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Kevan Bateman
Jennifer Murray
ENC 1102-0031
December 8, 2014
Welcome to the League of Legends
A discourse community can be defined as a group of individuals bound by a common
interest in which they communicate through approved channels where the discourse is regulated.
One single person may belong to several different discourse communities including but not
limited to professional, public, and personal groups. According to John Swales, within these
communities, people share their opinions and assumptions about what is considered to be
appropriate for discussion or further examination within the members of the group. The League
of Legends gaming community clearly meets Swales requirements as a discourse community
using his essay titled The Concept of Discourse Community, where he states the phrase six
defining characteristics that will be necessary and sufficient for identifying a group of
individuals as a discourse community.
Swales first characteristic states that a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of
common public goals. The League of Legends community was formed to allow its members to
express their opinions about the game, not only to each other, but to the creators and
programmers of the game (RIOT games) as well. The communitys goal is to allow all
individuals voices to be heard, offer their suggestions, discuss disadvantages, and have any and
all of their questions answered. This group exists because the team members of RIOT care about
the success of their game, and solicit the opinions of their players in order to make future
improvements. This results in continued success for League of Legends and keeps their players

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challenged and coming back for more. Although RIOT is a business, they put their players first
and make sure they are doing what they can to make members of the community happy.
Communication is the key to success, meaning that you acquire discourse through being
active in the community. Swales agrees with this statement as identified by his second rule
which is A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.
Being able to converse with one another in the League of Legends community plays a vital role
in the success of not only the communication between individuals, but the game itself. A few
examples of communication tools that are utilized between the members and RIOT are online
chat forums, group meetings, patch notes, newsletters, and even informational videos.
Occasionally, two or more individual members may begin to form true friendships through
playing the game, thus, leading to further communication such as phone calls, emails, and even
text messages.
Rule three by Swales says a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms
primarily to provide information and feedback. This implies that the members must make use
of all informational opportunities. In the League of Legends community, the members and staff
must communicate in order to inform players about recent updates, upcoming events, and new
strategies and techniques. This shared information allows the members to remain current and
educated about updates and changes that RIOT has recently made. Once RIOT has
communicated new changes, there is often conflict amongst members of the community. Some
players may consider the new change or patch a challenge, while others consider it difficult
and believe it should not have been changed at all.
The most common topic that is discussed amongst the members is how to actually play
League of Legends, because that is what the discourse revolves around. Players can share their

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experiences or suggestions and in doing so, they can learn new techniques and strategies to better
play the game. Members discuss the newest updates released by RIOT and how it can impact
their game and individual play style. This can be called the genre of this particular discourse
community as Swales fourth characteristic is a discourse community utilizes and hence
possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. Genres are how
language is used to accomplish goals and to articulate the operations of the discourse
community. Each and every community, like the League of Legends and its members, has a
discourse, and within it, a genre.
In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis,
says Swales as his fifth characteristic. This particular discourse community, the League of
Legends and its members, use lexical terms that most people would not know such as the term
Gank, which is when one or more members of the team help surround and stop an enemy
player. Another term is Jungler, which is a position or job within the game where the player
roams the map and helps fellow teammates. The members use terms like these because they
save time and help others understand how they are trying to play the game. These terms are also
used to state which position a member will play and when they will be at various times
throughout the game.
Swales final characteristic states a discourse community has a threshold level of
members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. Although nonplayers are allowed to join, most members of the League of Legends community have a certain
degree of knowledge when referring to the game itself and a desire to play, or they would not
want to be a part of the community. When a new player joins, they are called a newbie and as
they gain experience by talking amongst the community members and playing the game, they

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then become a novice. Through this process, players learn the language, genres, and increase
their skill level. After a player reaches level 30 the players become ranked by their experience
and skill level, creating some degree of stereotyping between players of different levels within
the game. There is no controversy when talking to the experts like the players in the League
Championship Series (LCS), and the RIOT staff. Members of the LCS could be replaced by
newer members who achieve a higher skill level, therefore creating new experts.
Public goals, communication, participatory mechanisms, owning a genre, use of lexis,
and new members, are all necessary components of a discourse community. Based on each of
the six characteristics described by Swales, the players and staff of League of Legends are
considered to be a discourse community. They not only achieve these standards, but every
member cares about the community and work together to make it a success. A group cannot
rightfully call themselves one without all six of these characteristics, as they would be
considered just an average speech group who get together to communicate or get something
done.
Planning and Drafting
The League of Legends gaming community is intriguing and personally interesting, and
one that most people would not think of as a community at all. With this in mind, I would like to
share my experiences within this community in my writing. I have been a part of this
community for over three years, have enough experience to call myself as expert, and understand
all aspects of the community and not just how to play the game. I plan on continuing to
challenge myself as an avid member, help others learn to play, and offer not only my personal
opinion, but suggestions to the members of RIOT and to my fellow members.

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I hope to find additional ways to expand communication within this discourse

community, while reaching out to those who may not be aware of its existence. By sharing my
knowledge, passion, and experience with fellow gamers who are not part of this community, I
hope to increase the number of members and improve the language and literacy functions within
the League of Legends community. Although the members are fully capable of speaking to one
another, I seek to make communication even more of a necessity to the League of Legends and
would like to let everyones voices be heard (more-so than they already are.) The League of
Legends community is a wonderful thing to be a part of and hope that I can achieve my goal and
make a difference to the writing within my community.