Exploring player experience in ranked League of Legends.

While video games provide different Player Experiences (PE), some genres can provide particularly unique PEs driven by their particular features. Such is the case of MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games, currently led in number of players and popularity by League of Legends. In spite of this popularity, PE in MOBA games remains largely unexplored. We aim to explore this gap by presenting a PE study that focuses in League of Legends and its player base. After surveying more than 400 players in the database of the largest eSports organisation in Spain, a series of tests were run from multiple perspectives using the PENS (Player Experience of Need Satisfaction) model and the SPGQ (Social Presence in Gaming Questionnaire) as response variables. Among our findings, we show how PE differs across different levels of competence (or rank) inside the game. When looking at how team play impact PE, results show how PENS dimensions remain unaffected while empathy is driven by playing with known teammates. Role selection, on the other hand, has an arguably insignificant impact in PE. Last but not least, an invariant behavioural engagement across all dimensions shows how players perceive team collaboration as an essential factor for success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]