League of Legends is a MOBA game which stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, These type of games also has the sub-genre of strategy because within the game you have to think carefully on what you next step is going to be, MOBA game maps are usually split into three different lanes There is top, middle and bottom with the additional jungle which isn't exactly a lane because junglers are free to roam the map without having to commit to one specific lane although they have the role of helping their teammates get kills. There is usually a lot of fantasy element that get incorporated into these games which I think is one of the main reasons as to why they're quite popular because of the fantasy factor because people when play these games they get submerged into a completely different world. In MOBA games the camera angle is usually a slightly tilted and high angle third person view which is what League of Legends is played in but there is one game that I know of that uses a much more closer this person sort of over the shoulder view and because the camera angle is positioned that way it's possible to play it using a console like the Xbox.
Links:
http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/bug-report/ZvF75sch-gameplay-minor-visual-bug-with-zeds-shadows
http://newenglandgamer.com/pax-east-2015-smite-for-xbox-one/
Selection of content
What's good about MOBA games is that it doesn't just consist of one map and with League of Legends you can choose from two other maps apart from the map that you would normally played in which is called summoners rift and summoners rift is very woodsy with tree's and greenery like bushes everywhere, there are also rivers which you character can freely trek.
If you also look closely you would be able to see little extra creatures running around like frogs and butterflies. Because summoners rift is based on a forest it's very green and bright where as another map is called The Howling Abyss and just from the name you can tell it's going to be something eerie and it is because the game play is limited to only one lane because it's based on an old bridge in far reaches of Freljord which is basically a harsh snowy country that has been separated into three kingdoms and The Howling Abyss is located in one of the kingdoms and because its based on a harsh snowy land it's very eerie and it's complete with the sound of the wind blowing under the bridge which completes the whole abandoned and eerie environment.
The other map is called The Twisted Treeline and it's located in a continent known as the Shadow Isles where it's apparently filled with paranormal happenings, the map is very dark and ghoulish and filled with dead trees. With each of these you can interact by fighting the monsters that live deep with their respective jungle camps and by defeating these monsters you can gain some advantage.
The League of Legends logo itself you can already tell that the game will be fantastical because they used a rich dark green/turquoise color which is complemented with gold which I think is a very regal color combination there is also the font which very bold and because of the gold it pops which I think is what makes it eye catching.
Summoners rift
Howling Abyss
Twisted Treeline
In Smite although it falls in the same genre as League of Legends because of the fact that the game revolves around gods and so the environment is very much based on places that have ties with the origin of the gods or characters that you play as in the game. Like for one of the maps you can tell the it's based on ancient Greece because of the way the structures are, you can see gigantic pillars and the colors give off that same Grecian feeling.
Links:
http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/game-modes/the-twisted-treeline/
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/File:League_of_legends_logo_transparent.png
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/File:League_of_legends_logo_transparent.png
I don't think that League of Legends really has a specific target audience because I think there are many other MOBA games that are similar to it's much easier for them to market the game because its a type of game that people are already familiar with mechanics wise, but I think one of their main selling points is their art style because even though there are many games similar to it as it is quite a popular genre the characters you play as have different backgrounds and so does the entire game and also the way the character looks and colored must fit in with the game maps style like for example just about a year ago League of Legends completely renewed the look of summoners rift map and because the style and coloring of it changed of course the characters had to also be recolored some had to have their looks changed completely. With this change I think the game looks a lot more inviting than it did before and I think this got more people into the game because of it's eye catching visuals.
Like other MOBA games they don't just consist of MOBA elements because with games like this requires strategy because you can just start running into a lane and expect to win. Although game developers construct the game using a complex series of codes like languages and symbols which can communicate a range of meanings however the audience/players can decode these signs in order to read or interpret them so that they'd make sense to them this 'reading' process is know as semiotics in media terms.
There are times when the maker of the game will denote (show) something, additionally by selecting the camera angle, the lighting, the framing process, focus and interaction, the game is then given a series of 'connotations' or hidden meanings the audience/player can decode as they play the game. These games are known as 'polysemic' they give out lots of signals which could have many effects on it's viewer these signs are known as Easter eggs in game terminology. These signals can be interpreted in many ways but each interpretation depends on the audience's/player's situated culture.
The video below shows an audience's/player's views and thoughts on the Easter eggs that the developers had laid out in the games map.
Codes and conventions
There are two types of common codes, one is technical and the other is symbolic. An example for a technical code is maybe how the camera is angled and in league of legends is placed at a tilted, high angled, third person shooter view. Some people might argue that it's birds eye view but I think that it's in third person shooter view because of the fact that it's not high enough to be in birds eye view and also when your character walks you can see their back and whole body, not just the top of their head like how birds eye view is traditionally positioned.
For the symbolic codes it could be something minor like how the brushes around your character are rustling which makes the player think whether something is there or not.
If the games visuals have technical and symbolic codes, the games audio can also be parted in two, there is Diegetic and there is Non-Diegetic. Diegetic means in the scene and Non-Diegetic are sounds like the background or out of the scene, sometimes non-diegetic sounds come after the diegetic sounds like for example in League of Legends the objective is to destroy the enemies nexus which is located in their base but once you destroy it you hear the sound of crumbling and explosions and then a woman will either proudly say "Victory" or bitter-sweetly say "Defeat" and these are diegetic because it happened as the 'scene' played out, but once that scene is over a big message in bold lettering will pop up on your screen saying either "Victory" or "Defeat" and in victory you will hear victorious music play in the background but in defeat you will hear sad and sorrowful music play in the background apart from this as you play the game it plays it's theme song in the background but only a bit faint but you can change that through settings. Usually these codes are connected to each other because they need each other to work and to keep the little logic within the game.
In MOBA games people usually expect to see a lot of exciting team fights, characters that look like their splash arts and the competitiveness between the two opposing teams. Some could also look forward to the fact that it's similar to other older MOBA games others might expect to see really good story lines with each of the characters lore intertwine with other characters story, although the game itself doesn't really have a story when a one characters story is connected with another then it makes things a little bit more interesting.
Modes of address
The game itself doesn't exactly talk to the audience but they do have characters to do it for them as each characters have their own personality and each character have their own unique dialogue that they say from time to time but because the Pegi rating of the game is 12 the characters don't really swear although some of them can say some violent things and some sexual innuendos but I don't think that will really understand any of it, because of the characters diverse backgrounds some have formal and some have informal dialogues. Apart from this the only other way the game speaks to its audience that I could think of is like before when I was talking about diegetic and non-diegetic sounds where if you were to win the game a message in bold letters will pop up saying either victory or defeat but there are also times where if you were to kill a certain amount of enemis the game will announce that your on a killing spree which would also be displayed on the other players screen including the enemies and vice versa.
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