There was an mmo I played long ago that bestow a crown on the player which everyone can see when he walks around
GW2 has a system like this. You can pay in-game currency to get a somewhat customizable commander tag. When you toggie it on, itll display in game and on everyones maps, its visible from a good distance away, and you can interact with it on the map to join that players squadron (a 40 person raid group) for PvP or open-world farming.

It generally means that any place you see one, someone is leading something.