Emotional Affordance
As the professor pointed out, what captures the player’s attention more than the character’s actions is the health bar. Although each champion (character) has different health levels, the health bar is displayed as a gauge that gradually decreases from full HP, aiming to manage health effectively. The longer a champion survives, the more advantageous they become. They gain opportunities to grow while preventing their opponents from getting kill points, thus hindering the enemy’s growth.
Survival is one of the most primal human instincts. Just like feeling full after a good meal, when the health bar is full, players can confidently execute their strategies and use their skills to pressure their opponents. Confidence increases, and they are more likely to choose to fight rather than evade. If they manage to overpower the opponent in the process, they will feel the satisfaction of having gained the upper hand.
On the other hand, if the character is on the brink of death, the player feels anxious and will instinctively try to create distance from the opponent, driven by the desire to survive. The health bar encapsulates these ambivalent emotions effectively, making it a crucial element.
Stages-of Action Model
Ultimate Goal: The primary form of enjoyment sought through gaming is victory. In League of Legends, this is particularly emphasized through elements like “multiple rounds,” “strategy,” and “gameplay.” It’s not a game where a single victory is decisive; rather, small advantages accumulate and lead to a series of battle victories and results. Since there are multiple battles, there’s always the possibility of a comeback, and a single mistake can impact the future of the match, requiring players to maintain superior skill over time.
Goals : The focus of the action objective in this stage is “gaining an advantage within the same role.” This is a goal that many players consider just as important as the “team’s victory.” Players often feel this when they defeat the opponent by reducing their health to zero, akin to games like Tekken. For this, players have the choice to either engage in combat immediately or evade until they find an opportune moment for a counterattack.
Intension to act : In the planning stage, League of Legends provides a systematic growth system. Players aim to win fights using superior levels, skills, and items, often with simple controls. Killing minions can increase skill damage (skill levels enhance damage or grant additional abilities, similar to the way real-life practice improves capability), and items can be purchased to enhance necessary abilities.
Unlike real-world strategy games, in LoL, players can check their opponent’s skill levels, items, and character abilities in real time, which slows the game tempo and makes it more thoughtful. Since each character has unique abilities, consistent growth is essential.
Sequence of actions : After growing to the point where I feel confident I can win in a fight against the opponent, it’s time to initiate combat. In this game, as an example, I thought about initiating combat without the concept of counterattack, simply focusing on fighting and gaining an advantage. Unlike the planning stage, I need to focus on melting the opponent’s health bar with a barrage of skills. Therefore, the most important factors are my opponent’s health and my own ability to withstand a counterattack. In League of Legends, a well-grown character can compensate for health differences with explosive burst damage, but this requires checking if all skills are ready. Looking at my skill set, I see that all my abilities are available, including an escape ability (F-flash). My Q attack skill will be ready in 3 seconds, so I’m moving forward to initiate the fight. My opponent seems to feel pressured and is avoiding the engagement.
Execution of action sequence : I have a binding skill that’s effective when hitting the opponent. The binding stops the opponent’s attacks and makes it much easier for me to land my own, so it’s crucial. I plan to use this on a seemingly weaker level 7 character. Closing the distance between myself and the enemy so they enter my range, I repeatedly press the W button to activate the skill as soon as they are in range.
Perceiving the stage of the world : I can see the opponent’s nickname change, indicating they are bound. In the game’s visual environment, binding is like a visual signal that helps players immediately detect changes in the character. Seeing that the enemy is bound, my team and I move closer to secure the fight. The enemy team, now at a 2v1 disadvantage, opts to flee rather than fight.
Interpreting the perception : Since the enemy’s health is almost depleted, landing an attack with higher damage than their remaining health will allow me to secure the advantage in this fight, which I initiated. My teammate reserved their most important skill (R) and used it at the optimal time to finish the fight. This skill, being the most crucial, is accompanied by a large and intense graphical display, with the sound of a massive explosion.
Evaluation of interpretation : With the enemy’s health bar breaking and their character disappearing from the game, the result is visually confirmed, and several UI elements also change. In the upper right of the screen, the kill/death/assist count goes up, and below that, a kill log appears, indicating our team killed an enemy (this is automatically displayed to all players, not requiring any interaction like a tab window). A victory/defeat result pops up in the center of the screen like a triumphant banner.
Successfully overpowering the opponent was the result of executing the plan to fight only when I had sufficient skills and health (though I’ve been countered before). Most importantly, the opponent also had a dangerous skill like my binding, but since they lost its influence after death, we were able to attack more easily. Thus, I can confirm the next goal of pressuring the enemy is now ready to be executed.