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Alexander Carpenter

ENC 1101

November 6, 2017

Leviathan

Preface:

Effective communication is both a pivotal skill and a tool that is necessary to excel in all

walks of life. The concept and utilization of language, no matter which one, is in a constant state

of change to adapt to new scenarios and challenges. I will be studying the communication

patterns and the establishment of trust in a very particular group of people. My purpose is to

better understand the nature of this community and to innovate a more effective method of

communication in place of the current model for the communitys benefit. This community is

known as the Leviathan raid community, which sprouted from a larger group of people who

regularly play the game entitled Destiny 2. For the sake of finding a smaller, more easily

monitored group to study, I will be focusing on players who subscribe to the Xbox One platform

for the game.

The Leviathan Raid:

Leviathan is the name of the activity for this study. An optional mission within Destiny 2,

Leviathan offers valuable in-game rewards to players who successfully complete its challenges,

including powerful and visually appealing weapons and armor. The environment of the mission

is inspired by the ancient Roman Empire, with marble columns, golden laced sceneries, and

enemies whose names allude to the political and military structure of the Roman Empire such as
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legionary, councilor, centurion, and even emperor. This setting is juxtaposed by the nature of the

surrounding game, which is centered around futuristic weaponry and technology, and is set

several centuries in the future. The objective of the activity is to assemble a team of six willing

players, to work together to complete four arena or colosseum-like challenges for the amusement

of the emperor, which the players are attempting to dethrone. Once the emperor is defeated, the

activity concludes, and the team disbands with their individual rewards.

Finding Raid Teams:

The first and sometimes the most arduous portion of attempting to complete this activity

involves finding the people to complete the raid with. Completing the raid means committing to

a team for the length of time of the activity. This time period ranges from as little as 23 minutes

and 38 seconds, the current world record for completing the activity, to longer than 6 hours, as

reported by various players on the games forum website. There are two mainstream methods for

finding team members. One involves using the clan functionality of the game, and the other

utilizes the games official website as a community forum hub.

Finding Team Members Through Clans:

Clans are sub communities within the game that are constructed with the purpose of

easily finding players that you are already familiar playing with. Clans typically consist of

players who regularly play together or are online at the same time. In regular instances, people

within clans know each other in real life. The utmost benefit of finding team members with this

system will be the ease of communication between the players, especially with a team who

frequently attempts the raid with the same clan members. In this scenario, a team such as this

will be less likely to become frustrated with each other and would not as easily allow emotion to
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impede their individual performance. More importantly this type of team would be much more

accustomed to each other and would be better able to solidify their roles corresponding to each

trial within the activity, depending on each members unique capabilities. However, raid teams

that consist of strictly clan members also have extensive limitations. Despite having the ability to

form a team of people you would be familiar with, you are limited by the capabilities of those

players. In addition, you lose the flexibility of substituting team members who are unable to

fulfill their respective role because they are either too weak to defeat enemies or have a lack of

knowledge about their respective role.

This method for selecting raid teams can be improved or modified. I propose that within

the clan functionality there should be a system of symbols where a member of a clan can check

or mark symbols corresponding to an activity they are interested in completing upon signing into

the game. This would provide an effective filter for a person who is seeking to complete the

Leviathan raid the ability to easily find members who they are both familiar with and are

currently willing to complete the activity. My proposed method would also allow a common

time-consuming process to be bypassed, where a player seeking to complete the activity would

need to message or ask if they were willing to complete the activity. Instead, this process would

allow a much more efficient way to find and recruit familiar players.

Finding Team Members Through Forums:

Finding team members using official forums is the second mainstream methodology, as

well as my personal preference when searching for team members. This method involves having

one player, denoted as the host, who posts in the corresponding forum based on game platform

and activity that he or she is seeking to complete the Leviathan raid and wishes to construct a

team. What is rather peculiar about this process is that there are recurring patterns in these posts
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that construct a quasi-formal exchange between the host and potential team members. Out of 50

different forum posts I examined on 11/6/17, 35 of the posts listed a set of requirements based

upon elements such as the level of your profile and the trial or role you need to be

knowledgeable of. What I also found to be a customary request by the host is to directly message

the host with the type of character profile you are and the level your profile is at. The purpose of

messaging the host directly is to allow him or her the discretion to sort and choose desirable

players to allow the best chance of completing the raid, Because it is based on skill and

knowledge, there is a great advantage to using this method as opposed to using strictly clan

members.

Another impressive benefit to using the forum network is the flexibility in terms of

substituting players in the middle of the activity. Given the unpredictable nature of how much

time is needed to complete the Leviathan raid, there are often moments when team members

must stop playing may it be a family or professional obligation. This system for finding new

players can quickly accommodate for these losses throughout the activity, as the host can simply

make a post specifying how far the group is into the raid and how many team members are

needed. Despite the advantages of this methodology, this process is nowhere near perfect. While

the forum website does grant the ability to find other players, the interface that is used to contact

said players is not very efficient for evaluating players based upon their experience and

knowledge of how the raid functions. As a result, part of the forum network is based upon trust

between the host and those who request to be part of the team, who are both complete strangers

at this point.

Therefore, I offer another proposal to innovate this network to be a much more efficient

and user-friendly interface for the players who depend on it to find team members. My proposal
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consists of dividing the Leviathan raid forum into two interdependent forum threads. One thread

would be designated for hosts who are seeking team members, who still possess the authority to

choose who can join their team. The second forum thread would be designated for players who

are seeking hosts to join. What defines this system from the current is that both threads would

have the ability to cross-reference each other. Perhaps by implementing another subsystem of

symbols, hosts can identify what types of players they are searching for based on level range,

class, and knowledge on specific trial roles, while players on the opposite thread can provide that

information, essentially providing an online resume for both sides to consider. While sounding

convoluted on the surface, having the ability for both hosts and host-seekers to filter through

forum posts in this manner would allow for an optimized solution for finding compatible players

to complete the raid.

Final Remarks Concerning the Role of Communication and Coordination:

Throughout this raid, group communication and individual coordination play

instrumental roles in efficiently completing the trials of the raid activity. What is required to

communicate with other team members is a microphone and sufficient understanding of the

unique vocabulary that is pertinent in this community. In order to utilize these communication

methods effectively, hosts must resist the urge to take an authoritarian approach to leading a

team, lest have the team members become impatient and provoke unnecessary discourse amongst

the team. Simultaneously, each individual team member has their respective responsibilities to

fulfill their designated tasks and to be prepared for the challenges that face them. The nature of

this activity is unforgiving; one that punishes the entire team to begin a trial again even if one

team member fails to complete his or her task in full. Therefore, individual coordination and
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preparation is of the utmost importance as well as team communication when attempting to

complete this activity in an efficient manner.

Consequently, this social activity has the ability to quickly establish either an innate trust

or distrust between team members in the beginning minutes of the raid. Given that there are

multiple trials throughout the Leviathan raid, if a team is easily able to complete the first trial

together, those team members are more likely to trust one anothers capabilities and be more

patient with mistakes in future trials. In contrast, teams who make multiple mistakes in the

beginning of the activity are more likely to turn against each other, placing blame and losing

focus on the ultimate goal of their mission. My hope is to have the suggested changes to how

team members find each other be implemented for the purpose of better establishing trust

between potential team members, to create a greater sense of community and identity between all

those who seek the treasures of an alien emperor.