Scholars are paying a lot of attention on the effects of online gaming on leadership .... The first modern MOBA game DotA (Defence of the Ancients) was a map .... fun and achievement because playing video games will transform into work ..... Like most of the academic work, the results of this research will be public domain.
TRAINING LEADERS WITH MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER BATTLE ARENA (MOBA) GAMES
DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PART FULFILMENT OF THE MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION A. DENIZ UYANIK
BOLTON BUSINESS SCHOOL- THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLTON 2017
ABSTRACT: Educators use games as a teaching tool in a variety of settings such as early education, military training. Business schools and online games are no exception. With the increasing availability of broadband internet, online games have become a part of life. In fact, an entire generation – the millennials – have grown up playing online games and have gained valuable social skills through them. This dissertation investigates the possibility of training leaders in business contexts with Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games; a genre of online games which is widely popular. In MOBA games, two teams compete against each other and players practice behaviors that are highly relevant to the business world such as leading a team, executing a strategy, forming alliances, recruiting key members, and delegating tasks. While the effects of online games on leadership have been widely researched within the MMORPG genre, MOBA games have yet to be researched with an adult audience. In order to fill this gap, I conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with veteran MOBA players with work experience. The findings were validated with analysis of fifty hours of archival game replays, streams and videos along with community forum entries of the relevant topics.
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 3 E-SPORTS AND ONLINE GAMING .................................................................................. 4 MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER BATTLE ARENA (MOBA) GAMES ...................................... 5 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 7 Online Gaming and Leadership Development ...................................................................... 7 Potential Harmful Effects of Online Gaming ....................................................................... 10
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 11 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................ 12 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 13 Limitations ............................................................................................................................... 13
FINDINGS .......................................................................................................................... 14 In-Game Leadership ............................................................................................................... 14 Leadership Behaviours in a Business Context ................................................................... 16 Visioning ............................................................................................................................................17 Evaluating ..........................................................................................................................................17 Collaborating .....................................................................................................................................18 Executing ...........................................................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................... 19 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL ........................................................................ 22 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 24
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INTRODUCTION Games are known to be important teaching tools in all kinds of settings and ages. In early education, preschoolers learn how to interact with the world through games. In childhood and adolescence, kids gain valuable social skills through games. In adulthood, role-based games are widely used in business schools to teach negotiations and online simulation games are often used to teach subjects such as organizational change. Yet, we often neglect the value that online games such as Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games, which are widely popular as entertainment and, can be used in teaching important skills such as leadership. Online gaming has had a profound effect on millennials. This generation grew up playing online games. Most millennials are now either studying or have already entered the workforce. However, millennials struggle occupying leadership positions, their aptitude for technology often lead disinclination of teamwork and leadership. Since baby boomers (Generation Y) started to retire, millennials are occupying essential leadership positions in society and the business world. Consequently, companies are looking customized leadership development programs to train the new generation. A recent survey reports that fifty-six percent of working people believe millennials requires customized leadership training programs but only fifteen percent of the companies be offering such programs. (Lykins, Lorrie, Pace, 2013) Leadership is integral to MOBA games as much as business. MOBA games utilize; teams of five, compete against each other by attacking, defending in confined space to win the game by destroying enemy base (a castle). In short amounts of time players make series of strategic decisions as opposed to the enemy’s actions, and during the process; players have to discuss, agree and implement complex ever-changing strategies with team work. MOBA games are played by teams and without co-operation winning is almost impossible. Therefore, communication and inspiration are valuable leadership qualities players has to develop. In connection with the rise of information technologies the businesses started to employ virtual teams which are similar to MOBA teams. Both business and gaming teams function uniquely contrast to leader-follower based traditional leadership theories which lead to the study of e-leadership. The e-leadership concept investigates the impact of technology, and its effects on the users’ employees, leaders, gamers alike. For example; the use and effects of communication, support systems, infrastructure and change management are widely studied topics amongst the eleadership scholars (Avolio et al., 2014). Scholars are paying a lot of attention on the effects of online gaming on leadership (Monaco and Martin, 2007; Lykins and Pace, 2013; Rodriguez and Rodriguez, 2015). While leadership training with the use of online gaming has been studied extensively; research thus far has focused mostly on the massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) games which are role-playing games attempting to create a virtual world. Unlike the MOBA games, MMORPG games offer to trade between players, in-game professions and pre-set series quests. A groundbreaking study by DeMarco (2007) investigated the MMORPG gaming world and the corporate business environment and 3
found that the gaming world and the business world share similar goals with regards to leadership Nonetheless, there are studies that focus on the effect of gameplay and leadership development in the MOBA genre as well (Nuangjumnong, 2014; Nuangjumnong and Mitomo, 2015). These studies clearly indicate that MOBA games can help individuals develop leadership skills. This dissertation investigates, the possibility of using MOBA games in leadership training in the business world by using leadership behaviors set-up by DeMarco (2007), along with perception of usefulness and possible outcomes of the such programs. To be able to investigate; fifty hours of game-replays and online streams, three online community forums analyzed for relevant topics, and seven semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with veteran players with work experience from the age of twenty to thirty-four. Furthermore, this dissertation investigates the patterns of gameplay derived from MMORPG genre called in-game classes and try to define more comprehensive definition linked to leadership styles set-up by Nuangjumnog (2014). E-SPORTS AND ONLINE GAMING This section aims to explain the online video gaming business, professional tournaments, e-sports and MOBA games in detail. The 3rd of November 2017 marks an important milestone for the history of online games. A crowd of eighty thousand spectators gathered at the Beijing National Stadium to watch the world finals of the popular MOBA game League of Legends (LoL) (Riot Games, 2017a). Apart from those watching live in the stadium, more than 106 million people worldwide watched the live feed of the game. During the event, Riot Games rewarded prize pool of 4.170.000 dollars in total for the winners (ES1, 2017). At the same time, tournaments are known as “e-sports” emerging (Blizzard Entertainment, 2017; Riot Games, 2017a; Valve Corporation, 2017). In fact, E-sport tournaments reached such propositions; regular tournaments often exceed the prize pool of million dollars, if not more. Predominantly cited the definition of e-sports is; A new generation of competitions where professional players compete by playing video games is called e-sports (Hinnant, 2013; Martončik, 2015; Zhouxiang, 2016; Jenny et al., 2017). Furthermore, as an attempt to create more comprehensive terminology, Wagner defines e-sports as series of activities aiming to cultivate mental or physical competence for benefiting information and communication technologies. He argues that apart from personal and cultural implications, e-sports aims to train or develop personal attributes just like any other sports (2006). Emerging e-sports industry is becoming a full-fledged enterprise. For example; The town of Katowice in Poland is enjoying economic boom by hosting one of the most significant e-sports events in its Spodec stadium with 173,500 attendants and 46 million online views 4
(Gaudiosi, 2016). Newzoo reports that in 2017, e-sports reached $660 million revenue, $485 million in investment and 191 million global enthusiasts, and expects to reach revenue into billion dollars until 2020 (2017). Nonetheless; the e-sports industry is far away from reaching its potential. Stakeholders such as players, developers, sponsors and, organizers are far from collective value creation. Furthermore, Seo remarks that esports work as a value network consisting multiple marketing actors which moves into collaborative design and experience economy (2013). In the meantime, International Olympic Committee announced the possibility of including e-sports in 2020 Games in Tokyo (BBC, 2017). Apart from the expected broader audience, Olympic recognition enforce the incorporation of rules and regulations into esports society such as international doping code and international nongovernmental organizational oversight. (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, no date) Which led the establishment of International e-Sports Federation (IESF) cooperating 46 national federations (IeSF, no date). However, compared to other established branch of sports, esports is still highly un-regulated and yet to be recognized in many countries, especially in countries such as the USA, United Kingdoms, Germany. The definition of e-sport accommodates different genres of video games. Hamari and Sböjom describe the genres as following; multiplayer online battle arenas, real-time strategy, first-person shooters, collectible card games and sports games (2017). Amidst described genres the most popular e-sport one is the multiplayer online battle arena or MOBA games.(Polančec and Mekterović, 2017). MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER BATTLE ARENA (MOBA) GAMES MOBA games offer excellent gameplay by combining real-time strategy (continuous control) and first-person shooting (play the game from the eyes of the protagonist) genres. Games are often played between two teams (consisting two-five players) competing against each other with the same amount of resources such as gold, experience and spells. Most MOBA games are played in a similar type of map structure (Figure 1). Each player has three unique spell/power and one ultimate (Ulti) spell/power. Spells and abilities are designed to inflict damage, support, enhance, silence, interrupt or stun to complete the objectives. Standard maps have one primary objective; the first team who inflict enough damage to enemy base wins the game. To be able to achieve the objective, players advance and protect through three lanes named top bottom and middle, and each lane consists several defensive points called towers/keeps/forts. Figure:1 Standard Moba
In the beginning each game; non-player characters (NPC) Map (Wikipedia, No Date) called creeps or minions are spawned for each team and advance through the lanes. MOBA games match two teams with same resources to compete against each other on average twenty to forty-five minutes games. The computer 5
matches players according to in-game skill and experience. Moreover, the majority of the players never met before, and there is no physical contact. Such conditions challenge leadership literature by creating unique theoretical teams and influence over the players. The creeps controlled by the game, and continue spawning at intervals; meanwhile, players are expected to kill enemy creeps. Killing creeps provide advantages such as experience, gold, health, and mana, Etc. Each player can kill/destroy enemy creeps, character, jungle creatures, towers and enemy base. If any of the player controlled characters die during the game, the character will respawn after a delay. However; each time character dies, respawn time increases, and the enemy team receives higher experience points, gold. Besides the lanes and creeps, MOBA games often include areas called jungles. Jungles provide hidden passages between lanes allowing players to switch lanes, to help team-mates or overwhelm and kill enemy players. Inside the jungles, there are robust NPC creatures guard the area they spawn, unlike creeps; jungle creatures do not move or attack unless attacked first. Killing the jungle creatures often deliver exceptional rewards such as extra gold, experience and temporary power up for the whole team called buffs. MOBA games work with the concept of fog of war which limits the visible area. Each player has limited visibility of its surrounding area, and be able to see the location of the other team-mates including allied creeps in the mini-map (Burgun, 2017). If any of the enemy players are closer to teammates or creeps, the player will be able to see their location. The fog of war allows each other teams to set up traps, gank (entrap) and locate vulnerable players such as assassins. MOBA games are more complicated than they look because unlike traditional games players must work as a team, and beat enemy team. There is a large number of possibilities and many different strategies. For example; As of 23 August 2017 League of Legends has one hundred thirty-eight heroes and two hundred seventy-eight items (FANDOM, 2017; Riot Games, 2017b) which means more than thirty-eight thousand three hundred possible different gameplay in the individual level. The possibilities increasingly grow with five vs. five gameplays. The first modern MOBA game DotA (Defence of the Ancients) was a map mode for The Warcraft-III and made by the fans. The game used the characters from Warcraft universe and borrowed terms from famous MMORPG game World of Warcraft (FANDOM, no date a). Throughout the MOBA evolution, the classes evolved and became part of the actual game. The MOBA genre utilizes MMORPG's dungeon and battleground concept and replaces computer-controlled characters with the team of players. In the game, classes used as common strategies adopted by players which start with the character selection. Player controlled Characters/Heroes categorized into four distinct classes. The classes are; Initiator/Tank, Ganker/Assassin/Carry, Jungler/Specialist/Pusher, Support/Healer (FANDOM, no date b; Nuangjumnong, 2014). Tanks are characters with high health pool with high health regeneration abilities. These characters usually can dive or escape into the enemy team or tower start/initiate team 6
fights. Also, tanks often have the ability of interrupt or redirect any fire to itself to save other teammates with weaker health pools. Assassins are characters with low health pool with high damage. Assassins are usually vulnerable in early games and tend to die easy but can deliver high damage especially during the late games. Also, during the team fight assassins often need the help of tanks and support players. Support players focus on protecting other team members instead of dealing high damage without having large health pool. Some support players carry trinkets and unique spells to reveal enemy positions as well. Instead of focusing three principal roles specialists carry particular tasks and make sure rest of the team receive benefits from their specialty; such as killing creeps, jungle characters or disabling enemy towers. Although there are multiple types of classes, players are not bound by such roles. For example; a tank player can choose to clear jungles or support player can play a role of ganker by merely changing lanes and killing out of position enemy players. The success of the game often requires carefully crafted balance. There failing to choose balanced team often means losing the game. For example, the team with five support players is more likely to lose against one tank, one support and three assassins combination or team without a tank is more likely to fail initiate team fights and lose the game against a team with one tank, one specialist, one healer and two assassins. The demographics of MOBA players are interesting. Based on recent reports, 72% of the players in League of Legend are male and other games have similar demographics. For example, 80% of Dota2 players are male and 75% of the Heroes of the Storm players are male (EEDAR, 2015) In terms of age, the average age for most MOBA gamers are between 24-27 (2015) which is called as millennials. In most basic term millennials are the age cohort born between 1982 to 2004 (Diesing, 2016). LITERATURE REVIEW The literature on the effects of online gaming and leadership behavior is quite extensive. The following section includes brief review of topics such as serious games, online gaming communities, leadership development via MMORPG and MOBA games, leadership needs of the business world, virtual teams, e-leadership, cyberbullying and gaming addiction. Online Gaming and Leadership Development From a scholarly perspective, using games and leadership is not a new concept. There are games and studies for developing and using for training and behavior change porpoises which are called serious games.(Connolly et al., 2012) Most familiar examples of a serious game are the simulations which used in military, medicine, aviation 7
frequently. However; the term serious game focus a wider variety of topics. For example; Jean-Pierre Corriveau used an online virtual game called Second life to teach strategy and computer coding by adopting Sun Tzu's thirty-six stratagems in the book of ‘‘The Art of War'' to millennials.(Corriveau and Shi, 2010). Most serious games do not consider entertainment as a primary objective. Nonetheless; few scholars studied on the commercial of the shelf games as and acknowledged the potential value in knowledge acquisition and enhancing skills with leadership as well.(Lisk, Kaplancali and Riggio, no date; De Marco, Lesser, and O'Driscoll, 2007; Nuangjumnong, 2014) The benefits of online communities is a well-researched topic. (Zhong, 2011; Trepte, Reinecke and Juechems, 2012; Nam, 2017) Zhong’s (2011) conducted a survery with 232 MMORPG players and found out that study indicates that participation in online gaming communities has a positive effect on offline social engagement. Similarly, Nam (2017) conducted 2000 surveys via phone and reported that people who play computer games are more likely to use online dating services. Furthermore, people who have a positive attitude towards online gaming mostly agree that video games help develop good problem solving and strategic skills. More specifically, there are many studies that examine the benefits of computer games on leadership development. In a recent empirical study; Nuangjumnog investigated player traits and observed leadership style in MOBA games and found that MOBA games have positive effects on leadership development (2014). Furthermore, he connected that player who chose to play carry game roles exhibited more Authoritarian leadership, while support players demonstrated democratic leadership behaviors and a player who choose to play ganker roles demonstrated Laissez-faire leadership behaviors. However, the focus of the study was among 12-27 age group and specifically tried to exclude players with work and previously acclaimed leadership experience. Also, Nuangjumnog’s classification of in-game roles limited to the carry, support, and ganker which appears to be tailored to leadership styles author prefer to emphasize. Nuangjumnog focuses on two specific games Defense of the Ancients (DotA) and Heroes of Newerth(HoN). Nonetheless, some of the excluded games such as Heroes of the Storm, Smite, Paragon did not exist at the time and roles, strategies in DotA and HoN evolved since as well. Jang and Ryu (Jang and Ryu, 2009) studied MMORPG game genre, and online communities found out that online gaming experience contributed leadership development and players who participated in game communities displayed higher leadership experience than others. At this point; we know that MOBA and MMORPG games contribute to leadership development thanks to Nuangjiumnog’s and Ryu’s work. However, it is not clear that developed leadership skills used in real life conditions such as business. To support to claim; important study by DeMarco, Lesser and O'Driscoll discovered that businesses and online gaming world are sharing the same goals. They argued that ‘’Online gaming provides a window into the future of organizations and the leadership capabilities necessary to guide enterprises to success.'' (De Marco, Lesser and O’Driscoll, 2007, p. 1) 8
Moreover, they defined the following; which summarized four main categories; visioning, evaluating, collaborating and executing. DeMarco defines shared goals between gaming world and business as the following: bring many people together within highly complex environments, allowing its agents to self-plan, develop and organize within competitive environment, taking risks and learning from iterative failures, create incentive systems which reward contribution and performance, need of collaboration in corporate environment and training leaders who can influence others, and finally create effective communication channels between its agents.(De Marco, Lesser, and O'Driscoll, 2007) As the technology progress, conventional teams and leaders starting to transform into virtual teams specially in business. Therefore; gaming teams and virtual teams share same kind of characteristics. The technology supported virtual teams and leadership is not new considering physical presence no longer required with the help of communication technologies. For example companies and organizations use virtual teams for cost optimizations, quality control, design and product development (Akkirman and Harris, 2005). In this context; conventional leader-follower relationship theories and studies fail to explain and explore virtual leadership, and the term e-leadership conceived. Devised by Avolio e-leadership is defined as follows: ‘'E-leadership is defined as a social influence process mediated by AIT(Advanced Information Technology) to produce a change in attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and performance with individuals, groups, and organizations.'' (Avolio, Kahai and Dodge, 2001, p. 107) Similar to conventional leadership theories, e-leadership is influenced by traits (personality), behaviors, cognitions (thinking process), affects (feelings) (Avolio et al., 2014). Nonetheless, e-leadership theory also focuses on advanced information technologies and its effects on leaders, communities and followers’ alike. E-leadership literature mainly studies topics such as communication/miscommunication, support environment, individual support/motivation, trust and change management (Wart et al., 2016). Leaders influence others with skills, personality traits, and communication. E-leader uses technology to facilitate communication. Virtual teams require creativity, persistence, learning motivation and independence (Hertel, Konradt and Voss, 2006), and team leaders are more likely to poses the aptitude for such skills. Also, leaders with essential skill set can increase the efficiency and competency of its followers (Lin, Standing and Liu, 2008). However, computer-mediated communications are limited due to inability to convey prosodic features which inevitability leads to miscommunications and grievances. (Cagiltay, Bichelmeyer and Kaplan Akilli, 2015) Due to lack of social interactions and limited communications, virtual teams require support systems and infrastructure (Akkirman and Harris, 2005) which often aids reciprocal communication, training and evaluation tools (Baker, Crawford and Avery, 2006). Leading example of e-leadership support environment is online gaming 9
communities, which allows its users to discover solutions to problems, share experience, recruit other players and shape the developer’s opinions about future development. Furthermore; Jang (Jang and Ryu, 2009) found out that leaders who belonged to such support communities showed higher game leadership experiences than others. Efficacy of a team related to leader-member interaction and dyadic. Therefore; psychological and physical distances influence leader-follower relationships just as the frequency and the quality of the communications as well. (Yagil, 1998) Positive encouragement, frequent contact, responsibility identification are crucial for building trust and efficacy within virtual teams which used for building trust between the E-leader and its followers. (Jarvenpaa, Knoll and Leidner, 1998; Antonakis and Atwater, 2002). Change is often triggered by information technologies (IT). The role of Information technology starts to change societies. For example; during the Arab Spring protests social media played a significant role by allowing people to share, organize and report protests in the middle east and triggered the change in macro level (Khondker, 2011; Bruns, Highfield and Burgess, 2013). Change happens in organizational and individual levels as well. The change and leadership literature often use technology acceptance model to adaptation level of the change process. Devised by Davis Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) study perceived usefulness, usage intentions, and social influence both in organizational and individual levels (Legris, Ingham and Collerette, no date; Venkatesh and Davis, 2000; Viswanath and Morris, 2000; King and He Katz, 2006; Özkan and Kanat, 2011) When it comes to the online gaming experience, perhaps the most important indicator is the perception of its consumers because the perception responds the question why people play computer games. Studies report that players are attracted various qualities such as; achievement, exploration, socialization, trolling (Bartle, 2003), confidence building, escapism, entertainment (Chang and Zhang, 2008), curiosity and interest, reasoning, creativity, problem solving, therapeutic refreshment (Cole and Griffiths, 2007), recreation, experiencing power, fantasy and skill development (Demetrovics et al., 2011).
Potential Harmful Effects of Online Gaming One of the significant concerns of electronic gaming is the possibility of addiction.(Chappell et al., 2006; Kuss and Griffiths, 2012; Griffiths, 2015; Şentuna and Kanbur, 2016). Marcel reports that average e-sports/video gamer plays 3-4 times per week between 2-4 hours (2015), but, there is no clear distinction between competitive playing and addiction (Griffiths, 2015). Moreover, cases of excessive online gaming became so severe that there are several reports excessive gaming resulted in death ( 48 hours non-stop game playing resulted with heart attack) as well (Hunt and Ng, 2015; McCrum, 2015; Zhouxiang, 2016) which supported the strong oppositions amongst the parents of the gamers. Studies also focus on the increasing risk of isolation with excessive playing leading to addiction amongst young players (Orleans and Laney, 2000; Trepte, Reinecke and Juechems, 2012) 10
Harmful effects online gaming is also reported within the professional gaming world as well. Zhouxiang (2016) criticizes e-sports and competitive online gaming by pointing out that in China 90% of the players/teams fail to gain recognition or earn enough money to survive. Surviving in a competitive industry is not the only obstacle e-sports teams or players face; Brock (2017) argues that rationalization of gaming will remove the effects of fun and achievement because playing video games will transform into work like obligation which will negatively influence the player in psychological and sociological levels. Schott and Hodgetts (2006) criticize as biased studies that focus on harmful effects of online gaming by oversampling players with negative behaviors and they note that such biases likely occur because they are popular amongst media and news outlets. One of the biggest problems online gaming communities face is the toxic behaviour. Toxic behavior or cyberbullying is summarised as causing mischief, grieving, cheating and cursing (Shim, Kim and Kim, 2014; Kwak et al., 2015). During the interviews; all of the respondents agreed that toxic behavior is one of the most significant challenges in the game. Nonetheless, the toxic behavior is not accepted by the game developers. Game developers administer mechanisms and punishments. For example; League of Legends uses a mechanism called tribunals by allowing its users to decide and be the judge in anonymously, reported cases (Best Ekko Na, 2017) and banned players as punishment. However, the banned player can register a new account with a new e-mail address and keep harassing others. Furthermore, Kwak reported that only 30 percent of the toxic behavior reported, rest remains unpunished. Disagreement or failure is not the only sources of toxic behavior. Socio-political factors, homophily in-group favouritism, racism and out-group hostility causes toxic behavior (2015). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The primary research question aims to find the possibility of MOBA games in a corporate setting as a leadership development/training tool by using leadership behaviors established by DeMarco. To determine such conclusion; this study investigates exhibited behavior/s of adult MOBA gamer and compares against DeMarco’s findings. The secondary research question investigates the perception of usefulness amongst adult players. Previous researchers demonstrated that different generations such as baby boomers, silent generation, generation X displayed content against the consumption of computer games. However, as a cohort millennial’s approach to using MOBA games for leadership training is still unknown. This research uses an ethnographic approach. Literature review pointed out that despite the popularity of MOBA games only handful of studies were conducted, and considerable amount of those studies focus on the game engineering and computer sciences (Shim, Kim and Kim, 2014; Cavadenti et al., 2016; Polančec and Mekterović, 2017). Despite the vast popularity of social effects of MOBA games waiting to be explored by scholars. Why? The answer lies in the complex and continuously evolving structure of MOBA genre. The scholars who did not play the game on a regular basis, fail to comprehend or spot the venues of research. Therefore; when studying MOBA games, an ethnographic approach 11
is required. Author's experience in seven years of gameplay provides unique perspective via observations over the years but does not provide qualitative data for the research questions. Ethnographic observations often deal with broader phenomena such as religious beliefs, aggression, networking (Najafi et al., 2016). Therefore; as a more comprehensive method, the grounded theory will be used to analyze the data. Grounded theory which aims to limit the opportunistic use of sampling to prove a theory which researcher believes to be right(1967). One can choose a type of leadership style and try to find evidence when none exist. To be able to prevent erroneous sampling, this research will use grounded theory and comparative analysis to measure the connection between DeMarco's goals and MOBA player habits using semi-structured in-depth interviews as primary data. Furthermore, online community entries (forums), streams, videos, and replays used as a validation tool to validate the integrity of the data collected. Data Collection Semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven participants aged between twenty to thirtyfour conducted. Participants were required to have work experience. However, considering the average age of MOBA player is twenty-four (EEDAR, 2015), most players do not have working experience. I recruited interview subjects by posting adverts on Facebook and relevant gaming forums. Five participants were interested only one of the players agreed to take interviews. Recruiting subjects was not easy because most players who have to work fulltime were either disinterested or could not find the time for the interviews. Therefore; the snowball or chain sampling method is adopted. Participants were asked to refer other players, from, forty-five referrals only seven attended the research. Fifty hours of live streaming from twitch.tv and youtube.com from veteran users were analyzed. The publishers are selected due their popularity and reach amongst the community. Therefore; League of Legends player Imaqtpie with 1,527,126 followers and 1,602,960 monthly views, Heroes of the Storm player FollowGrubby with 54,801 subscribers and 1,449,540 monthly views and Dota2 player Wehsing with 27,959 subscribers and 7,717,740 monthly viewers chosen for review. The vast popularity of the videos and replays indicate that top players have important influence over the players which represent the ideal player behavior. Finally, League of legend forums at http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/, Heroes of the Storm at https://us.battle.net/forums/en/heroes/13267618/ and Dota2 forums at https://steamcommunity.com/app/570/discussions/ were analyzed for relevant topics to investigate the discussions between players. Forum entries are equally important as the top player behaviors because entries as whole; provide information about player struggles, wishes, complaints and experiences. Videos, replays by top players and forum entries together provide information to validate, check and confirm the conclusion of the interviews.
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Data Analysis This study will use series of observations and semi-structured interviews to investigate the applicability of the goals set by DeMarco in MOBA games genre using grounded theory, and meanwhile will check the relevancy of data by confirming the findings by archival data published in forums, streams, videos and replays. To analyze the data the interviews transcribed, and then transcribed data converted into a table which includes leadership behavior set up by DeMarco (Figure2) for each interviewee (figure3). Finally; fifty hours of gaming and forum entries are screened and categorized by the relevance to each topic to confirm the findings. Limitations This study aims to explore theoretical possibilities of using MOBA games and leadership in business context. Therefore, it does not attempt to construct a training program or a recipe to create one, because leadership programs tend to be specific for each company. For example; one company might use a leadership training program focusing on strategy while others might prefer to focus on team synergy. Hence, the determination of use of such programs signifies before constructing training programs. Leadership research often use large samples. Large and various sample size allows the researcher to derive generalizations. By using the smaller sample and in-depth interviews; the study tries to explore years of experience from the gamers perspective, and aim to spot common behaviors or perceptions. Leadership literature is perhaps one of the largest in social sciences. There are many leadership theories, frameworks, and opinions which might be relevant to MOBA games such as transformational leadership. However, after a consideration, only the eleadership theory is mentioned in the literature review because such topics can be subject to different research because such studies fall outside of the MBA fulfillment projects acceptable limits and require more extensive resources.
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Figure:2 (De Marco, Lesser and O’Driscoll, 2007)
FINDINGS In-Game Leadership The leadership scholars showed that demands of the business environment often align with online gaming world set up DeMarco. The interviews pointed out that during the games, a leader often emerges. The games itself has no mechanism for leader selection. No one assigned as a leader, and there is no selection or voting process. In theory, there is no need for a leader. As game theory dictates; each player is expected play what is best for them and their team (Nelson, 2008). The game aims for equal conditions, but player age, gender, intelligence, personality, culture and external physical conditions are not under consideration. Therefore, the perception of what is needed can differ with each player, and which can lead to dispute. When a dispute occurs, players attempt to influence each other. For example; the leader 14
often emerges from the game during character-pick. In a standard game; players directed into the hero-pick screen which allows communication between teammates and discuss the strategy, discover what enemy picks and adjust or change their picks accordingly. Character pick is the most critical decision made by the player and cannot change afterward. During this phase, players try to convince each other for the best strategy and possible picks and the leader emerges. However, leader’s responsibilities are not just convincing others. One of the interviewee's explained responsibilities of the leader as following; ‘' Each player has a role in the game, but everybody thinks that he or she is the best. The game leader has to come up with strategy and needs to be aware of the surroundings. Has to notify others and establish balanced game without losing too much.'' Another interviewee explains the responsibility of the follower as; ‘' MOBA games are like chess and leader is the chess master. A good player has to obey the rules of the game, to listen to the leader, support others and don't yell. Imagine playing chess; the pieces do not listen to your instructions!'' Interviews indicated that despite the anticipation the ingame leadership is well defined in the game. Regardless the different views, the responsibilities of the leader and followers remained similar with all respondents. The in-game leadership has unique requirements and follower dynamic. In-game leadership seen as a tool enhance game-play, but Leader is part of the team and has to perform better. For example; in the Dota2 online discussion forum a user asked about player preference as follower and leader. Responded said ‘' I say it depends on how the game goes, I am a mix of both, if I am doing the 'best' on my team I won't hesitate to give my opinions on them and what they should do, if I am doing so/so I give suggestions and follow orders from the leader, and if I am doing poor I mostly just try to listen to the carry in the hope that he/she can help me.''(Tanabata, 2005). In same threat, many other players expressed similar approach. Such an easy-going attitude towards in-game leadership arise from anonymity. Anonymity is known to improve team efficacy and satisfaction (Kahai, Sosik and Avolio, 2003), more importantly, there is no social punishment for failure. By practicing both follower and leadership roles, players are more likely to become better leaders. In-game leaders can evolve into more traditional leaders as well. Some leaders recruit other players outside of the in-game matching system for long-term goal oriented teams. For instance, the player Imjebus used Heroes of the Storm forums as a recruiting tool and posted an entry inviting followers to his team with the goal of ‘'get as good as possible without quitting jobs/school/whatever and have darn good time together''(2015) Interviewees approached toxic behavior as another challenge because anonymity and disagreement often lead to toxic behavior. One responded said ‘'Losing is part of the life. One loses in the game and real life as well. This game teaches us to become a good loser. Once we learn to become a good loser, we will be less angry; we will enjoy the game better and, it will help us to improve the performance and the team-work.'' The toxic behavior and resistance to change is a part of the games, and there are many available tools to deal with the situation. The respondents explain a natural learning curve, by pointing out that ‘'everybody starts playing the game as noobs'' (in-experienced and easily irritable, often toxic players) and then they require skill by repetition. Finally, they
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learn to deal with toxic players and play as a team which transforms the gameplay into a unique experience. Previous leadership studies about MOBA games tried to create a link between in-game class preference and leadership styles (Nuangjumnong, 2014; Nuangjumnong and Mitomo, 2015). Throughout evolution of MOBA games, the classes evolved and became part of the actual game. The interviews showed that respondents have a keen understanding of the classes which often used for essential strategy building. Every respondent said that they play more than one class and they can change their class according to team's needs. However, respondents also said that they have a favorite class which they play regularly. The findings match with the Nuangjumnong’s assumptions (2014) about the tendency to play a class repetitively which showed that players who prefer to play specific in-game classes share similar characteristics. During the interviews, respondents were asked to describe in-game classes in detail. The results were interesting. For example; Players who prefer tank roles have a helpful attitude towards others and often became the leaders. One respondent described tanks as; ‘There is a romantic side of playing the tank. Taking the hit for the team which often elevates the player as the leader. Tanks usually have large egos and don't like when the team-mates fail to perform as expected. Assassins are the ones after the glory. They tend to become toxic easier than other. One responded described assassins as; ‘'People who like to hunt others. They are sneaky, glorious and fearful. They get angry fast!'' Supports are usually silent throughout the game. They focus increasing odds of survivability of the team. One player describes support players as; ‘'They are maternal, they do not get toxic easily. If you stumble into a support player in real life, they will help just like the game''. Finally, specialists are the players who are looking for order in chaos. When played good, the specialist can change the outcome of the game quickly, and players often describe them as stubborn. Leadership Behaviours in a Business Context The interviews showed that behaviors and skillset acquired by MOBA games are relevant to leadership behaviors set by DeMarco. Participants of the research believe that MOBA games help to build leadership skills, and playing the game improves teamwork. Younger participants from twenty-thirty who works mainly corporate environment believe that a training program can improve communication, collaboration and establish a meaningful relationship with the co-workers. However, participants who do not work in the corporate environment and over thirty said they would be reluctant to participate a leadership training program because the games do not have ethical restrictions. Also, one responded pointed out that he used to play MMORPG game with co-workers. Two colleagues disagreed about sharing resources and negativity spread to the workplace. They had to set-up couple meetings to solve the dispute. In the end, the team disbanded, they stop playing together. The findings show that there is a positive attitude towards leadership training programs. However, there is no empirical evidence against the growing resistance towards the program.
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Visioning Most players lack long-term visions and plans. In business; creating a compelling longterm vision is one of the most critical roles of the leader. One of the biggest reasons for lack of long-term planning is about short and defined gameplay nature of the games. Also, interviewee demographic aims for working-class players older than twenty which plays the game as veterans in a casual manner. Therefore, it is harder for the interviewees to make long-term plans for the game while working. MOBA games provide tier system competition called ranked gaming which often requires minimum level of skillset and pre-owned champions. To be able to compete; players finish series of games called placement matches. Once placement matches are over, the game calculates the score and assign players into tiers which usually called bronze, silver, gold, diamond, Grandmaster/challenger. Apart from professional e-sport teams, ranked gaming contains highest level players from top to bottom. Advancing in the ranked game is considered extremely difficult because once the player assigned to tier such as gold, he/she will be matched with others who have similar skill and knowledge of the game. Ranking game placements reset in every three-four month periods called seasons. Therefore, players must exceed their skills to advance to the higher rank and try to get better placement in each season. Ascending into grandmaster/challenger rank is not just an achievement. It is a commitment. Interviews and forum entries showed that most effective method to improve is watching professional plays and replays with commentary called streams. For example; top seven LoL streamers have more than 8 million subscribers and three times more views (Wyne, 2017) Long-term commitment and planning is part of the game, and just like business, it requires strategic planning, commitment, and high expectations. MOBA gaming community provides all the necessary tools and methods for long-term achievements. Evaluating The findings show that evaluation skills are shared by all respondents of the interviews. Evaluation includes, acquiring and validating outside information from other users. For example, heroesfire.com allows HoS players to create, publish and vote strategies. Players are encouraged to create new strategies and start discussions. Another step of the evaluation process is about predicting longer-impact of the actions while making fast decisions. For example; in a forum entry, the player WorldofForms explained the player generated term stutter stepping as ‘'Moving the hero between attacks. Used to kite like this: Right click away from the opponent, then press A, then leftclick on the ground. The hero stops running and attacks. As soon as the attack fires, right click again to run away. Repeat. Note that A-clicking the ground is the fastest way to do it, but you will attack the closest target, so if you need a specific target, you can right-click it.''(2015) Stutter stepping is used to create constant movements which is less like to be targeted by enemy spell or attack. There are similar terms such as positioning, kiting,
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body blocking, zoning and more. The players consider such strategies while making short-term decisions and higher ranked players are expected to master skills. Evaluation also includes sharing resources and information, and it is a crucial part of the gameplay called pings. Pings are a quick way to warn, recruit and inform teammates. Enemy team is only visible when they are near allied, minions, structures and other characters (Fog of war). Therefore, if characters are missing from lanes, players ping and warn teammates about possible traps. Players often use external trinkets called wards to provide the vision for the fixed amount of time in blind points. Sharing resources and information are crucial to the team-work. When asked responded explain the good player as the following; ‘'Good player has to be aware of surroundings and has to relay information using, ping, marking, warding not just chat.'' The evaluation also includes learning from the mistake made by self and others. However, the game engagement with learning from mistakes is limited. Players seem to blame other while thinking they play correctly. As it mentioned before such behavior leads to toxic behavior. Nonetheless, there are some tools available for self-evaluation as well, such as gameplay statistics, lose win ratios and game-replays are available. Collaborating Collaboration is all about communication, and without it teamwork is improbable. During the interviews, we found out that all respondents feel strongly about collaboration. Several respondents said they manage to found close friends in the game all over the world and they prefer to play together with friends. Surprisingly all non-native English speaker respondents said that the MOBA games helped them to learn English. Also, the research showed that players are less likely to get angry to friends and accept criticism easier. In some cases become toxic to protect friends(Kwak et al., 2015) There is no doubt that communication is essential both for business and gaming world. Communication allows leaders to set commitments and follow the progress, inspire teammates and reflect on the team progress. One of the interviewee’s explained the ingame communication as the following; ‘'Communication is the most important power/spell/tool in the game, one can inspire the team to victory, get rid of team’s weakness or lose the game completely. The one who masters the art of communication will master the game’’ One of the pre-set questions in the interviews was about inspiration. Respondents repeatedly mentioned about the importance of positive feedback and not giving up on others. ‘'Everybody makes mistakes, the trick is not to get emotional and lose confidence in yourself or the team, and make sure that your team notice one's positive approach'' said one of the respondents. Inspiration is an important tool of a leader. Transformational and charismatic leadership theories focus on leader’s effect on the followers. The interviews showed that in the game environment leaders inspire others by skill, competency and positive feedback.
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Executing Execution is about visioning. Without a proper vision, it is unlikely to form a long-term plan and execute. It appears that MOBA gamers are struggling to execute on long-term plans. For example; in League of Legends; sixty-two percent of the solo queue and seventy-one percent of the ranked players belong into the bottom of the ranking pool silver and bronze (LeagueofGraphs, 2018). Therefore, the most prominent reason behind the large number of players in bottom rank is the lack of long-term planning. Players fail to transform unattainable goals into small manageable pieces. The interviews indicated that players are more likely to play the game alone instead of setting up teams to get higher ranking which is more logical than trying to climb the rankings alone. However, almost every respondent agreed that it is more fun to play with friends and they are most likely to get toxic when friends involved. The success rate of the team is lower than solo rankings. When solo players try to set-up teams, in-game leadership transformed into traditional leadership context. Also interviews pointed out that as the inteam relations evolve, leaders fail to create manageable commitment to the team and the teams disband often. During the skimming of online MOBA communities, the majority of the entries involve players frustrated about toxic behavior, getting stuck at the ‘’bronze hell’’ asking for help. Leading a team and working towards a goal requires emotional stamina, visioning, and evaluation skills. Therefore, the phrase ‘'learning to become a good loser'' prove most significant for execution. Interviews showed that majority of our veteran players, learn to control their frustration and developed methods/strategies to deal with emotional stress. CONCLUSION The findings showed us that MOBA games could help individuals develop leadership skills. Findings indicate that MOBA games improve the following skills; understanding the environment, ability to utilize third part tools for skill development, Identify possible skill, abilities and resources for different scenarios, be mindful about others expectations, recruit others and following alliances, allocate tasks, identify character weakness and provide incentives for countermeasure, learn to evaluate data and adjust accordingly, understand the power of communication and utilize to inspire other, practice self-control, ability to identify according to needs of the team and adopt, learn from mistakes and become a good loser, deviate from common strategies, develop people skills, reward risktaking, learn to adopt in continually changing environments. The skills developed by playing MOBA games are relevant to the business world's needs set up by DeMarco (2007). In gaming world evaluation and collaboration is more relevant. Therefore; the MOBA games require larger awareness within the moment. Building strategies, testing and adopting the response of the enemy are valuable for business leaders. The findings also showed that long-term visioning and executing is less emphasized by the players. However, the framework and support system is in place to improve vision and execution as well, and there are many examples of accomplished players who achieve higher ranks in the game. Furthermore, when analyzing the visioning and execution, game design should be considered as well. MOBA games are designed 19
to reward skill, and unlike traditional computer games, the opponent is skilled as much as the player. Therefore, the opponent always skilled as the player. For example, becoming a top player often requires playing MOBA at least for two-three years five-eight hours a day, in addition to many supporting activities several hours a day (Reddit, no date). The longer learning curve fits with, the lesser skills in visioning and execution. The most interesting finding of the research is the discovery of the in-game leader. There is an interesting dynamic which does not fit with leadership theories including e-leadership because interactions, follower interaction is limited to the individual game length (between fifteen to forty-five minutes). Therefore, considering the average MOBA player’s age (twenty-four), in-game leader is the first leadership experience for many young people. When asked veteran players under the age thirty-two express willingness to join corporate leadership training programs. However, respondents older than thirty-two are less willing to join Leadership training programs via MOBA games. This study focusses on the theoretical side of the MOBA games and leadership. The next step should be to create a leadership training program and quantify the results. Also, findings show that there might be resistance by older participants which is open for further research. As a new concept, In-game leadership and its affects were never studied before. The further research can point out the nature of in-game leadership within leadership literature such as transformational leadership, charismatic leadership and more. A comparison study between solo playing leaders and team leaders can pinpoint why do teams perform worse than solo-ranking.
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FIGURE 3: Responded skills according to DeMarco’s
VISIONING
R R R R R R R 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Creates a compelling vision of new possibilities for the x x organization Expresses confidence in own abilities, experience and x x x x x x x judgment Sets high expectations for what the organization can do x x x x Assures long-term sustainability of effort commitment to a common purpose/vision
through x
x
x
x x
x
EVALUATING COLLABORATING
Gathers validates and integrates non-traditional sources of x information Makes rapid, data-driven decisions that address the x immediate situation and considers the longer-term impact Supports brokering of information and sharing of resources x
x
x
x
x x
x
x
x
x
x x
x
x
x
x
x x
x
Seeks opportunities to stretch his or her own abilities and x experiment with new things Learns from mistakes of self and others x
x
x
x
x x
x
x
x
x x
x
Creates and maintains strong personal relationships and x contacts at multiple levels Follows through on commitments and demonstrates x consistency between words and actions Follows through on commitments and demonstrates consistency between words and actions Gives positive feedback on performance at the moment
x
x
x
x x
x
x
x
x
x x
x
x
Considers the implications of own actions on others and x adjusts accordingly
EXECUTING
Creates new work structures and approaches
x X
x
x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Translates seemingly unattainable goals into manageable pieces Sets clear performance expectations and helps others x understand the importance of the goal Monitors organizes and drives others relentlessly toward an x established goal Demonstrates resilience and emotional stamina when x difficulties and problems occur, taking responsibility for the situation.
x
x
x
x
x
x
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x
x
x
x
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL Hi, my name is Deniz Uyanik. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I am a student at the University of Bolton, working on my Master’s in Business Administration. My research is on MOBA games and specifically on using MOBA games for leadership training in business contexts. Today is ….../…../.. time …./….. a.m/p.m. Before we start our conversation; I would like to mention the following; • • • • • •
• • • • • • • •
This interview is voluntary. You are free to withdraw your consent anytime, anywhere without giving a reason. Even after the interview is completed. This interview should take around an hour. To be able study; I will record our conversations and transcribe. Which means, our discussion will be presented as an appendix to finish work. Like most of the academic work, the results of this research will be public domain. The finished work is publishable by University of Bolton, myself or other publications. Please note that your personal information is fully protected. Even though I have your name, occupation and contact information, I will make that the information will stay anonymous. However, if necessary, I might share this information with my project supervisor and ethics board of the University of Bolton or legal authorities. As an interviewee, you are entitled to receive the finished work. If you are interested, I will send you a copy of this paper once completed. There are no correct or incorrect answers. I am interested in your opinion. Your experience and thoughts are valuable. This interview will last approximately an hour but the actual time might differ depending on our conversation. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask or let me know. Finally, before we start do you understand the purpose of this study? Do you agree to take part in this research? Do you agree to be recorded? Do you understand the withdrawal procedure?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
What is your name, how are you and where are you from? Do you work? What do you do in work? What are your responsibilities in the workplace? Do you work with others, If so can you elaborate your role and theirs Which MOBA game and how often do you play? When did you start playing MOBA games? Who do you play with most? Friends, strangers, guild, etc. Can you describe a regular game, starting from the draft (character pick)? Do you change your role or hero pick during the draft? If so why? 22
10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.
What makes a good player and are you one? Can you describe a good team/composition? How a player/team should behave to improve and how do you? Can you tell if you win or lose a game? If so can you please describe how? Do you have a strategy that works? How do you convince others to comply? What is your weakness in during the game and what do you do to overcome? What do the most common mistakes people tend to do in the game environment? And what are the available tools for learning, improving? Do you have close friends which you play the game? If so, please elaborate. Is there a difference playing with friends or colleagues than total strangers? How does inspiration happen in the games? Is it possible to inspire your team to victory? Please elaborate How can you spot charisma or charismatic people in the game? How do you rate your performance? Inevitably, there are tons own insults, people who refuse to involve in team play or insist on playing as their own. How do you tackle this problem? Do you have goals and achievements planned for future games? Do you use any external tools, information or tutoring for planning? What do you do when you feel frustrated? What do you think about players who play tank roles? What kind of personality traits do they possess? What do you think about players who play assassin roles? What kind of personality traits do they possess? What do you think about players who play support roles? What kind of personality traits do they possess? What do you think about players who play specialist roles? What kind of personality traits do they possess? Can you describe your experience playing MOBA games? Let’s assume you set up a team with your friends from work and start playing together regularly. What do you think the results will be? Are there similarities between business goals and MOBA game goals? Can MOBA games be used for leadership development in a corporate environment? Would you be interested training in leadership program by playing MOBA games? Do you think MOBA games are addictive?
32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. Can you think of any cases in which your MOBA training came in handy at work? Let’s say you were faced with a difficult situation and your MOBA experiences helped you resolve it? 38. When did you start playing MOBA games? Were you playing MOBA games before you started your current job/ your career after college? How frequently have you been playing since then?
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