Investigating the Impact of Game Features and Content on Champion Usage in League of Legends

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game that follows a freemium model, and the available in-game transactions do little to impact a player’s performance or ability. Although champions can be purchased with actual (or in-game) money, another aspect of the game is a weekly rotation of ten free champions where players can test new champions before buying them. This project involves scraping champion usage data from online sources where we then analyze what lasting impact the free rotation feature and new and updated content (such as new and updated champions, new skins and official game updates) have on champion usage. Additionally, we have constructed a simple web application (LoLNOVA) that allows users to compare charts of usage statistics, perform simple data analyses, and download data for champions of their choice. Educators can use these data as they are relevant and interesting to many students and help increase students’ interest in quantitative fields.