The No Fun League: Poor Choices of the NFL

In my last blog I eluded to the NFL being coined the "No Fun League", so pulling from a related article I recently read; ( http://bleacherreport.com/articles/923719-the-10-most-ridiculous-decisions-of-the-no-fun-league/page/2 ) here are some crazy rules that the NFL has instated:

    For one, the NFL created a rule in which any celebration that included a prop would result in a 15 yard penalty. Another rule involving celebrations results in a 15 yard penalty for any celebration that includes more than one member if the team. The article goes on to highlight other ridiculous rules and inequalities, such as the fact that fines are not based on player income, which really takes the sting out of the punishment for many high pay scale players in the league.

  Really these rules completely inconsequential to the outcome of the game and seem to carry the sole purpose of taking excitement and sportsmanship out of the league.


What was your personal reaction to this reading selection?

• I had already know that there were some ludicrous  rules in the League but this article went even more in depth on those rules. Personally I felt it was entertaining and informing.

What do you believe the author’s intent was, and what patterns of organization did you observe?

•  I recognized a very organized, classification organizational pattern. The entire article was broken up into separate pages. A list of ten ridiculous rules with an explanation of each and an introduction page in the beginning.

Keeping Sportsmanship in Sports

I read an article this afternoon, the article was an interview in which a professional League of Legends player "IWillDominate" (Im kind of a big fan of competitive gaming and gaming as a whole in case it wasn't obvious). However the reason that this interview is interesting and relevant even to those who aren't into is due to "Dominate's" back story. IWillDominate has been a long standing pro player almost since the game began, however he has also been known for very poor player conduct and behavior in the non tournament setting. (The non player tournament setting, is the normal playing of the game in which players can rise in the ladders through the winning of ranked games). "Dominate" was banned multiple times for short periods in the non tournament setting however at the beginning of this year, Riot (the games founder) decided to take drastic action. Riot decided to ban "Dominate" for one entire year from the "Legends Championship Series" effectively banning Dominate from competing with his team and forcing his team "Dignitas" to find a replacement player. This is a huge deal because it shows the community how serious that "Riot" takes player behavior, but it also should serve as an example to other professional sports to not tolerate poor behavior from its players. There is however a silver lining to this story, "Dominate" claims in his interview that he now takes the game from a completely different perspective no longer raging at this teammates  In recent news, NBA player Dwayne Wade during a regular season game was fined a lump sum and banned for only one game for "kicking another player in the groin". A one game ban for a blatant showing of unsportsmanlike conduct and a lump sum which, in relation to Wade's income, is very insignificant. There are plenty other examples of this throughout the NBA, and I believe that a much more serious approach is necessary considering the amount of fans that these star players have looking up to them. Then, on the opposite side of the spectrum, the NFL has fined players for ridiculous decisions including too much celebration. Sportsmanship is not something that can be taken lightly and e sports continues to be an example in this field.

http://www.reignofgaming.net/blogs/tuck-esports-inquirer/23473-iwilldominate-moving-into-curse-house-riot-has

What do you believe the author’s intent was, and what patterns of organization did you observe?

• I believe that the authors intent was again to inform us of the major event happening in the competitive scene. The pattern of organization used was chronological explaining the course of events leading up to this event.

Legitimizing E-SPORTS

   The article I just read is about a professional League of Legends pro team named the Copenhagen Wolves gaining none other than the sporting wear GIANT Adidas as a sponser for their team beginning with official custom made Adidas jerseys to wear to events. The act of such a huge corporation to step into the world of e sports is clear evidence of the evolution and legitimization of e sports. As I stated in my previous blogg the game of choice for these pros is League of Legends. This game League of Legends pulls in over 12 million players world wide every single day. The highest contributing factor to the games popularity is because it is completely free to play. The way the company makes its money is by micro transactions (small amounts of money spent by the player) through the sale of RP (Riot Points). These riot points can be used to buy other champions (playable characters) or skins (different character models that do not change gameplay), but nothing that would allow a player to buy a competitive advantage. This successful business model has created an enormous player base and therefore an equally proportionate ratio of avid players who are interested in watching these "pro teams" compete. Riot Games (the games creator) has taken a large amount of the money they have earned and put it towards the payment of pro tournaments including a multimillion dollar prize pool for winning teams of season 2. Tickets are sold to the event, booths are set up for the meantime during games, and even concession stands make their way into the arena. One event 6 months ago named IPL 5 which hosted not only League of Legends but popular strategy game Starcraft II netted 10,000 people in attendance. On top of watching live, millions more e sports fanatics streamed the event from their computers with commercial breaks making their way into the intermission between games. Sounds familiar right? Because this is the same model that the NFL and the NBA use with paid subscriptions to seasons with online streams and television channels. Many will ask how do these gamers deserve to be compared to professional athletes however those who do research will understand that these players are even more committed to the sport than many pro "athletes". In fact, almost all professional e sports teams not only spend the majority of their days playing the game and practicing with their teams, but they also LIVE in homes with their teammates. Very soon e sports will be something known to the public. One day it may even be held by many people, as I do, in the same regard that professional football and basket ball are held in.

What do you believe the author’s intent was, and what patterns of organization did you observe?

• I believe that the  authors purpose was to inform us of the major event of Adidas partnering with the Wolves. The pattern of organization used was order of importance.

http://copenhagenwolves.dk/news/wolves-is-all-in

Balancing Games

   Today I read an article about the balancing of a game called League of Legends. In order for the reader to understand the context of this article some minor explaining of the game is in order. There are two 5 man teams whose objective is to eliminate the enemies base. The game itself is played by taking control of a "champion". A champion is the character in the game that the player controls, all champions have the same number of abilities however none of the abilities are the same. This creates the need to create a balanced playing field for every champion by making sure that none of the abilities are too strong or "over powered". The title of the article was named "The Lulu Dilemma" in this article the author makes the case that certain champions (characters that the players control) do not excel at one thing and are not "over powered" in any way, however they are still "nerfed" (lowered in power) just because of the fact that they are popular or fun to play. Such is the case with "Lulu" who the article is named after. In many ways I can see where the author is going with his point. He supports his claim very well by adding statistics showing that players that pick this champion on average only win 47 percent of their games. He then goes on to compare "Lulu" to other champions who share the same dilemma, showing the same statistical evidence against a champion being over powered yet showing that they received nerfs based upon their huge popularity. In many ways I agree with the author, I feel that Riot (the company that makes the game and is responsible for its balancing) has indeed hurt the effectiveness of champions simply because they are being played too much for the company's liking. The great thing about League of Legends however is that there are over 102 champions to play so if one champion is hurt badly there are many more to take its place. I think that this is relevant not only to League of Legends but all games that provide constant updating in balance changes. I believe that this updating of the game is a huge contributor to how popular the game is with over 12 million players daily world wide. Other games such as Company of Heroes a WWII strategy game which came out in 2001 are still updated to this day and still remain popular for that reason. The company listening to the players and keeping the game balanced and fun is essential to maintaining a popular competitive atmosphere.

If you were to create notes to help you remember the most important points from your reading, what style of notes (lists, outlines, thought bubbles or webs, etc.) would you use and why?

•  I would use outlines with one side for each side of the argument. In the article the main point being debated is weather or not "champions" (characters) are being "nerfed" (lowered in power) simply because they are popular to play. And in this article both sides are being presented.

http://ggchronicle.com/over-the-bar-the-lulu-dilemma-help-pix-and-other-sad-stories/

the article.

What Im Reading

Hello Mrs. Tracey


Category Points

Fiction 12
Comedy 2
Drama 0
Speculative Fiction 2
Sports 0
Nonfiction 9

Fiction.

B,A,B,A,D


   I agree with this quiz result. Its very split down the middle much like my taste in reading. I enjoy reading fictional adventure books such as the Chronicles of Narnia just as much as historical science fiction books such as Guns of the South.

   I'm going to read Hunger Games. I've seen the movie so I understand the general premise of the book and from what I've heard this movie is fairly close to the book, however I will find out for myself. I'm a fan of science fiction books as I stated earlier, and I also like action. The movie was pretty good so I think Ill enjoy reading this book.

This is my Blog: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=359732346490037392#overview/src=dashboard