Chapter 24: Welcome, Summoner!

It's not over yet—desperate to win the user-growth battle, YY even deployed its secret weapon: copying Tencent’s unethical, precise pop-up notification tactics.

Every game user who downloads and logs into the YY platform receives scheduled pop-ups promoting JM’s livestream as he climbs to #1 on the Chinese server.

These precisely calculated pop-ups appear not only at game launch but also during the golden three minutes after each match, perfectly capturing the player’s window of interest.

This traffic war extends far beyond YY’s internal platform.

On the external battlefield, YY’s operations team demonstrates textbook opportunistic marketing: whenever Tencent announces major updates—like LOL rank system reforms or LPL league preparations—dozens of meticulously crafted promotional posts simultaneously dominate the comment section hotlists.

These remarkably consistent soft articles emphasize the sense of participation in “witnessing the Chinese server’s rise to #1 and winning ten thousand yuan in prizes,” while promising “livestream viewers a share of a mysterious grand gift.”

The sole goal: during Tencent’s expansion of the LOL game segment and its frantic absorption of new players, YY cleverly leverages Tencent’s official news traffic to convert users.

Data confirms the strategy’s success: within 72 hours of Tencent’s announcement of the ladder rank reform, fueled by JM’s climb-to-top livestream on YY, new registrations surged 237%, with LOL-related traffic accounting for 81%.

JM’s fame in the LOL section has brought them far too much.

When Tencent promotes LOL rank reforms, JM himself is a well-known top-ranked ladder player; combined with his extensive library of tutorial videos, countless new players follow those guides straight to YY’s livestream.

Even Tencent’s official LPL league setup webpage becomes a free ride for YY.

No other reason: JM’s NXG team secured a perfect four-game winning streak, locking in a spot in the LPL preseason.

Once the roster was released, many players who assumed professional teams were more serious suddenly realized—the NXG team’s owner was none other than JM.

Tencent’s esports website, originally built for match reporting, unexpectedly became a traffic funnel for YY—tens of thousands of players clicked the “Team Owner” link on the team profile page and were redirected to YY’s livestream.

The promotion had barely begun, yet the head of YY marveled at the platform’s explosive user growth.

“Doubling down on our contract with JM and partnering with him was absolutely the right decision.”

“Haha, let’s see how much of the cake we can eat in this new-user war.”

…

“Welcome to League of Legends!”

At Zhulang Internet Cafe, Gaokexilu, Magu.

A chorus of system alerts wove a unique digital symphony.

League of Legends!

Since becoming an official WCG event in 2012, Tencent leveraged its QQ social network to launch terrifying promotional campaigns; the City Hero Championship expanded from 88 to 108 cities, and the sheer volume of events drew countless players into Summoner’s Rift.

The youth with ID “Ocean” was one of them.

On his 17th death by a turret, his headset blared a teammate’s hoarse roar: “Garen, are you the founder of tower-surrendering? I told you to tank, not to feed!”

The youth stared at the gray-and-white screen, his finger trembling over the F key.

MOBA games are hard.

His hands kept shaking, he couldn’t hear his teammates clearly, and he couldn’t even cast Flash.

Ocean had never played MOBA games before; he mostly played MMOs like Legend, Tianlong, and Moyu.

But in March this year, he saw a massive poster for the City Hero Championship at Wanda Plaza in Wujiaochang and, on a whim, bought a ticket to watch a League of Legends match. Since then, scenes from that match kept flashing in his mind.

On the LED screen, the blue team’s Twisted Fate flew toward Baron Nashor’s pit; the golden card froze the enemy’s moment—Baron fell, and the disadvantaged blue team pulled off a comeback with Twisted Fate’s ultimate, Recall. Below, people his own age screamed and cheered, their noise threatening to rip the arena’s ceiling apart.

Months later, one late night, he downloaded the 4.2GB LOL client on a whim.

From that moment on, he gradually developed an interest in this real-time multiplayer MOBA game.

“Bro, you don’t seem suited for Garen. Check out JM’s beginner tutorial videos first—find your ideal role.”

In-game, the support player didn’t join the others in yelling at their top laner; instead, he kindly advised.

(Ocean: Tutorial videos?)

(Janna: Open YY—it’ll auto-pop up JM’s livestream link.)

JM tutorials?… I think I closed a pop-up when I first opened YY.

But beginner tutorial videos?

Something like a game guide? But doesn’t LOL already have a beginner tutorial?

He remembered when he first started: the system defaulted him to a ranged marksman, Frost Archer. He played dozens of bot matches with that hero, felt he’d grasped the basics and the matchups, then clicked “Matchmake.”

But he disliked the pure-auto-attack ranged hero, so he switched to the more skill-intensive Demacia’s Might warrior—only to get scolded constantly in matches.

“Play with your brain, climb ranks easily!”

“Hi everyone, this is JM—A Ming’s Classroom for New Players in the New World!”

“First, let me, on behalf of the vast summoners of Runeterra, welcome you new players. I hope my videos help you fall in love with this game.”

“…”

Ocean smiled. He preferred this UP’s conversational style over dry, lecture-style guides.

“First, for beginner hero recommendations, I—A Ming—only recommend three: Frost Archer, Ryzeh, and Garen—the three default heroes the system gives you.”

“Why? Some might ask, aren’t there more free heroes for beginners? Let me tell you: the system recommends these three not just to help you learn the game, but to help you experience different playstyles.”

“Ranged mage, ranged physical marksman, melee warrior—these three cover the fundamental branches of LOL hero play. You must first find the style you like—or even excel at.”

A style you like—or even excel at?

Ocean thought it made sense. He’d played over ten bot matches with Frost Archer and switched to Demacia’s Might only because he disliked it.

But judging by his match performance, melee warrior didn’t suit him either.

“Maybe try a ranged mage?”

With this idea in mind, the youth didn’t rush—he kept watching the UP’s tutorial patiently, following the prompt to jump straight to the third section on ranged mage heroes.

“Mages are slightly harder to master than ranged physical marksmen or melee warriors—they’re for beginners who’ve moved past the basics. At this stage, you lack the high damage of marksmen and the durability of warriors; your damage comes from skills with cooldowns.”

In the video, Jiang Ming explained the strengths and weaknesses of mages in detail, just as he had for marksmen and warriors—breaking down each trait so new players could find their preferred hero style.