Chapter 326: LoL
Soon, D Wangchao Interactive received a response from GA. GA placed great importance on the intelligence about "League of Legends" provided by D Wangchao Interactive, as well as the subsequent suggestions for modifying COG. Raman Clive replied personally, but still did not reveal much intention to make changes.
"I fully understand your philosophy. If 'League of Legends' truly achieves such a high retention rate, then that is indeed very unfavorable news for COG."
"However, I still believe that complexity and diversity are the key to this type of game. Simplifying controls can indeed make it easier for more people to pick up, but it could very likely damage the fun of the game itself and prematurely exhaust its vitality."
"For a game, the difficulty of entry determines its audience, but the depth and complexity of game mechanics determine its competitiveness and ceiling. I believe that the simplicity of 'League of Legends' is a short-sighted move, and whether it is reasonable needs careful consideration."
"Of course, I will also seriously consider your suggestions and adjust the entry difficulty of some heroes. Thank you again for your strong support in promoting COG."
After reading Raman Clive's reply, Lin Chaoxu let out a soft sigh. Clearly, Raman Clive's attitude was a polite refusal. Although D Wangchao Interactive had provided GA with a very detailed experience report and game data, Raman Clive still insisted on his own views.
He certainly understood the importance of simplifying a game for promotion, but what he said was also correct: making a game too simple would strip it of depth. Those relatively popular genres in the esports field, for example, all had extremely high game depth. No one had ever heard of a casual mobile game successfully making it in esports.
Lin Chaoxu understood that Raman Clive was clearly a rather autocratic person, with strong confidence in his own designs. This was a common flaw among many genius-type designers. Perhaps COG would see some simplifications, but it would never be simplified to the level of "League of Legends."
Lin Chaoxu was somewhat disappointed, but he quickly accepted the situation.
That's fine. Since D Wangchao Interactive had already decided to make "Primordial Cataclysm" and already had a simplified version in "League of Legends," letting COG maintain its complexity and competitiveness was not a bad alternative.
Both games could be pushed simultaneously. Whichever succeeded, they would use that one.
...
After the New Year, "League of Legends" continued to be a massive hit.
A special nickname quickly spread among the player base. Many players began to enjoy abbreviating "League of Legends" as "LoL."
This nickname originated from a post by Chen Mo on Weibo.
"The overseas version of 'League of Legends' is in the works. The English name is set as 'League of Legends,' abbreviated as LOL. So, what should the Chinese abbreviation be?"
Under this post, many players, with a mindset of enjoying the chaos, left comments, suggesting all sorts of abbreviations.
Things like "Ying Lian" or "Lian Meng," but the one that received the most likes was a Chinese transliteration of the English abbreviation: "LoL."
Soon, this nickname spread rapidly among the player base, and "playing a couple of rounds of 'League of Legends'" naturally became "playing a couple of rounds of LoL" or "playing a couple of LoL games."
Although this nickname seemed a bit crude at first, its emergence played a huge role in promoting the spread of "League of Legends."
Because while the name "League of Legends" was very formal, it didn't fully showcase all the characteristics of the game itself.
In terms of English abbreviation, LOL itself is a shorthand for "laugh out loud," a common internet slang. So abroad, this abbreviation had a great advantage for spreading.
However, the Chinese name of "League of Legends" had always lacked a very simple and memorable nickname. If abbreviated as "Ying Lian" or "Lian Meng" out of habit, it sounded like some very formal international organization, not a game.
The emergence of "LoL" solved this problem perfectly. This nickname fit well with the relatively young player base of "League of Legends," and the down-to-earth name helped quickly gather popularity. So, in a very short time, it spread throughout the entire player base of "League of Legends," and even many people who didn't play the game knew the name.
Secondary creations by some video creators, such as a video segment called "LoL News Express," also helped spread the name even faster.
While "League of Legends" was booming, various streamers and video uploaders also played a role in fueling the fire.
At that time in China, three or four "League of Legends" streamers with millions of followers had already emerged, along with several highly popular video series.
Some talented players who quickly reached Diamond or were even pushing for Challenger in ranked matches started streaming and quickly amassed a large following.
Of course, this was mainly because Chen Mo had set a good example. During Chen Mo's streams, streamers, viewers, and streaming platforms all witnessed the immense potential of "League of Legends." After Chen Mo stopped streaming, these viewers had nowhere to go, which quickly gave rise to several major streamers with millions of followers.
Major streaming platforms were also actively scouting for potential players, raising the offers for "League of Legends" streamers. Even some streamers from other games began to switch to "League of Legends."
As for videos, three relatively famous video series had emerged in China at that time: "LoL News Express," "Weekly Pro Show," and "LoL Fail Compilation."
These three video series each had a different focus.
"LoL News Express" mainly shared and introduced the latest news, version changes, new hero information, and so on for "League of Legends."
"Weekly Pro Show" featured highlight reels of impressive plays and high-level operations.
"LoL Fail Compilation" showcased players' blunders and funny moments, mainly sourced from low-level matches.
As the saying goes, "The early bird catches the worm," and this applies to any field. The emergence of a new game caused changes in the entire streamer and video creator circles. These pioneers had sharper instincts and were the first to produce content focused on this new game, making it easier for them to get a piece of the pie first in a rapidly changing environment.
This was a win-win situation for the streamers, video creators, and "League of Legends" itself.
...
As for Chen Mo, he began to shift his focus to developing new versions and creating the overseas version.
At that point, all the work for "League of Legends" was on track. Domestically, it was sweeping through the entire PC gaming circle at an extremely fast pace, and the player base was showing a trend of automatic expansion.
In terms of promotion, all that was needed was to maintain the original promotion plan and sustain the current growth momentum.
At this stage, promotional methods were no longer important. The key was to maintain the game's stickiness for players and continuously release new content.