| "League of Legends"(LOL for short)is a MOBA-style(multiplayer online battle arena)game developed by the American company Riot Games.The Chinese League of Legends Pro League(LPL for short)was officially established in 2013 and has now developed into the largest and most standardized online gaming league in China with the largest audience and the most commercial value.It dominates all kinds of e-sports events in China.After years of accumulation and the efforts of e-sports clubs,fans,and event organizers,three teams from the Chinese district won the League of Legends World Championship in 2018,2019,and 2021,respectively.This has pushed the popularity of electronic sports to a new level,and the LPL has been selected by "Sports Weekly" as one of China’s top ten popular sports events.The fans of this game are a major driving force and propagator of the gaming culture,who continuously discuss and promote the game on various social media and short video platforms.The size and influence of this fan community are already obvious.In view of this situation,the author will take the LPL fan community as the research object and use in-depth interviews,participatory observation,and text analysis as research methods.The author will search for information on Weibo,Hupu,and the League of Legends mobile app,etc.The author will examine the internal interactions of the fan community and the communication between the community and other netizens and audiences.Deep interviews will also be conducted with fans of different industries and age groups,aiming to explore how this community has become a benchmark in the subculture field of today’s domestic gaming circle.The purpose is to explore the ways,effects,and impact of group communication,and study the subcultural performance and characteristics of this fan community.Research shows that the unique background story,diverse game modes,and excellent viewing experience of the "League of Legends" game are the main reasons why fans are avid fans of the game and why game competitions have continued to flourish.However,in recent years,the game has gradually shown a decline trend,and this is due to major changes in the internal setup of the game and the increasingly hostile gaming environment.Therefore,the final point of this paper is to provide a reflection on the current development of online fan communities and provide suggestions for healthy development.At the same time,the paper provides suggestions for relevant parties to promote the stable and positive development of China’s e-sports industry and various online fan communities. |
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