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.