TFT superfan writes University thesis on infamous “Teamfight Tactics” accent

A Teamfight Tactics fan has written up a university thesis on the infamous “Teamfight Tactics” accent, made popular by streamer and pro player k3soju.

Teamfight Tactics is a certain beast of a game. The gambling auto battler can easily take up heaps of your time and quickly become the main game you play. With how technical and skillful the game can be, players spend hours on hours optimizing their strategy in order to grab a 1st rather than an 8th.

No player knows this feeling better than Michael “k3soju” Zhang, arguably one of the best players in NA. The streamer is known among the community for his strong performance in-game, his incessant need to slouch on stream, and his creation of the now-famous “Teamfight Tactics” accent.

Somehow this accent has been picked up by TFT players everywhere, essentially becoming vernacular for the community. And it seems the accent has not invaded the academic space, with a TFT fan writing up a whole 20-page thesis on the topic.

TFT player creates thesis on infamous streamer accent

Showcased by TFT content creator Frodan, everyone was taken aback by the sheer commitment to what is basically a meme. “It’s a first!”: A Case Study on Identity Expression through Language on Twitch in a Game of Teamfight Tactics.

The case study “analsyes how gamer-specific lexicon and gamer-specific phrases in chat messages from Teamfight Tactics (TFT) streamer k3soju on Twitch are used to enable the expression of gamer(identity) and membership to the Community of Practice (CoP)”.

This is a known phenomenon of k3soju’s community, who would often use and share phrases such as “It’s a first!” and “I can’t” in Twitch chat. The case study argues that phrases like these are key to creating a community, especially around a game like Teamfight Tactics.

You can read the full thesis here.