Paper can be found at: https://www.academia.edu/12427875/Playing_Between_Rules_Negotiating_the_Ludic_Innovations_of_the_MOBA_Genre

1. Playing Between Rules:
Negotiating the Ludic
Innovations of the MOBA Genre
Josh Jarrett
Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of the West of England
@Joshua_Jarrett

2. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA)?
• Fifteen year history in a modding / playing community.
• Largely developed out of the Warcraft 3 (2003, Blizzard
Entertainment) modification ‘Defence of the Ancients’ (or DotA)
• As of 2009 / 2010 the genre started to become replaced by corporate
iterations of the genre, some of the most significant including League
of Legends (Riot Games, 2009), Heroes of Newerth (Frostburn Studios,
2010), Dota 2 (Valve Corporation, 2013).
• It has since gone onto be recognised as one of the most popular
genres in the world responsible for industry defining trends such as
the rise e-sports, live streaming and ‘fair’ free to play.

3. Many rules!

4. Fountain Hook

5. Playing Between Rules
• ‘It is common knowledge that what to begin with seems to be a
situation susceptible to indefinite repetition turns out to be capable
of producing ever new combinations.’ (Caillois, 1958: 30)
• ‘TL; DR: Don't nerf something when it is played differently to how it
was intended, because that innovation is the beautiful thing about
competing within system like a videogame: You look at what is known
and you try to prove it wrong.’ (2012, Reddit user)

6. More Rules!

7. Developer Patch Notes

8. Space Between Rules
• Patches represent a tangible top down response to bottom up
explorations of rules.
• So although the map may seem small and easily navigated there is
constant exploration of the space between rules. I.E. different
variations and emergent potentials.
• What makes this space distinctive in MOBAs is the frenetic pace of
change on the part of [professional] players, developers and user
generated content producers.
• Each stakeholder co-creates the ongoing changes of the genre and for
completely different reasons to each other.

9. The Agency of Ludic Innovation
• The ludic innovations of players become a force with agency that can
be framed just as wider forms of participation can.
• Play is participatory (Jenkins, 2006)
• Play is co-creative (Banks, 2013)
• Play is connective (Djick, 2013)
• Reading ludic innovation in this way, as an activity with a distinct
agency of its own, allows for a much wider critical perspective on
what these instances of bottom up creativity represent.

10. Connective Approach Towards Ludic
Innovation
• Following Djick’s conception of connectivity as a means of ‘mapping
the convolutions’ between different stake holders, technological
actors and microsystems provides a useful approach towards viewing
these emergent play styles.

11. Extracts from Discussions
• I have held numerous Reddit discussions relating to the themes
touched upon here asking questions such as ‘who defines the meta?’,
‘what innovating play styles have you seen risen to the top?’, have
‘you lost expertise with the introduction of new patches?’
• I have had around 150 in depth responses / conversations and made
notes of many existing discussions that often number in the
thousands of comments.

12. Extracts from Discussions
• ‘It’s their balance philosophy that irks me. If they only brought
overtuned champions down to par then I’d be fine with it. But when
Riot nerfs, they often gut a champion in one patch to the point that
there’s no reason to play them. So people find new things to replace
them and the whole thing continues.
If the changes were ‘balances’ instead of ‘nerfs’ then I could keep
playing my favourite champions without that fear of them becoming
unviable. But it barely seems worth trying to master a champion
when in 2 weeks they may appear in the LCS [professional e-sports
league] and get steamrolled in a patch a shortly after.’

13. Extracts from Discussions
• Who controls the innovation of the game?
• ‘Riot and Pros. Riot's buffs and nerfs are the single biggest effect on the meta. If
they don't like something, they make people stop doing it. Pros pick up what Riot
makes strong and then add their personal flavors. The recent resurgence of Jayce
after the use by Pawn in the world championships is a testament to this.’
• ‘There is a lot of room [for the average player to innovate]. Especially when
you're not pro or near pro but even there (as we were able to see recently with a
poppy top, hecarim and jayce mid). In lower tiers there are even less limitations.
It's how well you play your champion and not even how well they fit into lane. Jax
mid? Sure! J4 + Pantheon bottom lane? Hardest stomp I ever had... I think you get
my point ;)’
• ‘I feel there is a fair bit of room in the game itself to be innovative and try
something new but the community gets stuck in its ways and heavily hinders any
innovation, you try to innovate and you will get heckled into oblivion.’

14. Staking Ludic Innovations
• Players
• Professional Players
• User Generated Content Producers
• Developers
• Playing between rules; playing between stakes

15. Thank you for your time