League of Legends shouldn’t bring back a feature to spectate high-elo matches

League of Legends used to allow players to browse and spectate high-ranked games from the homepage of the client. The feature was cut out last year, and now some people are asking Riot to bring it back to the new client. That would be a very bad idea. Being able to watch talented players at the touch of a button sounds like a good thing at first glance. It’s a quick and easy way to experience high-skilled games and attempt to learn from those much better than you. But… wait a second, can’t you already do that on Twitch? Yes, you can. There lies the problem with high-elo spectating. It makes League compete for an audience—with itself.

If League were to re-enable this spectate feature, it would be trying to accomplish what Twitch’s League community already accomplishes, but it wouldn’t do as good of a job. On Twitch, the viewers can choose between personalities that they enjoy, and they can feel like they’re a part of a larger group, which is what the Spectate feature lacks. If the feature returns at some point down the road, it would only work if it brought something unique to the table that would benefit Riot more than Twitch already does.