Cardona Ruiz 1

Andres Cardona Ruiz

ENC 1102
Professor Jennifer Murray
September 3, 2014
Welcome to the League
League of Legends (LoL) is a Massive Online Battle Arena with over 300 million players
in the world. Due to the sheer size of the community, it has developed characteristics that can be
attributed to a discourse community. I selected this particular discourse community due to the
fact that I have past and current involvement within the community. League of Legens is worthy
of academic scrutiny as it has gained an appellation. As the largest online community in the
world, it is a prime example as to how communities at such grand levels can function, and thrive.
In this paper I will analyze the specific terminology, genres, and how this discourse community
meets all six of the proposed defining criteria of discourse communities characterized by John
Swales.
Swales defines the first criteria of a discourse community as [containing] a broadly
agreed set of common public goals (Swales 471). The main goal of the game is to destroy the
enemy nexus, as the destruction of the nexus awards the opposing team that demolished it a
victory. The nexus in LoL is the headquarters of both teams where minions (grunt A.I. forces)
spawn. The process of destroying the opposing teams nexus involves demolishing turrets and
inhibitors, which serve as obstacles to protect the nexus. Turrets are towers that automatically
target and fire at enemy units that get within range (prioritizing enemy summoners [Real life
players] that damage friendly summoners, followed by minions). Taking down enemy turrets
allows friendly minions to travel along the paths toward the enemy nexus with less resistance.

Cardona Ruiz 2
Minions are vital to victory due to the fact that they absorb damage that summoners would not
otherwise be able to withstand from the turrets. After taking down three turrets in a lane, the
enemy inhibitor is exposed. The elimination of enemy inhibitors allows the enemy nexus to be
targeted. Until that time, it is invulnerable. The common goal of the community is the destruction
of the turrets and inhibitors in order to access and destroy the enemy nexus.
This common goal is brought about through intercommunication among the communities
members. This is the second criteria of a discourse community defined as [containing]
mechanisms of intercommunication among its members (Swales 471). Within the game there is
a text-based chat where players are able to communicate with their team and their enemies if
they wish. There is also a ping system that provides an audible and visual signal which is an
effective way to communicate something important without having to type, and is more
noticeable than the chat box. There are six pings within the game that you can use to signal your
team: alert, retreat, enemies missing; assist me, on my way, and danger. Outside of being
physically in a game there are forums, friend chats, and discussion posts where members are able
to communicate to a broader array of members to convey ideas and information.
Many of the means of communication used by members of the community convey
information as outlined in the third criteria of a discourse community. This is defined as
[using] its participatory mechanism primarily to provide information and feedback (Swales
472). Those members that are active throughout the season receive awards based on their
performance in the game. Players are informed and receive feedback of their performance
through the ladder ranking system (generally the higher a person is on the ladder, the better of a
player they are). Being inactive in a game leads to negative consequences such as being reported
by teammates, as well as the opposing team. Reports can result in punishment such as being

Cardona Ruiz 3
banned from the community, or being matched with other players reported for the same things.
Reports are written by choosing the category that the offense falls under and writing a
description as to how the player falls under that offense e.g., verbal abuse, assisting enemy team,
etc. After five minutes of inactivity you are kicked out of a game, which forces involvement on
the part of the player once they are committed to a game. Post-game there are positive and
negative feedbacks. Players can honor teammates or enemies for being good sports, and more
specifically how they helped you in the game i.e., helpful, teamwork, friendly, honorable
opponent. The negative feedback that players can receive are the reports that other players file
against them as previously mentioned.
The communication comes in many different forms. Swales says that a discourse
community utilizes and hence possess one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of
its aims (472). Genres are textual tools that meet the needs of the discourse community.
Members use the different types of genres such as LoL wiki, guides, Twitch, and the Journal of
Justice in order to pursue the main goal of winning games, and increasing their knowledge of the
game. LoL wiki, guides, and Twitch (streamed gameplay) increase the knowledge of members
by discussing how to play, what to purchase, and how to respond to different scenarios. The
journal of justice is a wiki page that gives background information about champions, the lore of
the game (in-game characters that summoners can play as) and gives the members an
understanding of the story that makes up the game.
In addition to owning genres, a discourse community must have acquired some specific
lexis (473). The specialized language within discourse communities allows rapid exchange of
information between members with terms, or phrases that are standard in their fields. Several
examples of the specialized language that LoL utlizes are ADC- attack damage carry, APC-

Cardona Ruiz 4
ability power carry, OOM- out of mana, AoE- Area of effect, B- recall button to go back to base,
CS-creep score (monster and minion kills), GG/BG- good game/bad game, Feed- to constantly
die to enemy summoners, LP- league points (points that rank you on the ranking ladder), etc. It is
important to understand the terminology of the community, because without an understanding of
how members within the community communicate, it is impossible for assimilation to occur.
Without the understanding of the lexis members cannot understand the depth of meaning applied
in discourse or become fluent in conversations in the community.
The sixth and final criteria of a discourse community is that A discourse community has
a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise
(473). LoL has a ranking system that ranges from very low level of mechanical and game
knowledge (bronze) to very knowledgeable and mechanically good at the game (challenger). In
order to be eligible to play ranked games, a player must work their way up to level thirty. This
helps to improve general knowledge of the game, as newcomers are not able to play ranked
games that determine their position on the ladder system. With over 300 million players in the
world there is definitely a threshold level of players, and with the ranking system there is a
varying degree of knowledgeable players.
In conclusion, the discourse community I have discussed meets all six of the defining
criteria proposed by Swales: there are common goals, participatory mechanism, information
exchange, community specific genres, a highly specialized terminology and a high general level
of expertise (224). The terminology and genres are tools that allow the members of the
community to reach their goal of winning games. The topic of further investigation that I will do
for the situated Inquiry project paper will focus on communication within League of Legends.
Within the community I am considered an expert in the field as I am within the top three percent

Cardona Ruiz 5
of all players that play in the North America server. I am actively involved in the game and will
continue to be involved in the near future.

Cardona Ruiz 6
Work Cited
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Writing About Writing. Eds. Elizabeth
Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 466-480. Print.