Character Preferences in Competitive Games: A Study among League of Legend Player
Files
Date
2025-01-07
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
4290
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
Various multiplayer online games, such as League of Legends, offer players a selection of characters from which they can choose one to play with. In the case of League of Legends, these characters (called champions) differ in terms of game mechanics, appearance, and lore. Understanding the reasons behind players' champion preferences can help designers create more engaging playable characters. Therefore, in this study, we investigated qualitatively how League of Legends players (N=34) justify their champion preferences. Our findings revealed mechanics and gameplay as the most dominant given reasons in almost all contexts for both positive and negative preferences. Champion aesthetics and lore were mentioned in connection to individual champions, but also in relation to the overall representativeness of the game's champion pool. We found evidence that the in-game player cultures were shaping particularly which champions players disliked. Interestingly, female participants rarely mentioned gender as an important characteristic when justifying their champion preferences, but were overwhelmingly choosing female champions as their favorites. These findings warrant further study into, for example, the apparent asymmetry in how players of different genders develop and form their character preferences.
Description
Keywords
Esports, avatars, champions, league of legends, multiplayer online games, preferences
Citation
Extent
10
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.