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.

This research paper presents a study of the Teamfight Tactics (Riot Games, 2019) metagame and its evolution over time. For this research purpose, we have defined metagames as the ways in which games exist within broader social and cultural contexts. By using a mixed-methods approach, we explore players' relationship with the TFT metagame, their strategies used to succeed, and the factors that influence the metagame's evolution, as well as how TFT metamedia impacts players' relationship with the metagame. Our research's theoretical framework is based on the idea of metagame analysis presented in 2017 by Boluk and LeMieux. The main results of our study show that most players consume some kind of TFT-related metamedia, which suggests that metamedia has a big influence on how players approach TFT and formulate their gameplay strategies. Players with varying skill-levels may consume different kinds of metamedia, which raises the possibility that they may be persuaded to adopt distinct approaches to playing the game and thereby contribute to the emergence of the metagame. This implies that the impact of metamedia on the metagame is not ubiquitous for all players and that additional study is required to properly comprehend the connection between the consumption of metamedia, skill level, and the metagame evolution. Due to the focus on TFT and the small sample size of our data collection, our research is restricted. However, our findings may be intriguing to TFT players, game developers, and researchers who are interested in game design, player behavior, and competitive gaming. With a particular focus on highlighting insights of the TFT metagame and its relation with metamedia, this study contributes to the larger discussion on game metagames and their development over time.