. 1 ABSTRACT: The paper discusses the criteria about how one can establish if a group is a new genre. It distinguishes between two main lines of thinking about genre in general – content and discourse. Both lines have two things to discuss. For content it is similarities and differ- ences in mechanics, and for discourse it is commercial and social purpose of the use of Establishing New Genres in new categories. The case studies then show how this can be applied to the rising auto battler class. There are 7 core mechanics in games that are similar, but every game dif- Digital Games: The Auto Battler fers in small details from others. The discourse in the social and commercial sphere has appeared over a short time period, and the adoption of the new genre by the gaming com- Case Study munity was therefore fast. The bottom line of the text is that using rigid categories for discussions about digital games cannot focus only on rigid criteria, but also on context. Silvester Buček, Martina Kobetičová KEY WORDS: auto battler, core mechanics, digital games, game typologies, genres studies, modding. Mgr. et Bc. Silvester Buček Masaryk University in Brno Faculty of Arts Žerotínovo nám. 617/9 601 77 Brno Introduction CZECH REPUBLIC [email protected] The question of art genre has bugged media1 (but also ‘pre-media’) researchers for centuries, but real systematic study started in the 1960’s, when genre studies appeared.2 And even though the discussion has been vivid since then, digital games and new media Silvester Buček is a teacher of digital games at Masaryk University and the University bring many new perspectives to the topic.
    [Show full text]
  • Owning the World's Biggest Esport: Intellectual Property and Dota
    Harvard Journal of Law & Technology Volume 31, Number 2 Spring 2018 OWNING THE WORLD’S BIGGEST ESPORT: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND DOTA David Nathaniel Tan* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 965 II. A PRIMER: ESPORTS AND DOTA .................................................. 966 A. eSports: Rising from the Ashes ................................................. 966 B. The Significance of DotA .......................................................... 968 1. The “Eul” Era of DotA .......................................................... 969 3. The “Icefrog” Era of DotA .................................................... 970 4. DotA Legacies: From Community Ownership to Corporate Dominance ..................................................... 970 III. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CASES INVOLVING DOTA................. 972 A. Blizzard v. Valve (The DOTA Trademark) ............................... 972 B. Blizzard v. Lilith (The DotA Copyrights) ................................. 975 1. The Existence of the DotA Copyrights: A Question of Law ................................................................................. 976 2. The Ownership of the DotA Copyrights: A Question of Fact .................................................................................. 977 3. The Validity of DotA’s Assignments: A Question of Fact .................................................................................. 978 IV. BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS OF THE DOTA STORY ........................
    [Show full text]
  • From Dota to MOBA: the Emergence and Crisis of Playful Co-Creativity in Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Games
    From DotA to MOBA: the emergence and crisis of playful co-creativity in multiplayer online battle arena games Josh Jarrett A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education University of the West of England, Bristol January 2018 Research supervised by Dr Patrick Crogan, Dr Seth Giddings and Professor Jonathan Dovey. Examined by Dr Shawn Sobers (internal examiner), Dr Aphra Kerr (external examiner) and Dr Alan Greer (independent chair). 1 Thesis abstract The Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre represents one of the most popular, dynamic and influential spaces of digital play. Since the genres first commercial release in 2009 with the title League of Legends (2009 – present, Riot Games), MOBAs have played an integral role in pioneering ‘fair’ models of free-to-play, live streaming as a ubiquitous spectator activity and e-sports as an increasingly recognised mainstream industry. This thesis posits each of these trends as connected to the influence of MOBAs as a genre with a rich history in grassroots spaces of non-commercial play and participation. Adopting an online ethnographic approach, the thesis describes how the transition of the genre away from its non-commercial and collectivised origins has introduced an influential model of hybrid power relations characteristic of the affective economics that underpin many wider digital platforms. Central to this thesis is the introduction of playful co-creativity as a conception for describing the productive role that play and closely related participatory activities exert in the vibrant activities of MOBAs.
    [Show full text]