HA9 Task 3 - Conclusion

For this task I will be explaining the information that I found out about how the game that I chose which is League of Legends addresses its audience from task 1 and analyse the results from the little interview that I did with my friend from task 2.

I will be splitting the my explanation into the five topics that I talked about in task 1 which were: genre description, selection of content, construction of content, codes and conventions and modes of address.

Task 1

Genre Description
While doing research on this topic I found out the the official genre for League of Legends is MOBA which stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena but it also had the sub-genre of strategy because of the way that the game worked and how the map was laid out.

Selection of Content
In the game the way that the environments for the three maps were extremely detailed which I thought was one of the games main selling point was it's art style this is also including the splash arts of the characters because they are mostly bright and colorful and they fit the characters background.

Construction of Content
While doing research on this there some interesting things that I gathered, I found out about the denoting and connoting withing games and the kind of reading is known as 'polysemic' in media terms which then made me realize that it was just a fancy word for the game term 'Easter egg' which is when developers and game makers drop little hints around the map and let people decide and theorize as to what the purpose of it is.

Codes and Conventions
While doing research on this topic I found that the games and conventions can be divided into four codes, two codes for the games visual aspects there were technical codes and symbolic codes and two for the sound aspect of the game, the codes were diegetic which mean sounds that are played within a scene and non-diegetic which are sounds that are played the background music.

Modes of Address
While doing research on this topic I came to the realization that game doesn't really have a specific way of talking to it's audience except for the anouncer and the characters dialogue. The announcer usually talks formally however with the characters because of their background diversity each character has different personalities so some of the characters have formal and informal dialogues.


Task 2

Genre Description
For this topic I asked my friend what he thought the genre of the game was and why he thinks it's that particular genre and he that it was MOBA because of the games map was sectioned into three parts or lanes which strengthens my results from my task 1 research as the games official genre was MOBA.

Selection of Content
For this topic I asked him why he started playing League of Legends, what it was that piqued his interest and long answer short he said that it was because he was captivated and drawn in by the art and the visuals of the game which is no different from what I found out that one of League of Legends main selling point is it's art.

Construction of Content
For this topic I asked why he thinks the game is structured to be the way it is and what significance it held to the game which he said that it's structured the way it is because it's how MOBA games are typically designed and constructed like how the maps are divided into lanes.

Codes and Conventions
For this topic I asked him what he would expect to see from a MOBA game and he said that because League of Legends was his first MOBA game he expects other MOBA games to have the same or at least similar mechanics so that it's easier and faster for him find his way around the game.

Modes of Address
For this topic I asked him if he thought the game had ever offended anyone because of the characters dialogues and he said that he didn't think it has ever offended anyone and that if anything players love to see and enjoy characters do the things they do and say the things they speak, be it formal or informal.