Since the implementation of the League of Legends Championship Series in both North America and Europe in 2013, League of Legends esports has borne witness to a sustained period of domination by South Korean teams. No other region has experienced even a fraction of Korea’s success in LoL.

A plethora of theories have been proposed to explain their superiority over everyone else: their long history in esports spanning over a decade, their drive and work ethic, their server population being the densest among all regions, their server’s low ping, their organisational infrastructure…we could rattle off theories all day, and truth be told they may all be true to a certain extent. Well, except the one about Koreans inherently being more talented, which is patently false.

This article is not going to focus on why Koreans win: that is a question that can’t be answered without years of research into all facets of Korean culture as well as a deep knowledge of how Korean esports teams operate. We have seen from China’s numerous attempts to ‘import’ Korean expertise into its leagues that the Korean 'recipe' for success cannot be easily replicated.

Indeed, success is never simply down to merely one or two factors; a congregation of circumstances, chance, and a bit of luck created the results we see today in esports. But perhaps there is at least one factor which we can pinpoint as being directly responsible for fans’ fixation on why Korean teams always win and how other regions can ‘close the gap’.

Simply put, the ‘gap’ as we perceive it is an artificial construct (that is to say, man-made) by Riot Games, who have, over the course of the past three years, stepped up efforts to keep domestic competitions region-locked, such as with the two import limit rule, the redaction of the two-year import naturalization rule, the switch to a league format for all regions, and a limit on international competition during a season.

Riot’s plan: stability for investors over greater levels of competition

Region-locking does not promote the greatest level of competition, but that wasn’t really Riot’s plan to begin with. Instead, what they have created is an avenue for organisations to get their names out in a stable environment, where games are played weekly and hundreds of thousands of fans tune in online.

When we talk about the growth of esports, we also talk of the increased propensity of fans to spend money on team merchandise, thereby boosting revenue for organisations who can then invest that money back into making their teams stronger.

At least, that’s the theory.

Instead, what we are seeing is organisations being required to spend upwards of a million dollars per year just to keep their teams competitive. Even after all that expenditure, there is no guarantee that the team will come strong and win, as NRG Gaming displayed in their short-lived time in the LCS. A complete mismanagement of funds and lack of knowledge into what makes a team work led to their relegation despite fielding Korean stars ohq and GBM.

In exchange for paying players a monthly salary and getting guaranteed matches every week, the level of competition domestically has arguably gotten worse across all regions, even Korea. Weekly league games between, say, ROX Tigers and SKT T1, cannot make up for a general lack of real quality prevalent in such formats due to there not being enough good teams.

This, we are told, is good for esports stability. It is, however, extremely terrible for quality League of Legends competition in the long run. Team gaps widen, not close, with time. In the LCK Summer 2016 Playoffs, the top four teams were KT Rolster, ROX Tigers, Samsung and SKT T1. No other teams even came close to these four in terms of quality or consistency. They also happen to be four of the best Korean teams ever. Only CJ can say they ever belonged among the upper echelons of Korean LoL, and that was in the scene’s infancy.

A combination of factors such as the Korean exodus, switch to the LCK, removal of sister teams and general mismangement has resulted in more organisations dropping off than new forces emerging in Korea. CJ only has its legacy to look back upon; so does Najin. In return we have MVP, Afreeca Freecs and ESC Ever - none of whom seem capable of challenging for honours in the short-term. 

The same story can be observed in other regions, with minor discrepancies as certain newcomers have shot to the top. Immortals certainly belong in the top level of NA LCS teams, while Gamers 2 have more than proved their credentials, winning EU LCS twice. However, these are little more than anomalies and are not indicative of LCS teams stepping up in general.

Fans can’t handle losing because they’re used to watching them win domestically

(Credit: lolesports Flickr)

In essence, there aren’t enough teams of real quality to sustain viewer and player attentions, and a league format is not the answer. Already, viewers have reported that following esports globally is becoming more of a chore in 2016 and have instead retreated to watching only teams they support. This may be a feature of traditional sports, but there’s the caveat that international competition is rarely seen as being more important in sports like American football, basketball and soccer.

In LoL, when fans just want to watch their favourite teams win, no matter who they’re up against, it breeds a sense of expectancy. Domestic success is important, but because this all sets up for Worlds being the most important event of the year, fans are emotionally invested in watching their team succeed internationally as well.

After all, what does it matter if TSM is #1 in their region but not the #1 team in the world? As Riot prioritises Worlds, they serve to downplay domestic success at the same time. Fans used to seeing their team winning will naturally feel the pain more when they lose.

For both players and fans, losing internationally is not only heart-breaking, but they will have to wait an entire year to see their team attempt to win again. This cycle will only serve to alienate fans and even players in the long run as the gap between Koreans and others is maintained.

Everyone will benefit from facing Korean teams more often in official competition: viewers, fans, Riot. The problem is Riot doesn’t allow that, and tries to set up Worlds as the pinnacle of competition while trying to adopt the model of traditional sports, where winning domestically matters most.

Riot cannot copy traditional sports while making Worlds the priority

As I’ve already shown, Riot can’t do both without incensing a large majority of fans who expect success both domestically and internationally. At the same time, they are also complicit in maintaining or even widening the gap between regions by continually playing up the importance of Worlds and MSI while using IEM events as sideshows, which no one takes seriously.

Should Riot choose between prioritising domestic or international competition? Or is there a way to make it so that both levels of competition matters outside of Korea? That is a question which will hopefully be answered by Riot in 2017, amidst fan and player clamours for format changes which prioritises both.

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Cover Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons