Less Talk, More Trust: Understanding Players' In-game Assessment of Communication Processes in League of Legends

TL;DR

This paper examines how players decide when and how to communicate in League of Legends during ad hoc, time-pressured play, focusing on the motivations behind on-the-spot communication choices. It uses an in-situ qualitative design with 22 solo-ranked players in Korea, combining live observation, prompted reflection, and thematic analysis of 55 codes across 13 categories. The findings reveal that proximate game states and established norms drive communication decisions, with players often valuing action and psychological safety over frequent verbal chat, and that trust is more closely linked to demonstrated commitment than to words. These insights inform player-centered communication design that accounts for individual context and the risk of team breakdowns in fast-paced online collaboration.

Abstract

In-game team communication in online multiplayer games has shown the potential to foster efficient collaboration and positive social interactions. Yet players often associate communication within ad hoc teams with frustration and wariness. Though previous works have quantitatively analyzed communication patterns at scale, few have identified the motivations of how a player makes in-the-moment communication decisions. In this paper, we conducted an observation study with 22 League of Legends players by interviewing them during Solo Ranked games on their use of four in-game communication media (chat, pings, emotes, votes). We performed thematic analysis to understand players' in-context assessment and perception of communication attempts. We demonstrate that players evaluate communication opportunities on proximate game states bound by player expectations and norms. Our findings illustrate players' tendency to view communication, regardless of its content, as a precursor to team breakdowns. We build upon these findings to motivate effective player-oriented communication design in online games.

Figures (1)

• Figure 1: An example of four main communication modes of LoL. (A) Chat is the medium through which players can type in-game messages to other players or read previous logs of in-game changes or signals, (B) Pings are quick alerts used for signaling information to other teammates, (C) Emotes are used to express emotions to other players, and (D) Votes are used to determine calls for objectives or to surrender the game.