League of Legends Study

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Using Strategies of Politeness and Impoliteness in
Team Communication in Online Games
Janet Vong
University of California, Santa Barbara

Senior Honors Thesis
Dr. Mary Bucholtz
June 16, 2012


 

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Introduction: The politeness dilemma in online gaming
In 2010, the average time spent on PC games was 6.6 hours per week (OnlineMBA); in 2011,
over 1.4 million players logged into League of Legends every day (PCGamer). The existence of
this online space has brought together a community of online gamers and created an interesting
in-group language for linguistic research. With so many people becoming interested in playing
PC games, a linguist may ask: how does interaction and language in gaming environments play a
role in online games?
Both Crystal (2011) and Baron (2009) argue that online communication exists as a separate
category for research because it contains features of both spoken and written language. Although
these two linguists have begun to explore online communication in mobile texting and computer
chatting, few linguistic studies have been conducted on the language of gaming interaction.
Aside from Ensslin (2012), which focuses primarily on the interface of digital games, other
scholars have conducted research on players' participation cues and actions when playing online
team-based games (Keating & Sunakawa 2010). In addition to linguistic research, other social
science studies have explored gender differences in motivation and playing habits in online
games (Jansz, Avis, & Vosmeer 2010), the use of microphones in online gaming (Williams,
Caplan, & Xiong 2007), and the practice of role-playing in World of Warcraft (Williams,
Kennedy, & Moore 2011; Tronstad 2008; MacCallum-Stewart & Parsler 2008).
An important new direction for research on the linguistic aspect of online gaming is the study
of politeness and impoliteness. Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory describes various
strategies for protecting face, the self-image of speakers in face-to-face (FTF) interaction.
Speakers normally maintain politeness in conversation by protecting each other's face. The
remarks used to protect face can be divided into two types. Positive politeness creates solidarity,


 

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while negative politeness preserves the other speaker's autonomy. However, Culpeper (2011)
argues that Brown and Levinson's politeness theory does not explain impoliteness. The study of
politeness is about protecting face by redressing potential acts that damage face, whereas
Culpeper's study of impoliteness focuses on contexts that damage face. He argues that
impoliteness depends not only on speech, but also on context, non-verbal cues, and social
conventions that create offense. Impoliteness norms vary between groups because interactional
norms may differ depending on the comfort level and familiarity between speakers.
In some ways, the language in online gaming resembles both FTF interaction and computermediated communication. While politeness and impoliteness strategies in FTF interaction allow
speakers and listeners to see facial expressions and to hear the prosody, speed, and volume of
speech, members of online conversations do not have access to these cues. Participants in online
interaction can only determine signs of impoliteness by the style, context, and meaning of the
textual message as it appears on their screen.
The linguistic style of online chatting and mobile texting, which involves acronyms,
shortened words, sentence fragments, omitted punctuation, emoticons, etc., transfers over to
chatting in online gaming. The chat box is extremely important for team-based games because all
players must share information and plan strategies in order for their team to win the game.
Though voice chatting through microphones is available for some online games, the chat box is
the main form of communication for players.


 

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Table 1: Some common features used on the Internet and in-game (collected from game data)
brb
k
lol
mia
np
nvr
omg
ty
u
w/e
:)
:D
><

be right back
okay
laugh out loud
missing in action
no problem
never
oh my god
thank you
you
whatever
smiley face
big smiley face
upset face

Some Internet users choose to type in full sentences and use prescriptively correct spelling, while
others decide to avoid the formal conventions of writing. However, though styles of chatting are
similar, politeness used in games differ greatly from other forms of online chatting because
members of the online gaming community base their politeness norms on the actions and
language used by players.
Some participants from this study considered their interaction to be different from how they
would interact in other Internet non-game settings (i.e., email, instant messaging, etc.) and in
FTF interaction because the anonymous identities of players do not take responsibility for what
is said in gaming contexts. However, other participants believed that players should not disobey
the politeness norms in FTF interaction because it can bring frustration to the gaming
community.
A common feature of both regular chatting and in-game chatting is flaming, the use of hostile
language toward other online users. Studies on flaming in online chatting have found that males
were more likely to flame than females (Herring 1994) and that flaming is seen as an inevitable
part of cyberspace (Dery 1994). In the gaming community, gamers usually refer to flaming as


 

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trolling or raging, the use of impolite language during a game. Though trolling may occur in the
context of forums,1 YouTube, online articles, and blogs, trolling in-game occurs through both the
actions by gamers and the flaming language used in the chat box. During in-game trolling, a user
intentionally plays their character in an unconventional way. To gamers, trolling can be split into
two types, which I distinguish in this study as positive trolling and negative trolling. Positive
trolling occurs when the entire team plays the game non-seriously. For instance, positive trolling
can occur when all members of the team decide to play in the same area on the map, which
violates the norms of the game. Even if the team does not win, it is still an enjoyable experience
for the team because it is humorous to see the characters play in a way that does not match the
ordinary actions of their champions. The game is not taken seriously and everyone has a good
time and finds it funny. Negative trolling, or individual in-game trolling, is not appreciated
because the troll decreases the team's chances of winning and angers his or her teammates to be
angry for consistently violating game norms. When the opposing team plays too poorly due to
trolling, the enemy team may also be frustrated and find the game unsatisfying.
The terms trolling (used in the negative sense) and raging are closely connected because
negative trolling usually occurs before raging. Raging happens when a teammate expresses
irritation at his or her teammate for not playing well due to negative trolling; however, raging
can also be due to the poor playing of noobs (i.e., newbs, n00bz, short for newbies, or beginning
players). Noobs do not die intentionally but do so because they are unfamiliar with the control of
their champion's actions. Ragers sometimes insult and complain at noobs, but doing so can cause
ineffective teamwork. Figure 1 summarizes these different types of players. Trolls are in some
sense the opposite of noobs because trolls intentionally play in ways that do not fit the norms of

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
 For an example of trolling in forums, see http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/
 

 


 

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the game, while noobs unintentionally fail. Another type of player in online gaming is that of
leader. Players respect the leaders' constructive criticism because the leaders are higher in skill
and can teach other teammates how to play better. In this sense, leaders are the opposite of ragers
because leaders guide the team by giving instructions, rather than complain and directly point out
their teammates' mistakes.
Figure 1: Types of players and behavior
Acceptable Players
Leader: guides team through
Noob: unintentionally cause trouble; actions
instruction and indirect speech;
are understood but not appreciated by
respected by teammates
teammates

Rager: complains the team's mistakes;
Troll (negative): Intentionally causes
not appreciated by teammates
trouble for team; can annoy teammates
Unacceptable Players
To stop LoL players from raging, Riots Games created the "summoner's code" in hopes of
establishing a friendly game environment for its players. The term summoner refers to each LoL
player, who summons a champion to play for the upcoming game. Though the summoner's code
was created for players to be good team members, my observations in LoL forums and
conversations with participants indicate that not all players follow the code and that raging and
trolling is an issue for gamers who prefer competitive rather than non-serious games.
Figure 2: Summoner's Code from League of Legends2
1. Support your team
2. Drive constructive feedback
3. Facilitate civil discussion
4. Enjoy yourself, but not at anyone else's expense

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2
Source: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/articles/The_Summoners_Code


 

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5. Build relationships
6. Show humility in victory, and grace in defeat
7. Be resolute, not indignant
8. Leave no newbie behind!
9. Lead by example

Though players are expected to be aware of the summoner's code, following the code may not
bring fun for them. However, it is beneficial for players to be aware of the code because a
disruptive player could get their LoL account banned for ruining the experience for others in the
game if the team votes to do so.
Overall, linguistic research on interaction and language in online gaming has been limited, but
the resources used to aid this online gaming study are summarized as follows:


Language used in-game chatting produces a variety of language types that can be
analyzed in terms of politeness and impoliteness. Politeness protects face while
impoliteness damages face by causing offense.



Flaming, the use of hostile language toward others, can occur in all forms of Internet
interaction; in online gaming, flaming is known as trolling or raging.



Trolling is intentionally playing a character in a way that violates the norms of the game.
Positive trolling humorous for the team, while negative trolling is not appreciated
because it decreases the fun of the game for others.



Noobs and leaders are the other main types of players in the gaming community.



The summoner's code was created for League of Legends to maintain a friendly gaming,
but not all players follow it.

The research questions posed for this study are:


How and why do team members in LoL use strategies of politeness or impoliteness?


 

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When team members are free to type in the chat box, how do they deal with strategies of
politeness or impoliteness?



What are effective strategies of maintaining communication without upsetting
teammates?

Since communication between players aids group collaboration in team-based games, this
field of online gaming interactional language is an area worth exploring by linguists. Through
analyzing in-game communication, this study reveals effective and ineffective strategies that
players use in interacting with one another.

The Structure of League of Legends
The game company, Riots Games, officially launched League of Legends (LoL) on October
27, 2009. According to the November 2011 news section on the LoL website at that time, LoL
had 4.2 million daily players and 32.5 million registered accounts. It is currently listed as the
number one multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game for 2012 on the MMOBomb website.
In terms of popularity in the PC gaming world, LoL is similar to World of Warcraft (WoW),
which was named the number one massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)
game for 2012 on MMORPG.com.
LoL is a competitive real-time strategy game that is characterized as a MOBA game. While
MMORPG games give users the freedom to travel through game worlds without time limits and
allow players to role-play characters that themselves design, MOBA games lack the freedom to
create one's own character or to move through time and space. MOBAs differ from MMORPGs
in that players can win or lose at the end of games. In contrast to MMORPGs, MOBAs consist of
prefabricated characters and have only a few maps of game worlds to choose from. Though


 

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MMORPGs are sometimes played in teams, they are normally played individually; MOBAs are
almost always team-based with each team member playing an important role in each game.
Finally, WoW is a fee-based game, while LoL is free, although players can buy "skins" or
costumes for their champions. The option of buying skins for one's champions is the most
creativity a player has within LoL.
In LoL, players can choose to play one of three maps: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline,
and Dominion (Figure 3). Summoner's Rift generally involves games of five-player teams (5 vs.
5) that last 30-40 minutes. Twisted Treeline is a three-player, or 3 vs. 3, game that last 30
minutes and the map consist of two lanes and two forests. Dominion is played on a circular map
and is a five-player, or 5 vs. 5, game that lasts approximately 20 minutes.
Figure 3: The three maps in LoL
Summoner's Rift

Twisted Treeline

Dominion

Games for this study were mainly played on the Summoner Rift's map (Figure 4). However,
when more than five participants or fewer than five participants were available, they played 4 vs.
4 games on the Summoner's Rift map and 3 vs. 3 games on the Twisted Treeline map. In
Summoner's Rift, each team's territory consists of three lanes (top, middle, and bottom), many


 
turrets (towers which the enemy team tries to destroy), and one nexus (the team's base; the
opposing team's nexus is the final turret that needs to be destroyed in order to win the game).
There is also a jungle (the large grey area of the map) and a river that divides the two teams'
territories. The river and jungle can have traps as wells as wards (items used to give a team
vision of the area where its ward is placed) set up by the enemy team.
Figure 4: Summoner's Rift Map

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The goal of the game is to destroy the enemy team's nexus. In order to do so, players kill the

enemy's champions (player characters), various minions (small non-player characters provided
by the game that automatically attack the enemy team), and monsters (neutral non-player
characters that hoard gold in the jungle and can be killed but revive after 6 minutes). By
destroying turrets and killing champions, minions, and monsters, players receive gold (virtual
money used to buy items, i.e., not skins, which require real money). Players have multiple lives,
but dying too frequently indicates that a player is a noob and is not appreciated by teammates.
On the computer screen, the players see a close-up shot of their position on the map (Figure
5). The Summoner Rift's mini-map appears at the lower right-hand corner along with a chat box
on the bottom that allows players to communicate with both their own team and the enemy team.
Figure 5: LoL in-game screen shot


 

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By clicking any location on the large screen map or the mini-map with a computer mouse, a
player is able to make their champion walk to that location. Players use the mini-map to view the
location of everyone in the game and the status of their team's turrets. The white box on the minimap is used to magnify other areas on the map, and the red and yellow "ping" buttons allow
players to send flashes to their team that signal the messages "come here" (red) or "get back"
(yellow).
To setup a game, players log onto their accounts and push the "Play" button. Before players
are loaded into the game, everyone in the team chooses a champion. Each champion is associated
with one or more of the five major roles in the game: assassin, fighter, tank, mage, and support
(Table 2).
Table 2: The five major champion roles in LoL
Role
Description
Assassin
Champions that start strong during a fight, but gradually becomes weak
Fighter
Champions that does damage to the enemy team and has endurance during fights
Tank
Champions that initiates team fights and takes damage
Mage
Champions that bursts attacks, but have low defense skills
Support
Champion that supports teammates through spells, abilities, and items

Players must think about the entire team when choosing and building champions, so that the
team covers all five roles. Each player chooses two spells (abilities used several times and has a
waiting period between each use) and a rune setting (a setting that chooses the enhancements
that will be used to strengthen a champion in-game) which the player thinks will work well for
his or her chosen champion (Figure 6). Once everyone on the team chooses their champion's
settings and pushes "Lock In," the team waits for the LoL server to randomly assign them to play
against another team of five players. In random LoL games, all players are teamed up with


 

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people they do not know. However, it is possible for players to have pre-made games or be on
teams with friends, depending on teammate preferences and time availability.
Figure 6: Rune Page

When the server has found another team ready to play, it sets up their game by bringing the two
teams to the loading screen.


 

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Figure 7: Screen shot of loading LoL game

After the loading screen is finished, all players are brought into the game (Figure 7). The game
begins with all champions at their team's base. Players buy items (i.e., boots, swords, etc.) for
their champions with the gold that they start out with. After the champions buy their items, the
team separates into the lanes with two players in the top lane, one in the middle lane, and two on
the bottom lanes. When champions kill the objects in the game, they receive gold which can be
use to buy more items. Learning and becoming familiar with playing LoL usually requires noobs
to go through online tutorials and to read guides on how to play particular champions.

Methodology
With more and more users around the world sharing gaming spaces on the Internet, obtaining
consent from online gamers for this study required more work than expected. Online gaming is a


 

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global activity and is available in any country where the LoL game server is available.3 Players
from different servers are allowed to join the servers of other regions. In order to find
participants who were willing to give consent, the study only includes local players from
California. To find local participants, flyers were posted all over the UC Santa Barbara campus
so that interested players could email the researcher. Participants and friends of the researcher
also helped in spreading the word about the study. A total of 57 people responded and 32 became
study participants.4 Participants were sent a consent form and a survey that gathered information
on their game level, age, and time availability during the 2011-2012 winter break at UCSB. They
were also asked whether or not they had LoLReplay, a free software program that records LoL
games. Participants who had LoLReplay were contacted individually and asked to host and
record games. Once the consent forms were received, each participant was assigned an
identification number and sent a Doodle link where they signed up for games. After the
LoLReplay files were collected, they were converted to AVI movie files through another
software program called Bandicam. The team's conversation was transcribed into a Microsoft
Word document.
A total of 28 games lasting 30-40 minutes were played and 32 LoLReplay files were
collected. Most games had teams consisting of five players, but when 10 participants signed up
for a scheduled game, they were organized into two teams and played against each other;
however, only conversations within the host's team were analyzed. The games were scheduled
during the first two weeks of UCSB's winter break in 2011 and the first day of winter quarter in

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3
League of Legends servers are currently located in North America, EU West, and EU Nordic
and East.
4
Other potential participants did not respond to the researcher's email because they were no
longer interested after receiving preliminary information about the study or did not have time to
participate.


 

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2012. A total of 28 males and 4 females, ranging from 18-25 years old, participated in the study.
A majority of the participants attended UCSB, but some were friends of members of the UCSB
community.
When classes resumed after winter break, participants were invited to a group interview.
Those who did not attend UCSB were given the option to fill out an online survey. Five
participants completed the survey, 24 were interviewed, and three did not respond to the
invitation. Seven group interviews lasting 30 to 90 minutes were held with groups ranging from
two to five participants, which were formed based on availability. The interview responses are
discussed in part II of the analysis. The participants' player names, champion names, gender and
games played are presented in Figure 8 and Table 3.
Table 3: Top 5 players depending on the number of games played
Rank Summoner name (gender)
Games played Favorite champion (gender)
1
itsshortstuff (female)
20
Cho'Gath (monster)
1
RizeAgainst1 (male)
20
Blitzcrank (male)
2
Repriev3 (male)
16
Shaco (male)
3
azeneyes (male)
14
Kog'Maw (male)
4
RossoMaestro (male)
11
Ahri (female)
5
nightshade6 (female)
9
Lux (female)

Figure 8: Top 5 champions played in the study
1. Shaco
2. Caitlyn
3. Cho'Gath
(male)
(female)
(monster)

4. Kog'Maw
(male)

5. Blitzcrank
(male)


 

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Data Analysis, part I: Game Data
The language in LoL chat boxes is the only way for team members to plan strategies and
share information. While ranging from politeness remarks to impoliteness remarks, most
language that occurs is between these two extremes, demonstrating that teammates use few
politeness and impoliteness markers to communicate in the game. The data analyzed for this
study are separated into five categories: polite, mildly polite, neutral, mildly impolite and
impolite.
Figure 9: Politeness scale for in-game remarks

In all examples listed below, the summoner name (i.e., the player's username) is outside of the
parentheses and the player's champion name is inside of the parentheses. I refer to the players by
their champion name because that is the norm for how players refer to each other in-game.
Occasionally, I refer to the summoner name when the players are chatting about a specific player
rather than a champion that is being played. Appendix 1 provides some useful terminology for
understanding the data.

Politeness Remarks
Though it is not required for players to use politeness strategies when communicating with
one's team, doing so creates rapport between players, and a positive status for oneself. In teambased games, using politeness strategies can influence other teammates to respond with messages


 

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that also use politeness markers. For instance, making a polite remark usually results in receiving
a polite response afterwards. It is common for one player to say gj (good job) and the other to
reply with ty (thank you) when he or she has performed well.5 Example 1 shows davidpong, who
is playing the Caitlyn champion, complimenting Kristyyyy's performance on playing the
champion Sona.6
Ex. 1, Game #1a
Caitlyn and Sona are playing in the same lane and Sona attacks the enemy team.
davidpong (Caitlyn): you're a good sona
davidpong (Caitlyn): lol
Kristyyyy (Sona): thanks :)
davidpong adds lol (laugh out loud) after his compliment to continue his friendliness while
waiting for Kristyyyy to respond. Based on my observations in other online chatting contexts, it
is typical for Internet users to type lol in the chat box to improve the flow of the conversation and
avoid similar situations of 'awkward silence' moments in FTF interaction. Kristyyyy responds in
a friendly and polite way by saying thanks while using a smiley face emoticon. Using smiley
faces create friendliness in online chatting (Herring 2012). This friendly act towards one
teammate created good relations between the two players in this interaction.
Using the politeness marker please is another way to express politeness when interacting with
teammates. In Example 2, the champion Ashe asks the champion Sona to get wards (items that
are bought with gold and thrown into the bushes in the jungle).


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5
Players are may not respond in the chat box when both of their hands are busy controlling the
mouse and keyboard.
6
Players are allowed to play across genders. For instance, davidpong (a male player) plays
Caitlyn (a female champion) in this game.


 

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Ex. 2, Game #10a
RossoMaestro (Ashe): sona wards please
Sona buys wards.
Kristyyyy (Sona): got em

Ashe added the polite word please at the end of his request, indicating that he is intentionally
being polite to Sona. She then replies with got em to show that the request has been fulfilled.
This example shows that using polite words can persuade team members to be responsive to
request.
Besides being used in request, politeness markers can be added after an action is completed.
Players may begin with neutral imperatives, but add politeness markers even after their
teammates have followed their order. In Example 3, Zilean asks noc (shortened form of the
champion name Nocturne), to get blue (i.e., blue buff: a beneficial object that benefits a
champion and is acquired after destroying a neutral non-player object).
Ex. 3, Game #3
RizeAgainst1 (Zilean): noc get me blue
Nocturne gets blue buff.
RizeAgainst1 (Zilean): ty
azeneyes (Nocturne): np
Zilean uses the polite phrase ty (thank you) after Nocturne fulfills the instruction by attacking
blue. Nocturne comments back with np (no problem). This exchange creates friendly interaction
between the two speakers. Example 3 is similar to Example 1 because in both cases, the players
who receive positive remarks also respond with a positive comment.


 

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In Examples 1, 2, and 3, polite remarks were directed to specific individuals, but when a

polite remark is directed towards the entire team, it functions differently. During team fights, for
example, when all members of a team come together on the map to target the enemy players,
positive comments do not receive a response. Example 4 shows Skarner leading his entire team
in a team fight.
Ex. 4, Game #19
A2ZOMG (Skarner): force a fight
A2ZOMG (Skarner): everyone together
Skarner's team pushes a lane together.
A2ZOMG (Skarner): good
A2ZOMG (Skarner): force more fights
Skarner begins by using imperatives to direct his team, and then adds the positive evaluative
term good when he sees his team following his command. The lack of response from Skarner's
team indicates that they are following his command in-game and do not respond because they are
focused on controlling their champions with their computer mouse and keyboard. Skarner is an
example of a leader because his teammates fulfill his commands without objection. Using the
positive evaluative term good is a way for players, including leaders, to encourage their
teammates.
In addition to using positive evaluative terms, team players show politeness when they take
blame, or apologize to their team or particular individuals for dying multiple times or playing
poorly. In Example 5, Amumu goes to the bottom lane to help Sona, but the enemy team targets
Sona and she dies.
Ex. 5, Game #10b


 

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RizeAgainst1 (Amumu): i suck
Kristyyyy (Sona): no i wasn't much help
Kristyyyy (Sona): sorryyy

Amumu apologizes with i suck to indicate that he recognizes his failed action and takes the
blame for not being able to help Sona. Dying indicates that a player does not know how to play
his or her champion and is looked down on. When RizeAgainst1 says i suck, he is protecting
Kristyyyy's face since dying is viewed as a sign of a weak player. Kristyyyy then rejects his
negative comment and uses the apology sorryyy to protect RizeAgainst1's face. This interaction
illustrates politeness strategies of taking blame and apologizing because both players
acknowledge their mistakes and protect each other's face. As a result, admitting to one's own
mistake by apologizing and taking the blame makes it less likely for any potential impolite
speech act to occur.

Mildly Polite Remarks
Moving down the scale of politeness in online gaming, the category of mildly polite
comments involves expressing cares and concern, suggesting rather than ordering an action, and
asking permission. When a team member asks a teammate for an item or object, the answer to
these questions can range from politeness to impoliteness, and can be agreement, disagreement
or acceptance depending on the situation. In Example 6, Swain asks Shaco for blue, which, as
seen in Example 3, is an object that strengthens a champion.
Ex. 6, Game #1b


 

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Zecaru (Swain): can i have blue?
Repriev3 (Shaco): I want it :D
Repriev3 (Shaco): after this i wont need it anymore

Though any player in the game is allowed to obtain this beneficial object, Shaco's champion, as a
wanderer in the jungle, would benefit the most from having blue. Swain's question is seen as
mildly polite because he asks for permission rather than acting on his own to simply take the
object. When Shaco rejects the request, but adds a smiley face emoticon, he is being mildly
polite because smiley faces indicate friendliness. The emoticon acts to soften the direct answer of
"no," and is a strategy for rejecting and declining Swain in a friendly and polite way. Shaco then
indicates that he will not need blue later and allows other team members to acquire it later.
A player may use mild politeness to express concern for a teammate who may need extra
assistance, such as a player who is playing poorly in the game. In Example 7, Shaco checks on
his teammate Cho'Gath, who is in the top lane, by asking u okay top? (i.e., "are you okay top
lane?").
Ex. 7, Game #25
Shaco is talking to Cho'Gath; meanwhile, LeBlanc is saying to his team that the enemy
team's Xerath champion is a poor player.
Repriev3 (Shaco): u okay top?
iLLuminatek (LeBlanc): well they have a pretty bad xerath
itsshortstuff (Cho'Gath): mhm
itsshortstuff (Cho'Gath): just stayin near tower for now


 

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Expressing care in this way shows that Shaco is concerned about Cho'Gath. Since the expression
of care and concern is a necessary act for the well-being of the team and is an important
communicative aspect of the game, it is considered a mildly polite speech act.
Suggestions of what to do next in the game are also classified as mildly polite since they are
softened forms of imperatives. In this team-based game, during times when two players must act
together, suggestions leave room for the plan to be accepted or rejected, as seen in Example 8.
Ex. 8, Game #26
lazysnake1013 (Shaco): push all the lanes
Repriev3 (Vladimir): lets push bottom otgether first
lazysnake1013 (Shaco): top might be better
lazysnake1013 (Shaco): we don't have in hib top
Repriev3 (Vladimir): K
This example begins with Shaco giving the imperative push all the lanes (i.e., go near the
enemy's territory), but Vladimir disagrees with Shaco's command and uses the hortatory form
let's to suggest that they should push the bottom lane first. Let's has a softer tone than an
imperative since the command also includes the speaker. Shaco then reconsiders his previous
imperative and uses the word might to suggest that they should push the top lane instead, and
offers an explanation: "top might be better" to push because destroying the inhib (the enemy's
inhibitor) produces super minions (non-player characters) that will benefit the team. Vladimir
agrees with Shaco's suggestion and says k (okay). This interaction demonstrates that using mildly
politeness markers allow team members to plan their strategies and work cooperatively.

Neutral Remarks


 

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In this study, giving commands, reporting information, asking questions, and warning

teammates are considered neutral speech because they directly state the message without using
politeness or impoliteness markers.7 Generally, neutral remarks are considered to be a
fundamental part of team communication because players are expected to communicate with
each other when an action needs to be performed or when the team’s gaming strategies were
unsuccessful.
Neutral imperatives are the most common neutral remark because players need to direct their
teammates' actions so that the team can work cooperatively. For instance, it is common for team
members to type out mia (top/mid/bot/champion), which means "missing in action
(top/middle/bottom lane or champion)" to inform their teammates that enemy players are not in
one of the three lanes in the map. This functions as a neutral remark because it helps the team
become aware of the players' location on the map. Example 9 illustrates another neutral
imperative.
Ex. 9, Game #2
Nocturne sees Cho'Gath pushing a lane and tells him to go back.
RizeAgainst1 (Nocturne): just farm at turret cho
itsshortstuff (Cho'Gath): k
In Example 9, Nocturne gives Cho’Gath the imperative to farm (i.e., kill minions to gain gold) at
turret (the team's towers). Cho'Gath responds with k (okay), agreeing to Nocturne's command.
Nocturne's imperative is not marked as either polite or impolite; this is the basic way of

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7
 Humor, which occurs frequently in games and during positive trolling, is considered neutral
speech; however I only analyzed imperatives and questions because humor and positive trolling
did not occur as often in the games used for this study. The reasons for this are explained in the
discussion section of the interview analysis.

 


 

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communicating and telling teammates where to go during the game. The lack of politeness
markers on the imperative is due to the fact that quick communication is needed while in game.
Direct commands are neutral remarks through which team members communicate to one another
about what is happening on the map.
In addition to imperatives, questions that seek an explanation or expect a response are also
considered neutral speech. These can be aimed at the entire team when the question is seeking an
explanation for a past action. In Example 10, Ashe and Sona are in the bottom lane and Sona
dies. Tryndamere asks the players at the bottom lane for details. Sona, Ashe, and Shaco give
their explanations and comments. Ashe metaphorically says, "sona got raped," meaning that the
enemy team killed her. Shaco adds his explanation and says that the enemy team targeted the
bottom and middle lane and says, w/e (whatever). Then Sona gives her explanation, saying that
she was trying to be aggressive by targeting champions from the other team.
Ex. 10, Game #4
RizeAgainst1 (Tryndamere): what happened bot lane?
davidpong (Sona): umm
lazysnake1013 (Ashe): sona got raped
Repriev3 (Shaco): it and mid got wrecked
davidpong (Sona): w/e
davidpong (Sona): i was trying to be aggresive
Tryndamere poses a question because the team's bot (bottom lane) was losing. The question is
neutral because no politeness or impoliteness markers are used. After the question is asked, three
team members respond with their own explanations, indicating that Tryndamere's question was
taken as neither impolite nor polite. In response to Trynadmere's neutral question, the majority of


 

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his team discusses why the bottom lane was losing. This example illustrates that informationseeking questions aimed at the entire team are treated as neutral speech in the game.
LoL players also act mildly polite when they warn their teammates about enemy players.
When an enemy enters one of the team's three lanes, players often type care
(top/mid/bot/champion), a shortened phrase that means, "be careful (top/middle/bottom lane or
champion)." Though these phrases may seem to be expressions of care, they are actually
warnings for teammates to look out for themselves. Expressions of concern differ from neutral
warnings because expressions of concern focus on the play of one’s own teammates, while
warnings inform the team about the location of enemy players on the map.

Mildly Impolite Remarks
Mildly impolite remarks combine neutral and impolite forms and are generally indirect
critiques formed as statements or questions. Statements written using all caps are considered
mildly impolite because capitalization in online chatting is seen as equivalent to shouting in faceto-face interaction. Example 11 illustrates mild impoliteness.
Ex. 11, Game #6
Shaco's teammates are not staying in their lanes. As a result, they are allowing the enemy
team to destroy their turrets.
Repriev3 (Shaco): people REALLY need to cover their lanes..
RizeAgainst1 (Blitzcrank): cait go bot
RizeAgainst1 (Blitzcrank): farm up
RizeAgainst1 (Blitzcrank): or ori got it
itsshortstuff (Cho'Gath): i brb


 

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Repriev3 (Shaco): dragon soon
Repriev3 (Shaco): someone go top

The first statement from Shaco in Example 11 comments on his entire team's performance. He
capitalizes the intensifier, REALLY, to indicate that he is frustrated at his teammates'
performance for not covering their lanes. After Shaco's mildly impolite comment, Blitzcrank
takes a leadership role, using neutral imperatives to tell cait (Caitlyn) to go to the bottom lane
and “farm” (kill minions). He then clarifies his first imperative when he notices that ori
(Orianna) is already at the top lane. Afterwards, Cho'Gath reports to the team, saying i brb (i.e.,
I’ll be right back). After Blitzcrank directs his teammates where to go, Shaco emulates
Blitzcrank's leadership by typing neutral remarks in the chat box. He announces to his team that
dragon (a neutral object that is killed for gold) is about to be activated again, and implies that
someone should go kill dragon if they need gold. He also uses a neutral imperative to direct one
of his teammates to go to the top lane. Shaco's first remark with the use of capitalized letters is a
mildly impolite remark because it is a direct criticism of his team, but he follows up with more
neutral directives.
Asking a question directed at an individual is another form of mildly impolite speech act. If
the question is critical of a player's skill and performance, then it has the potential to make the
other teammate react negatively. Using what, why, and how when asking teammates about a past
action can be mildly impolite because the person asking the question does not simply seek
information but shows signs of disapproval of his or her teammate's performance. These types of
mildly impolite questions hint that the asker disapproves of the action and indirectly states that
his or her teammate should not be engaging in that move. In Example 12, Shaco indicates that he
thinks Alistar is fighting in the jungle (the area between the lanes in the map).


 

28
 
Ex. 12 Game #22
Repriev3 (Shaco): why do you keep fighting in jungle?
azeneyes (Alistar): we were leaving but interpret it how you want

Shaco's question is considered mildly impolite because Shaco uses the word why in his question
to show disappointment in Alistar's continuous action. In response, Alistar explains what he was
doing and adds, interpret it how you want to indicate that he recognizes Shaco's disapproval and
that it does not bother him.
As with disapproving questions, commenting on a teammate's performance by beginning with
don't know why is considered mildly impolite because it shows that the commenter is, again,
criticizing his or her teammates' action. In this case, however, the remark is in the form of a
statement.
Ex. 13, Game #13b
RizeAgainst1 (Teemo): dont know why you guys fought that
Repriev3 (Nasus): I didnt fight anything
Repriev3 (Nasus): I ran
Example 13 is mildly impolite because Teemo's comment to his teammates indicates that he is
not satisfied with their action. Starting a remark with don't know why can make the addressee
defend their actions in their reply. Nasus disagrees with Teemo's remark when he replies back, “I
didnt fight anything,” and “I ran.” Indirect criticism is characterized as mildly impolite because it
indirectly expresses disapproval of a teammate.


 

29
 

Impoliteness Remarks
Impolite remarks consist of raging and flaming language. As noted above, one indication of
impoliteness is typing in capital letters. When capitalization is used throughout the sentence to
comment on a team member's action, the impolite tone is strengthened, because it is the written
equivalent of yelling. In Example 14, Singed thinks that Caitlyn is chasing a player from the
enemy team.
Ex. 14, Game #28
Repriev3 (Singed): STOP CHASING
itsshortstuff (Caitlyn): im not chasing..
Singed types his imperative in all capital letters when giving Caitlyn the command STOP
CHASING. Caitlyn responds by saying that she is not chasing the enemy team, and defensively
protects her face, or image, in the game. Singed's comment is classified as impolite because the
neutral form of imperatives do not use capitalized words. Some players find it extremely
offensive when capitalization is used and apologize for using capitalized letters, as seen in
Example 15.
Ex. 15, Game #13a
RossoMaestro (LeBlanc): MID MIA
RossoMaestro (LeBlanc): my bad caps
In Example 15, LeBlanc accidently uses all caps when typing. He quickly apologizes by saying,
“my bad caps” (i.e., "My error for using capitalization") to show that he accidently pushed the all
caps key when he typed mid mia (middle lane missing in action).
In addition to using capitalization, name-calling is a negative way of communicating with
teammates, and so it is considered impolite speech in online gaming. In Example 16, Taric thinks


 

30
 

Shaco is targeting the enemy team's tank champion, Rammus, but wants to change the team's
game plan to targeting a different enemy champion, Ashe.
Ex. 16, Game #9b
gertbek (Taric): wait, we only got rammus >< with that focus we will nvr win. stop
focusing tanks,,,, shaco....u just burst on rammus... why n
gertbek (Taric): why not take out ashe
Repriev3 (Shaco): it's called taunt
Repriev3 (Shaco): Retard
Repriev3 (Shaco): Not focusaing rammus
...
gertbek (Taric): lmao u werent taunted when i watched u go in and shiv rammus
Repriev3 (Shaco): i shivved him to slow him to try to run away
Example 16 begins with Taric's mildly impolite remark, which criticizes Shaco for focusing on
an enemy champion, Rammus, who plays the tank (a champion role that takes damage and
initiates fights). Taric gives his reasons for his criticism when he begins with why not take out
ashe, meaning "why not target the other enemy player Ashe.” Shaco explains to Taric that he
was not focusing on Rammus, but rather that Rammus was using taunt, an ability that traps other
champions in an area. Shaco insults Taric, calling him a "Retard," because Taric did not

understand his move. In response, Taric says lmao (laughing my ass off) to show his contempt
for Shaco’s remark and then disagrees with Shaco's explanation, saying that Rammus did not use
his taunt skills on Shaco. Shaco again disagrees with Taric and says that he was using his own
skill, shiv, to run away. In this example, Shaco's additional insult term between his explanations
and disagreements with Taric creates offense to his teammate.


 

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When team members do not follow the imperatives directed to them, some players will

become upset and use flaming language.
Ex. 17, Game #9a
Vayne tells his team not to fight and pushes the yellow ping four times
RizeAgainst1 (Vayne): dopnt fight
RizeAgainst1 signals everyone to fall back
RizeAgainst1 signals everyone to fall back
RizeAgainst1 signals everyone to fall back
RizeAgainst1 signals everyone to fall back
Repriev3 (Shaco): We said dont fight
Repriev3 (Shaco): OMg
Repriev3 (Shaco): so clueless....
In Example 17, Vayne produces an imperative and repeatedly pushes on the yellow ping to
signal his teammates to fall back. Shaco then tries to act as the leader when he sees that his
teammates are not listening to Vayne's command. He uses the pronoun we to align himself with
Vayne’s. He then writes OMg (oh my god) and a negative evaluative term, so clueless, which
express his anger that his teammates did not fall back. Shaco is using flaming language because
he gives his teammates continuous impolite comments. Typing several such comments in this
way can upset his teammates.
Discussion: game data
As seen in the preceding analysis, the language used in-game can be grouped into five
categories on the politeness scale. Polite remarks provide encouragement and protect the face of
team members. Mildly polite remarks leave room for accepting or rejecting suggestions and


 

32
 

express concern for other teammates. Neutral remarks give or seek information through
imperatives and questions. Mildly impolite remarks indirectly point out poorly performed
actions. Impolite remarks are on-record attacks that include name-calling, capitalization, and
negative evaluation.
The extreme ends of the politeness scale involve language that can either create friendliness
or undermine team solidarity. The language that occurs in between these two extremes includes
players planning strategies, discussing previous actions, and giving orders or information to
fellow teammates. Language that occurs on the middle of the scale exemplifies ordinary team
communication, while language that occurs at the end of the scale influences positive or negative
relationships between players. Mildly polite remarks are used to cooperate with other teammates,
whereas mildly impolite remarks are indirect criticisms that show players disagreeing with each
other. Overall, polite, mildly polite, neutral and mildly impolite remarks are strategies that create
effective and clear communication in-game, while impolite remarks are uncontrolled direct
criticisms produced in an strongly negative tone. Players’ reactions to these different types of
remarks are investigated in the following analysis of the interview data.
Data Analysis, part II: Interviews
During the group interviews, the participants clarified the in-game data and described their
experience playing LoL, including their views of polite and impolite language. Some participants
had been playing LoL since it was released in 2009, and others began playing it as recently as the
summer of 2011. The participants reported that they became involved with LoL because their
friends introduced them to the game and they found its strategic elements, pleasant aesthetics,
and no-cost aspect to be appealing. All participants were experienced and avid players. All


 

33
 

examples below refer to participants by their summoner name (i.e., their username) because they
are speaking as players of the game, and not as specific champions in the game.
During the group interview, the participants were asked a number of questions about their
thoughts on the game. To understand Internet gaming culture, participants were asked, “What
does trolling mean to you?” and “What makes the game fun?” To understand how the playing
LoL within the study was different from the interaction in LoL as they normally play it, they
were asked, "How were the games played in the study different from the ordinary LoL games?"
They were also asked about their gaming habits, ideal game, in-game preferences, and favorite
champion.
The overall theme of the interview was to understand trolling in online gaming. The
participants who hoped for competitive games said they were disappointed when ragers and
negative trolls appeared in their game. A majority of the participants responded that they played
"to win" rather than "to have fun." Though some players mentioned that they enjoy playing with
positive trolls on their team, three participants reported that ragers and negative trolls, from
either their team or the enemy team, made their gaming experience unsatisfying:
TimeDuck: I think of it [LoL] more as a time investment because it’s really frustrating [to
encounter ragers and trolls] because I’ve wasted 45 minutes of my time playing this
game, and that’s 45 minutes I’ll never get back.
Rossomaestro: [people] generally have bad attitudes, like for example, some people
would say, instead of 'good game,' they would say 'bad game,' 'BG.' They might not be
serious, but it’s still a bad attitude you have to go through.
Kristyyyy: I don’t think trolling makes it essentially fun for me, I mean, there’s enough
drama in your real life.


 

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Rossomaestro notes that ending a game with a negative comment from a rager or troll is
unsatisfying for the losing team who receives that comment. Most players from this study hoped
that everyone would be good team players and would compliment a player who performs an
impressive move in the game. For example, one participant, whose summoner name was A Red
Paperclip, said that he enjoyed games where "People, or the other team is congratulating you for
doing something good and you’re congratulating them, and you’re just having a lot of fun."
These responses indicate that games that contain impolite players make the experience of the
game not enjoyable.
Negative remarks can discourage players from playing the game. During another interview,
participants responded that having ragers on their team is difficult when getting started in playing
LoL, but also noted that raging is inevitable because LoL is an online team game.
Redvivus2G: It’s one of those things, especially when you’re starting, it’s so
discouraging. I hated playing
TetchyTact: because people get mad at you if you’re new
A2ZOMG: It’s honestly to be expected because it’s a fucking team-based game, so
obviously.
Though players hope for friendly players in their game, they also know that they will encounter
ragers and trolls because LoL is an anonymous game in which players have to cooperate with
one another.
When asking the participants who stood out in the games they played in the study as a troll or
rager, 1PUZZLES1 said, “They weren’t trolls, but there were ragers, people who yell at the team
and complain.” Repriev3, the participant who chose to play Shaco during most of the games for
the study, was mentioned in several interviews as a rager:


 

35
 
itsshortstuff: Repriev3. He was pretty annoying. He kept complaining.
1PUZZLES1: I remembered him for a bad reason.
itsshortstuff: He’s an alright Shaco for a jungling character. He wasn’t that good, like,
Rize did a better job jungling, for sure.

itsshortstuff reported that Repriev3 complained to his teammates when he played as the jungler,
the champion who wanders around in the jungle and kills the large non-player characters for
gold. She compares Repriev3 to another player, RizeAgainst1, reporting that RizeAgainst1's skill
as jungler was higher than Repriev3. itsshortstuff views ragers as annoying players who
complain about their teammates but are average players.
Participants in another group interview remembered Shaco as a rager because of the way he
acted in a past game that they played together.
davidpong: Oh, I remember there was a guy in the game who only played Shaco.
RizeAgainst1: Yeah, I thought he was annoying because he played Shaco and Shaco is
annoying.
GoogleAJ: Yeah, when you play Shaco it’s annoying.
davidpong: Yeah when I played Nasus.
RizeAgainst1: it was a draft-pick game, like I think I specifically made it draft pick and
they banned Shaco, and he’s like, “ahh, this is why I hate draft pick. People ban Shaco.”
He’s like, “I’m gonna pick some random champion and go bot. Nasus. Okay, I’ll go bot
with Nasus and feed.”
GoggleAJ: Yes that’s pretty damn close to rager, but that’s okay.
When davidpong brings Shaco into the discussion, RizeAgainst1 adds the comment Shaco is
annoying and GoogleAJ agrees. In their opinion, Shaco is a champion who has specific abilities


 

36
 

that annoy other players in the game. Then davidpong and RizeAgainst1 describe an example of
when Shaco (Repriev3) was uncooperative to his team. During a draft pick game (a game that
allows a captain from each team to ban three champions from the game so that those six
champions cannot be played in the upcoming game), the players decided to ban Shaco,
Repriev3’s preferred champion. Repriev3 reacted negatively, saying that he was going to choose
a random champion, Nasus, and go to the bottom lane and feed (i.e., giving the enemy team a
free kill by dying). Feeding is considered uncooperative because players who die consistently ingame are seen as not contributing to the team or playing his or her best. From the responses
above, GoogleAJ's final comment on Repriev3 being a rager indicates that ragers are common in
game and must be accepted because he says "that's okay."
During the group interview with Repriev3, however, he classified himself as a troll, not a
rager. He said, “I probably could have been more of a troll, if I didn’t know that I was going to
play with these people again.” Repriev3 considers himself a troll who enjoys fooling around in
the game. He reported that he trolled because he enjoyed getting a reaction from the other team:
"That’s part of the fun for me because I know a lot of people are emotional so I just have fun on
that… it’s pretty amusing for me.” Interestingly, Repriev3 considers himself a troll, but he did
not call himself a rager, even though his language in the comments about him from the draft pick
game indicate that his teammates viewed him as a rager.
When asked about the insult terms that he used when expressing anger in-game, Repriev3
stated that he does not in fact feel emotionally upset when playing LoL.
Repriev3: I can’t think of a time when I’ve been legitimately mad at the game. But, I
don’t know, I guess, if sometimes, someone ruins my set up for jungling in the beginning,
I will like, I don’t know, I would call them, I call people “nerds” often in the game, I’m


 

37
 
not sure why, it pisses them off. It’s more I’ll piss people off more than they make me
mad, like just kind of have fun.

Repriev3 considers ragers as people who are emotionally upset, rather than players who type
insults and other offensive language in the chat box. For him, calling people nerds represents
enjoyably and annoying behavior, but does not reflect any angry feelings of his own during the
game. He uses the word nerd to give offense to others, but is not emotionally upset himself.
Repriev3 also reported that he enjoys playing role-playing games, which are designed for
players to play a specific character.
Repriev3: ... usually for games, I wouldn’t really like anything where you don’t actually
build on a character or anything. Usually, I play some sort of RPG [role-playing game] ...
but League of Legends was the first that struck me I guess. I don’t know, I guess once I
found a character I liked, the ones that I started getting used to in the game, it was just
fun, kind of, like, I don’t even play seriously really. I just go on and I mess around, and
that’s fun for me. So yeah, this character kind of fits what I like doing in the game too. I
guess, he’s [Shaco's] a clown, and I’m the type who likes to mess around and play with
people. I don’t care what I do in the game. I usually do play well and win. But I don’t
mind messing with the other team, messing with my own team, doing completely bad
builds, and just seeing how they work out. But yeah, I get to experiment in the game.
Repriev3's attitude towards playing LoL show that he is a casual and comfortable player. He
does not mind irritating his teammates or the other team because he enjoys “mess[ing] around”
in games and playing in character. He also shows confidence when he states that he is a good
player and usually wins his games. Repriev3 is a regular player of LoL's Twisted Treeline map,
which holds 3 vs. 3 games. Since this requires him to team with two randomly assigned players,


 

38
 

it is interesting to hear that he considers his games successful because trolling usually decreases
the team's chance of winning. Repriev3 finds gaming fun and does not consider his gaming
habits of raging and trolling to be a problem.
The interviewees indicated that one solution for players who find ragers and trolls unpleasant
is to play with friends:
TimeDuck: Yeah, I only realized six or seven months ago that I can’t play games with
strangers. I can’t do it. So it’s probably been an actually good year that I’ve never played
on my own. I always play with my friends. That actually worked really well for timemanagement because if my friends aren’t on, then I’m not playing. [I would], like, study
or get work done. And now I have a dedicated time where everyone gets on, yeah, every
night, we get on and text each other if we can’t make it or something. So that actually
worked really well.
TimeDuck's response indicates that raging and trolling have become a problem for him and he
has found that playing with friends instead provided a more enjoyable experience. A majority of
the participants found that playing with friends was more rewarding overall, but some also
thought that playing with strangers allowed them to try new champions without caring about how
their teammates felt about them. RizeAgainst1 said, “I take every game seriously, unless I’m on
my smurff [i.e., an LoL account used when playing with friends who are noobs] and trying to
troll, but yeah, usually when I’m playing with friends as a group of five, it’s pretty relaxed,
unless someone just does something really stupid.” Depending on the player's expectation of a
game, players can use smurffs to practice trolling when playing games with noobs.


 

39
 
In comparison to players who find trolling acceptable, two participants reported that they do

not troll or rage when playing LoL because they think of the players as real people, rather than as
online characters:
Extraxi: I think of the person playing behind the computer screen. I don’t just think
of them as a name and a champion or like that, I just think of them as a human being.
And that’s why I don’t intentionally troll them.
Kristyyyy: I mean, I like to think about who I’m like playing with, or talking to, like I try
to think about what they look like or I wonder what their deal is in their life, you know. I
mean it’s not quite the same as an actual conversation but those thoughts went through
my head when I was typing, at least in the chat box.
Extraxi and Kristyyyy's comments indicate that they consider their in-game interaction to be
similar to FTF interactions. Their comments indicate that there are people in the game who do
not rage or troll because they bring politeness norms from FTF interaction into online gaming.
Though negative trolling and raging is expected in-game and can be an unsatisfying
experience for other players, players who rage and troll may change their linguistic habits when
they realize that raging is not beneficial for the team. RizeAgainst1 said, “I don’t know, I used to
rage a lot like back, like a long of time. But over time, I realized that the less your rage, the more
successful you are, like you don’t bring your teammates down and stuff like that.” His comment
indicates that raging may be one stage in playing online games. Players may begin playing LoL
as rager, but through time, they may learn more effective strategies of communication when
chatting with their teammates.
In addition, A Red Paperclip noted that he used to rage constantly to his team, but is
beginning to change because he noticed his friend does not rage in-game.


 

40
 
A Red Paperclip: I used to do that before. Then I started raging in our own team chat.
Right, and then now what I’m doing is if you’re doing bad, I’m much more productive in
saying, 'do you want to change lanes, do you move somewhere else, right, so I’ll take
your spot.' Right, so I’m getting much better now.

A Red Paperclip's comment shows that he has changed his raging habits and has become more
accommodating to his teammates. He asks his teammates who are playing poorly for their input
and adjusts accordingly to their preference. He implies that this method creates solidarity ingame and ends up creating a positive experience for everyone.

Discussion: Interviews
Overall, the interviews revealed mixed responses about trolling and raging. Some participants
considered trolling to give them liberated environments where they could try new champions
without the risk of making their friends angry. Playing with strangers took off the pressure for
those who did not want to disappoint their competitive friends. However, one player whose
friends were at a lower skill level than he was reported that playing with friends was only for
casual gaming. He found that playing with strangers who were more skilled than his friends
allowed him to play more competitively without ruining his real-life friendships. This participant
also added that he enjoys casual playing with friends and competitive playing with strangers.
With regard to raging, some players, like Repriev3, do not feel emotionally upset when
producing offensive language in the chat box. They may annoy others through their language or
even find it fun to see their reaction. Others are strongly against raging because they think of the
players as real people. In addition, players who rage create an unpleasant experience for players
who want to play a competitive but friendly game.


 

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On the whole, casual and serious gamers have different expectations when playing LoL.

Understanding a player's goals and objectives for each game explains their gaming behavior. In
serious games, players know that most people are trying their best and do not appreciate the
ragers and trolls who are there to disrupt the game. In casual games, players look forward to the
free environment and are not emotionally attached to their actions and decisions in-game. With
different player behaviors, expectations and views on the game, it is expected that gamers will
often encounter players who use a variety of language types, from polite to neutral to impolite, in
the chat box.
Many participants reported that the games for this study were different from the normal
games that they would play with friends or strangers:
Arin Marksman: it was in between friends and strangers, because like, “okay, we’re all
here, you know, as part of the study, so let’s all do work.” So it’s kind of like co-workers
who have never met each other.
Kristyyyy: yeah, it felt less anonymous.
However, one participant who had only played LoL for a couple of months at the start of the
study found the games to be an opportunity to learn how to play better.
Redvivius2G: I guess they weren’t the normal ragers, “oh rage at everything,” but I
mean, they actually tried to help me. But other than that, they actually tried to like, we did a lot
of peer meta versus, where “oh, we have our solo top, we have our jungler.” We weren’t,
we were never trying to screw with them anything fancy.”
His response shows that the games in the study did not include the ordinary ragers that would be
found in everyday games. Participants in the study instead did a lot of “peer meta,” or teaching


 

42
 

and critiquing each other on how they were playing. Most of the games in this study focused on
playing the game right, rather than playing for fun, trolling, or raging.
It is also important to note that the games in this study may not always represent the normal
ways of playing LoL. As Arin Marksman said, “usually you don’t have trolls in an arranged team
because, you know, I got to stick to these guys. And I might play another game with them. And it
may make me look like an idiot.” However, as it turned out, 5 out of the 32 participants in this
study characterized themselves as trolls.
Conclusion
The preceding analysis demonstrates that there are various types of players who use a range
of language types in online games. The analysis indicates that all remarks on the politeness scale
except for impolite remarks were effective strategies for group communication. Players gave and
received compliments, orders, questions, and criticisms without disrupting team solidarity.
Teammates were usually willing to discuss critiques even when mild impoliteness markers were
used and did not consider them to be offensive or bothersome.
Regarding impolite remarks, the interviewees explained that differences in player attitudes
influenced the acceptability of using features of impoliteness. Those who aimed to play with
competitive and respectful teammates did not enjoy playing with ragers or trolls, who annoyed
the team with their complaints and disruptions. Some participants found that playing with friends
was more gratifying because they were able to escape games with potential trolls and ragers.
Others who were ragers in the past realized that raging in the chat box was unsuccessful for the
team and recognized that communicating in collaborative ways provided a better outcome. For
casual players, their language choices did not bother them and they enjoyed acting freely in
game. Though trolling acts did not bother casual players, some participants responded that raging


 

43
 

was pointless because it caused frustration for other players. By analyzing the language used ingame and understanding the players' perspective, linguistic researchers can gain insight into how
players’ language and actions in game influences the relationships between teammates.
This study has implications not only for linguistics but also for education, psychotherapy, and
the gaming industry itself. With games being developed to enhance student learning (Gee 2007),
the creation of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games may cause disruption in educational
settings. Students may be tempted to use offensive language if the games are similar to regular
MMO games, where such language is common. Teachers would have to take precautions against
the possibility of impolite language use or potential cyber bullying (Nakamura 2008) that may
occur in educational games. Though game developers may want to create games similar to
MMOs to be used in educational settings so that the same level of excitement and fun can be
created for students, they should be aware of the possibility that impolite language could harm
students’ relationships with one another in school.
The study also has applications to therapeutic context. The results show that using mildly
impolite remarks to give criticism was not offensive to players and encouraged further civil
discussion without the use of impolite remarks. Disagreements may occur, but are seen as
acceptable because both sides are learning effective strategies for playing better in the game.
Participating in this team-based game may help therapeutists treat clients who want to learn to
control their temper. By playing games with other players, including potential ragers, clients may
learn strategies of effective group communication in-game, and may transfer those skills to their
daily life and learn how to work cooperatively in groups.
In addition to using online games in therapy, this study can benefit the gaming industry,
which is always looking for ways to improve customer satisfaction. Game companies can


 

44
 

develop a point system where players are rated by their interaction with other players. This
would allow players who are looking for serious games to be placed with other players with
similar expectations. Such a point system may make players realize that using language
cooperatively creates a friendly and effective game environment, but it could ruin the gaming
experience for players who play LoL to troll. Further research is needed to find ways to
accommodate the various types of LoL players.
Linguistic research in online environments can teach us how online interaction influences
real-life relationships. With the future bringing new technological developments, it is important
to study the politeness and impoliteness interaction in these environments because it shows the
types of online interactions that bring satisfaction to users. The virtual space of gaming contains
the most casual forms of online communication and is the beginning step for understanding
human interaction in online environments.
Acknowledgements
This study would not have been possible without the help of the participants. I appreciate the
time they took to play the games and to answer my questions during the interviews. I am also
grateful to have a wonderful senior honors thesis advisor, Mary Bucholtz, who supported me
throughout the whole year and provided excellent guidance for conducting this linguistics
research project. I also appreciate the help I received from my little brother, Vincent, and my
friends, Wayne and Katy, who were willing to answer all of my questions and teach me how to
play League of Legends. My family and friends have also been supporting me from the
beginning to the end of this senior honors thesis. I would like to thank the Undergraduate
Research and Creative Activities within the UCSB College of Letters and Sciences for their


 

45
 

generous grant. Not only did I learn how to apply for research grants, but I was able to buy all of
the supplies necessary to complete this research project.


 

46
 

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Appendix
Appendix 1: Some terminology for understanding data analysis examples
ashe
Ashe (female champion)
blue
Large neutral minion killed in jungle for gold
bot
Bottom lane
cait
Caitlyn (female champion)
cs
Creep score (refers to how many minions a player has killed; minions = creeps)
dragon
A neutral object that is killed for gold
farm
To kill minions to receive gold
inhib
Inhibitor (am object that produces super minions once it is destroyed; located next
to the nexus)
gold
In-game money
jungle
Area of the map that is not a lane
mid
Middle lane
minions Small non-player characters provided by the game that automatically attack the
enemy team; also known as creeps
noc
Nocturne (male champion)
ori
Orianna (female champion)
rammus Rammus (male champion)
shaco
Shaco (male champion)
sona
Sona (female champion)
squishy
Easy-to-kill champion
taunt
An ability that allow some champions to trap other champions in an area
top
Top lane
turret
Tower
ward
An item that is bought to place in bushes that gives vision of the surrounding area
xerath
Xerath (male champion)

49
 

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