Getting Mortdogged : How high-ranking players experience randomness in Teamfight Tactics (TFT)

Abstract: This bachelor thesis seeks to find out what players’ experiences with randomness in Teamfight Tactics (TFT) are like, what makes these experiences good and bad, and what a game developer can learn from them. TFT and Auto-Battlers in general are a topic that has not seen much research despite their immense popularity since their inception. In this research, we interviewed TFT players using semi-structured qualitative interviews asking them about their experiences with randomness, which ones they particularly remember, like or dislike and what they think about the way the game uses randomness in general. Overall, we found that players liked the random aspects of the game and thought that these mostly increase their enjoyment of the game as they provide replayability. Players also noted that skill matters much more than randomness when determining the outcome of a game. The most important takeaway from this study was that players, despite the fact that the larger community often speaks negatively and complains about the randomness, ultimately consider randomness a positive aspect of the game. This also echoes previous research on how randomness can enhance the play experience. Giving players sufficient control over their situation by offering them meaningful choices in the face of randomness is the main way that this can be done.