Abstract
This article discusses the processes of construction of cohesion and group membership in a semiprofessional team of esports in the city of Belém, capital of the state of Pará, in the Brazilian Amazonian territory. This effort discusses what characterizes the progression and union of a particular team in a local competitive scenario in which ephemeral teams predominate. Based on an eleven-month ethnography with a set of players engaged in professional competitive practice, and through observations from field research, we compiled a set of 12 essential characteristics displayed by the team. Also, this study points to the development of an ethos of professionalism in a peripheral context, indicating the existence of an Amazonian esports scenario – in the northern region of Brazil, with emphasis in Belém, Pará. The results indicate the maintenance of a social fabric composed of a variety of other elements that constitute an ethos of group camaraderie that plays a central role in the competitive dynamics that underlie the team as a group.
This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brazil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.
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Notes
- 1.
“E-Sport” or “esport,” commonly used abbreviations for “electronic sport,” “organized competitive digital gaming” or “professional gaming”, has become a recurring and predominant term in the global community of competitive and formalized digital games, although its origin is uncertain [1]. For more details on the debate on the concept of esports, see Tarcízio Macedo and Thiago Falcão [2].
- 2.
Available online at: https://cbdel.com.br/ (accessed 26 July 2019).
- 3.
Available online at: https://abcdesports.com.br/ (accessed 26 July 2019).
- 4.
Created on June 2017 in the city of Belém, Pará, it is made up of two line-ups in two distinct MOBAs, League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients 2. However, our focus above all is on the LoL team, which currently consists of eleven members, including full players, reserves, a manager and a coach.
- 5.
The use of this term refers to the end of a team. Disbanding is mainly seen as a problem for younger players in the scenario. Darkanon, for example, argued that this act hinders competitive progression precisely because of the need to get used to new players, different gameplays and gameplay, among other things.
- 6.
Progression may be jeopardized because of the lack of coordination in a team or because of any other player’s essential needs. As Taylor [1] argues, a player aspiring professionalism still possesses an activity somewhere between subculture and occupation.
- 7.
The term “mechanics” refers to a logic that governs games, i.e., their rules. A variety of LoL activities are subscribed to internal MOBA mechanics, implemented in their system through rules. From this perspective, interactions between players and the system proceed according to a determined mechanic: a series of rules that are necessarily taken into account even if they gradually disappear as a player becomes familiar with them [15]. In LoL, moreover, having “mechanics” is knowing how to play a character accurately/expertise.
- 8.
In contrast to casual players, hardcore players usually take the game “seriously,” “usually making it an important part of their life” [15, p. 210].
- 9.
Although it is possible to classify specific teams according to some general categories, listing elements that make up a process for the formation of collective group cohesion, such structuring is only evoked here to help locate the poles. We cannot forget that each social group, at any given moment, is in a sui generis and transient situation in the face of technologies, and can therefore only be situated on a complex continuum.
- 10.
The KDA index is a statistic that best defines competition performance by calculating three variables (kills, deaths, and assists – KDA). According to Ham, this statistic is simple: it is a sum of the number of kills and assists divided by the number of deaths.
- 11.
Solo Queue (commonly referred to by the community as the abbreviation SoloQ) is an English term that refers to a specific queue in which a player enters matches without a known guest, that is, alone.
- 12.
Although observing this hierarchical dynamic is relevant in understanding the organization and coordination of the collective, due to the limits of this research, we will not fall within the scope of this analytical layer.
- 13.
Term used to refer to team compositions.
- 14.
Such conversations, however, also extend to face-to-face spaces, through social events created by the team.
- 15.
Available online at: https://www.facebook.com/InFiveEsports/.
- 16.
The names of the players in the game environment.
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Macedo, T., Falcão, T. (2019). Group Dynamics in Esports: Delving into the Semi-professional League of Legends Amazonian Scenario. In: Zagalo, N., Veloso, A., Costa, L., Mealha, Ó. (eds) Videogame Sciences and Arts. VJ 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1164. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37983-4_12
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