From Generative to Conventional Play: MOBA and League of Legends

Key insights

7 takeaways

01
The MOBA genre emerged from player-modders working in Warcraft III, most notably the DotA mod, whose design choices (removing base-building, standardizing 5v5 play, and using a single symmetrical map) were later commercialized.
02
Ferrari positions League of Legends as the central MOBA case, citing it as the most played game by hours, supported by a professional competitive scene and a free-to-play model sustained by ongoing champion releases and data-driven balancing.
03
Ferrari argues League of Legends constitutes conventional, exocentric play, with its team-based competition shaped by layered hidden and complex information.
04
The draft phase is semi-transparent: team compositions and bans are visible, while masteries, runes, and internal team communication remain hidden.
05
Early-game uncertainty arises from asymmetric champion abilities, dueling, jungle ganks, and the difficulty of maximizing creep score, which the paper treats as analytically dense.
06
Late-game narrative tension is weakened by positive-feedback snowballing, which often produces one-sided endgames, though spectator commentary and streaming partly restore dramatic tension.
07
The paper applies Costikyan's theory of uncertainty to identify sources of tension including creep-score optimization puzzles, fog of war combined with unpredictable player behavior, and high-stakes teamfights driven by motor skill.

Summary

Simon Ferrari's 2013 DiGRA paper examines the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre through League of Legends, arguing that the genre emerged from player-modders working within Warcraft III, most notably the DotA mod, whose generative, exocentric design choices, including removing base-building, standardizing 5v5 play, and using a single symmetrical map, produced a form of play later commercialized. Drawing on play theory frameworks from Sutton-Smith, Zook et al., and Costikyan, the study positions League of Legends as the central case, noting its status as the most played game by hours, its professional competitive scene, and its free-to-play model sustained by ongoing champion releases and data-driven balancing.

The paper's analysis of the draft, opening, and laning phases contends that these ongoing additions and balance patches cultivate a form of "development anticipation" that sets League apart from other eSports. The draft is characterized as semi-transparent: team compositions and bans are visible, while masteries, runes, and internal team communication remain hidden. Early game phases are described as analytically dense, with uncertainty arising from asymmetric champion abilities, dueling, jungle ganks, and the difficulty of maximizing creep score. Ferrari concludes that team-based competition in League constitutes conventional, exocentric play shaped by layered hidden and complex information.

Applying Costikyan's theory of uncertainty, the study identifies several interacting sources of tension: puzzle-like creep-score optimization, the fog of war combined with unpredictable player behavior, and high-stakes teamfights driven by motor skill and performative uncertainty. The paper finds, however, that late-game narrative anticipation is weakened by positive-feedback snowballing, which often yields one-sided endgames, though spectator commentary and streaming partly restore dramatic tension.