What's your League of Legends Origin Story?

RiotPhreak·1/27/2015, 9:04:16 PM·55 votes·64,538 views

The strangest coincidences end up having the largest impact on your life. For me, the biggest pairing is the story of how I ended up giving League a second chance.

I first heard about League before it ever came out. As a broke college student, I was pretty excited about the idea of a free-to-play MOBA, so I was following its development pretty closely. I remember signing up for the closed beta, waiting to get an invite, and when one finally did come, sharing the extra beta codes I got with my friends.

Problem is, League was ugly in early beta. I tried it, it was fun, but man was it an eyesore, so I put it down pretty quickly.

Eew

A few months later, one of my Rioter friends messaged me, asking me to give the game a try, telling me League had been updated, and it looked a lot better now. Boy it sure did. Thankfully, my old Warcraft 3 team’s manager’s college roommate and I met each other at a random gaming convention years ago. He was doing gaming media coverage at the time, recognized me from his roommate’s team, and we became friends.

Man, I was so close to missing out on everything League had to offer. But thanks to stumbling into someone I hadn't even heard of before, I ended up falling in love with League of Legends (hooked over five years now), working for the best gaming company in the world, and landing an absolute dream job. Thanks random chance!

So what’s your League of Legends origin story? What got you in? What got you hooked?

476 Comments

gg git diff1/27/2015, 11:38:50 PM57 votes

Friend: You should play League of Legends Me: No Friend: Play League of Legends Me: Not gonna happen

Well, here I am now.

Arie1/27/2015, 9:15:51 PM31 votes

I used to raid competitively in WoW, and after the raid, all of my guildies would play LoL and beg us to join them. I actually refused to play League with them, convinced that MOBAs were not my genre and the game wasn't for me. I finally relented and gave it a try, and boom, hooked!

Dear god, I was awful. Like, the worst. Why were the towers hitting me when I was just trying to kill the enemy? What do you mean I can buy things every time I return to the base? You're telling me those mana pots on Garen are useless now? And you mean buying a bunch of boots won't make me super fast? If I get behind in levels, I can just run into the jungle and kill things to catch up and never join you guys in team rights, right?

Fortunately, I got a lot better! It still amazes me that the game I refused to try for long ended up being my favorite game and favorite community. My entire life basically revolves around the game now, and I wouldn't change that for the world.

RiotDestravus1/27/2015, 10:46:02 PM16 votes

In pre-Riot days long past, I was on the marketing team for an up-and-coming MMO.

The game was set to release in a couple of weeks, and we were hosting a party in San Franscisco to give journalists the opportunity to play our game and, hopefully, write about it.

At one point in the night, when I was derpily standing next to my demo kiosk, my game client open and a brand new character standing in the tutorial, I was approached by a fashionably dressed journalist.

I began making my generic marketing speech as soon as he arrived, but, unexpectedly, he interrupted me.

*"Sure, this game looks cool, but you know what game I'm really into right now? League of Legends." *

His off-the-cuff, unexpected sales pitch felt much more authentic than my rehearsed bullet points, so I decided to ask him more about it. Then, for the next three hours, I abandoned my professional duties and listened intently to the journalist's in-depth analysis of everything League. As my MMO character stood unloved and motionless upon his spawn point, the journalist explained every mechanic of League of Legends in meticulous detail: towers, champions, winning conditions, ganks, the existence of a jungle, and the concept of "Summoners."

Before I knew it, we spent the rest of the night theorycrafting strategies for success. I hadn't even played the game yet, but was already ready to try out my epic idea: "I bet we could get lots of kills if we teamed up as an archer and a stealth character!"

And that's what we did. As soon as the event was over, we connected on Ventrilo and played in the closed beta for about ten hours straight, attempting to perfect our Ashe/Evelyn burst combo on unsuspecting champions attempting to traverse the river.

After that, I was hooked! Been playing on and off since release. :)

RiotRiot Draggles1/27/2015, 10:10:38 PM15 votes

Autumn 2011 - Gaming community I belonged to used to play League of Legends in another channel in the Mumble server and I would occasionally pop in and listen to them say "we have to do Baron" and "Alistar's coming" and I would continue shooting things in pl_upward.

Then, I decided to install the game without their knowledge as I was so opposed to this whole "free to play" thing - "nah, I'm not really interested in MMORPGs", I'd say, foolishly. Having never really been into/been good at RTSs either, League of Legends seemed like a weird choice for me, but I stuck with it... and then gave up at level 12. Nope, this game isn't for me. Uninstalled.

3 months later I'm at uni and have a few hours between classes - I'd left the shortcut on the desktop (I'm not great at clearing out my files) and so I went back to the patcher and gave it another go after watching Guardsman Bob stream for a few hours. He had good music taste, so clearly League was a good game. I had enough IP left over from before to buy Annie. I'd seen people play her in my games and destroy everyone with a huge bear - let's give that a try.

I go 9/2/5 in a game vs real people in my first attempt.

I wanted that rush again.

3 and a half years later and now I work for Riot and last season entered the dizzying heights of Gold V.

Calaglin1/28/2015, 4:55:19 PM14 votes

I didn't come by gaming "honestly", I mean, I wasn't born and raised with a controller in my hand (contrary to popular belief about us Asians ;). I actually hated video games, I am a recovering Psychology major and I wrote essays on how they made you dumb and wasted your life! LOL! I started playing WoW about 10 years ago in my early 30's with hopes of salvaging my marriage to an avid gamer. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! I met some great friends there, and raised me up right. The marriage failed, but my love for video games did not. After the divorce, I took a massive hiatus from gaming (6 years to be precise) as I went through that weird "finding myself" phase.

My youngest son started playing this game called League of Legends about 3 years ago, and I hated it. I hated that he would yell at his sister to get off youtube because she was making his "game lag". I hated that when I wanted to spontaneously get out of the small 1 bedroom apartment that we all piled into, he'd tell me, "I can't! I'm in a ranked match!" I hated that it reminded me of what it was like being married to his father.

A year ago, as events unfolded as they do, I decided I needed to be home more, and pull back from a lot of life type things, to take a look at myself and my choices and reevaluate what I was doing and where I was going. Gaming seemed to be a good way to stay home, save money and circumvent the inevitable boredom. Around the same time, some work friends had picked up League of Legends. They knew I was once a gamer, and was looking to get back into it. We all started playing together, and I fell in love. The lore, the strategy, the gameplay, the challenge. I even started watching the LCS and have found the very first "sport" that I can actually avidly follow!

The best part of it all, it has completely turned around my relationship with my son. We play together, we talk about patch notes, argue about who's OP and who's not. I got him into watching the LCS and we're on a Fantasy League together! This season, I finally feel comfortable with dipping my toe into ranked games, and he's my adc (I play support). I finally understand what makes him tick!

My oldest daughter and my oldest son now play League as well, even my ex-husband picked it up after I entered my son into a tournament at Clutch Gaming Arena that was aired on Twitch! I've actually played a match with him and my daughter, which means a lot to her, I think.

I still have a long ways to go before I'll consider myself any "good" at the game, but that really doesn't matter, it's completely transformed my whole world. I've now got my eye on pursuing a career in eSports. I'd love to reach out to women, and encourage them to get more involved with watching, playing and supporting eSports, at any age, at any level.

I should probably thank my ex-husband. But mostly, I'm so grateful to Riot for bringing this new dimension into my little Fox Den. :)

V4P3G0D1/27/2015, 9:28:43 PM13 votes

When I graduated high school (2010), all of my best friends moved to different cities, and that was when we discovered League of Legends. We would all play together, and it was how we stayed in contact. If it weren't for League, I doubt those friendships would have continued.

But then I started getting really into League, and it melded over into my other hobbies, like cosplay. So I started to cosplay League (http://i.imgur.com/WV1UmAG.jpg if you're curious, warning, slightly NSFW...or life) and it just furthered my love for the game.

So I guess I came for the friendship it preserved, and stayed for the game and the characters.

Sepakuru1/27/2015, 9:41:31 PM10 votes

I was never big on MOBAs before League, and thus I was reluctant to give it a try. Actually, the first time I played it, I had a HORRIBLE experience. I used to play World of Warcraft quite avidly, and was a multi-time Gladiator in Arenas. Since I was very good at and somewhat obsessed with WoW, I had trouble getting into other games and learning how to play them simply because I didn't want to bother. I was also a bit of a toxic player, actually I was quite a jerk to friends and random players in the game. Anyways, my original League of Legends story:

The first time I played League was in 2011. The game was really popular, and I had a lot of friends who played it. One day, on my usual Ventrilo server, my friends asked me to install the game and play it with them. I was reluctant (as I stated above), but I decided to give it a shot. I had played the original DoTA once or twice, and was never really that interested or good at it. So, my MOBA experience was definitely "beginner" level. So, I get the game installed and make an account and am ready to go. Naturally, you'd go into tutorials or bot games first, right? Nope, not me. My friends just invited me, a level 1, into a game full of level 30s with runes and masteries. They just kept saying "oh, you'll get it quickly, you're so good at WoW!" completely ignoring the fact that this is a COMPLETELY different game.

So, we're in champ select, and I ask them who I should play. They all made their picks, the only one I remember was Annie mid by one of my friends. They told me to play Katarina. So, I decided to just do what they said and picked Kat. Again, I had no idea of how the game worked or anything. So we get in the game, and I ask them what to buy. No one said anything. They just ignored me and went to their lanes (which at the time I didn't understand at all). So I just bought what was recommended (IDK, probably Boots + health pots or maybe Doran's Shield) by the game.

I was constantly asking "what do I do?" to my friends, who just kept overlooking me and playing the game. I was pretty angry, mainly because I was a top-level WoW player but I was like a fish out of water in this game. I basically jungled without killing camps (I just ran around and tried to gank the whole time) because I didn't know what the heck was going on.

I finished the game with 1 kill (better than none, right?), 20 something deaths and who knows how many assists. My friends then laughed at me because I fed. So, I got angry and didn't touch the game again for about 2 years. I started playing again in 2013 and eventually passed my friends I originally played with in ELO (they capped out at high Silver and I made it to Gold 1 with Plat 3-ish MMR on NA).

My main account is now on LAN due to me living on the east coast and getting a horrible connection to the NA server, but anyways that's my League of Legends story. The reason I started playing again was because a friend of mine begged me to and gave me the hookup with a starter pack that included a bunch of cheap champions and a couple skins. I also abandoned my toxic demeanor (mainly cause I grew out of it) but am now just a casual gamer. However, I love League of Legends (in the words of Imaqtpie and KiWiKid)!

I actually played against Scarra and Nientonsoh in WoW arenas back when they played. Seeing these guys had moved to League was part of what actually made me want to give it another chance. Granted, I've made nowhere near the accomplishments they've made, I just really love the game.

TL;DR: My first game was a feed-fest, my friends did not give me any reason to continue playing but eventually I did and now love the game.

Pyro1/27/2015, 10:07:20 PM10 votes

Four years ago, I was depressed and I needed something to forget.

I'm still depressed, but at least I'm no longer alone with my thoughts.

RiotRectifyer1/27/2015, 10:40:48 PM9 votes

When I was in a slump in Guild Wars, I was searching random sites for a fun free to play MMO. Curse popped up saying that they had 5000 closed beta keys for League of Legends. I had never heard of the game at all, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Grabbed myself a key and downloaded the game with a friend. We had no idea what we were doing at first, but we would always play Rammus and Teemo or Rammus and Shaco bot lane and had a lot of fun with it. My friend picked it up significantly faster than I did and I remember him going 38-2 as Shaco one game. Good times :)

RiotRiot Whist1/27/2015, 10:26:48 PM8 votes

I used to be a pretty big HoN player back in its beta days.

League just came out, and much like everybody else in the HoN and Dota community I laughed at it marking it up as a poorly made cartoony easy-mode dota game for younger kids. I got bored one night and decided to download it to have a good laugh.

I played a match and my internet crapped out so I immediately blamed the game for lagging and went on with my day (later figuring out it was actually just my ISP) Two weeks later I decided to play again since the ISP problems stopped, I still wanted to have a good laugh at the simpleton DOTA for babies game.

I never stopped playing since then. It's been about 5 years now and I much more careful judging a game by initial trailers and screen grabs.

TLDR: I also gave League a second chance. It wasn't baby-mode DOTA.

RiotRiotNinjaTabby1/28/2015, 12:19:52 AM7 votes

I was hopelessly addicted to WoW at the time. Many of my RL friends had moved on, but I was still raiding and having a good time. One of my good friends, who I used to raid with, introduced me to the game. I had previously tried Heroes of Newerth, but was awful at it and didn't think MOBAs were for me. I had, however, enjoyed hero-focused RTS-style games before (which I was exposed to via UMS games in Starcraft), so I figured I'd give it another shot.

My friend and I played a few games together. She had me start with Annie, and I was awful. I didn't really enjoy the game, as I didn't understand a lot of the basic stuff and it annoyed me that a lot of things were obfuscated (like figuring out if a champion scaled on AD or AP during champion select). One day, I was browsing through the list of champions on the website and I found Sona. I had never played her, but I immediately fell in love with her just from reading her abilities. I loved the concept of a character that used music as a weapon, an ultimate that made people dance, and the fact that she could heal, since I was a long time healer in WoW.

When she finally popped up on free champion rotation, I played her and simultaneously discovered the support role. I was completely hooked. It was all downhill from there. LAN parties every weekend to play League with friends. New champions. New roles. Endless lunchtime discussions about optimal strategies and builds.

I don't even consider Sona one of my favorites anymore. But if it weren't for this champion, I probably wouldn't have stuck with the game long enough to fall in love with it. I wouldn't have become obsessed with League. I wouldn't have applied to, and then miraculously got hired at, Riot. For all I know, I wouldn't have ever realized my lofty dream of working in the video game industry. I'm so grateful every day to my friends that introduced me and got me to keep playing, because I am lucky enough to get to work on something I love because of it.

Tamat1/28/2015, 3:37:10 AM7 votes

In early 2009 I received an email from Riot Games inviting me to an event in San Francisco where a game called League of Legends would be playable. At the time I was the Editor in Chief of ZAM, and would receive invitations like this quite often. I ended up heading out to San Francisco and spent the first night having drinks with Tryndamere and Pendragon. We bonded over our love for EverQuest, and I was eventually comfortable enough to ask them why I should care about League of Legends. They looked at each other and gave me an answer akin to "just trust us, you'll see soon enough".

The next morning all of the attending journalists met the Rioters in a hotel conference room. We received a quick introduction about the history of the genre, the team that built League of Legends, and of course some foundational information about the game itself. They sat us down to play our first game, and within the first couple of minutes ... I was hooked. RiotJeffJew was my trainer, and he did a great job teaching me how to play Warwick and Nunu. I played so many games, that I lost track of time and missed my return flight home. I remember emailing Tryndamere the day after the event asking him how much he wanted for an invitation to Alpha. For whatever reason they decided to trust me, and I became an active member of the testing community, as well as someone who also wrote about the game.

Before leaving ZAM we created a few League of Legends videos, only one of which I can still find. RiotPwyff was actually one of my writers on staff at the time. He expressed interest in playing the game as well, so I reached out again and got a few more codes for staff. He wrote some killer articles, and made League of Legends one of his main beats.

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to get into League of Legends so early. The memories that I have from this game and the community will be treasured for the rest of my life.

Lumus Avatar1/27/2015, 9:10:59 PM6 votes

I'd played DotA, years before when IceFrog first released it as a "Use Map Settings" game in WarCraft III. I hadn't touched a MOBA in years. Since before the term had been coined. I had recently gotten back into archery and my friend in NY and I were always looking for more online games to minimize the distance between us. I resisted LoL for a couple years as I watched many of my local friends pulled in.

Finally, I decided I'd give it one shot. The starting champ in the intro game I chose was the archer, Ashe. I had a pretty good idea what I was doing, having played DotA, but it took some getting used to again. It was pretty straightforward and predictable until I hit level 6.

The first time I fired off Enchanted Crystal Arrow and tagged an enemy AI in another lane, stunning them and securing the kill, I knew I'd found something uniquely fun. Still with it over a year later.

PaperHedgehog1/27/2015, 10:15:24 PM6 votes

When I was in college, I lived with three other gamers. At the time, I was playing mainly Minecraft, Poke'mon, Smash Bros. while they were into the more "hardcore" Starcraft II. Since between 18 credits and three jobs I didn't have the time to pick up SC2, much less play at the level they were, I was pretty content being the "casual" of the household.

I actually would always find it kind of weird when they'd watch pro Starcraft on the weekends, staying up all night for some of the Korean matches.

One of my friends picked up League and asked that, since everyone else was busy with SC2, if I would download it and level up with him. I shrugged and downloaded the client. My first champion was Fiddlesticks. Never having played a MOBA before I had no idea what I was doing and got CRUSHED by bots. It was pretty disheartening when you'd lose against a level 18 Ryze bot and you'd still be level 12 in a match. But when I landed a perfect ult and a Penta in my first PVP match it made all of the learning worthwhile. I remember my friend and I standing up and running through the house screaming. My housemates had no other option but to download the client to see what the fuss was about.

Avios11/28/2015, 11:22:17 AM5 votes

Well, ever since WoW kinda crashed really (man, it is pretty bad now, the gameplay is too easy now), My parents were trying to find a game they could play with my dad's 2 friends. My mom eventually decided to try the PC version of League of Legends after playing the Tower Defense game and it was around Season 2. My mom didn't like it but let my family try it. So far, my dad, Bigger Brother, and I are all hooked on the game, ever since season 2, and I am ever glad that my mother played that tower defense app on her phone so many years ago.

ModCaptainMårvelous1/27/2015, 10:05:02 PM5 votes

Played a little bit, never really got into it too much.

Origin story starts around two years ago when I got into a car accident. At that point I dropped out of my current major and decided "I'm going to do what I want" and that turned out to be League work. Apparently some people really enjoyed it and I ended up getting featured on the summoner showcase. I even got to visit Riot thanks to a friend's donation. Long story short: It solidified my desire to work at Riot and help make league even better. League's given me a lot, I believe it's only fair I do my best to give back.

Darastrix1/29/2015, 3:28:08 PM5 votes

My older brother basically said: "Play this, shut up, enjoy." I did play I did enjoy Still have not shut up.

NineTailed Jinx1/28/2015, 12:59:43 AM4 votes

I used to only play this game called PSO2 for about a year(2012-2013). I was someone who always wanted to produce art but was never inspired enough to put forth the effort.

It started early 2013 with PSO2 having no PvP and no plans to add it. as someone who always loved fighting games but rarely was able to play them online, I had a thirst for PvP and it began to build up. PSO2 was making me more and more depressed (at the time its grinding was literally endless and I hated the story). I remembered my younger brother had played League of Legends for quite some time. so I searched the game on Google. at the time stuff like clicking to move and top down cameras weren't my style of games but it was a PvP game and it looked really fun. even though I had the thought of playing League of Legends in early 2013. it wouldn't be until late 2013, a week or two before the Yasuo patch that I would start playing league.

When I started playing, my first champion played ever was Miss Fortune. I had the thought of unlocking her at first until I started looking at all the champions league had to offer. when I saw Ahri, I immediately knew I was gonna unlock her first because of her kit theme and her character. when I came to Jinx's page, the splash art was kinda misleading(something about the hair) to what the page icon looked like so I ended up just going to the next champion page.

after grinding the IP to unlock Ahri(I unlocked Ashe when MF went off free week). I played her in a bot game. she took some getting used to but I loved her kit theme and mained Ahri from then on. after unlocking Riven then Leona. I looked at Jinx again. After watching her ability video's over and over and reading her lore. I decided I would grind the IP to unlocked Jinx. after unlocking Jinx, The first time I played her I knew I found my second main champion. she felt incredible to play and looked beautiful in game. unlocking Ahri and Jinx was a big part of my League of Legends adventure. everything I loved rolled into two perfect champions. a funny thing I remember was the first time I tried to jungle(No runes with Volibear) and died to the big wraith camp. XP

that's my origin story.

Nowadays, I've been on break all of this month to write two league of legends fanfictions (AhrixJinx fics) because I wanted to see if I could do them. its thanks to League of Legends (and Dawngate R.I.P T.T) that I've been so inspired recently to move forward and improve the art skills (painting mainly) that I've neglected for to long. also with the new season I plan to play more League and probably try to hit platinum or at least high gold this year.

Thanks Riot for the great game. it was a real life changer. ♥

1 Wing1/28/2015, 4:28:36 AM4 votes

Shortly after the game officially launched, I saw an ad for it on a webpage. Usually I hate ads, but I had just finished running my own event, and it gave me a different perspective on advertising. "Maybe it's just some people, trying to get the word out about their game." So I clicked the link.

And I'm still playing it today.

. . .Not completely sure it was a good idea to click on that ad, still.

Der Lindwurm1/27/2015, 9:38:31 PM4 votes

A combination overhearing of a lot of my students talking about League of Legends all the time, the pervasiveness of art and funny videos involving League champions on the internet, and just wanting to try something new. I played a few games in late 2013 (miraculously, I won my first live bot match with Ahri, who was free to play at the time) but overall I was just too busy with other things. It was interest in the characters more than anything else that got me playing for real in September 2014. And it seemed like a fun, social thing to do where even experiences with teams that bicker and screw up would make for funny memories at least.

MCWachner1/28/2015, 12:21:11 AM4 votes

Me and my ex-girlfriend broke up after one year of being together. Doing that time I lost some connection to my friends, never playing with them and never seeing them. I only noticed it when my brother told me while I was bawwing my eyes out. Either way, he told me that they were playing a game called of League of Legends that I should try out. I installed the game and Teamspeak, my friends were happy to have me back, always yelling "FREDOOOOOOOOOM" from Braveheart since they were able to connect with me again. They weren't happy I picked Twitch as my main to begin with though. But here I am, still being an ADC, although I switched out Twitch for my main Lucian with 231 games in ranked so far. Thank you Riot for bringing me back to my best friends.

Orders1/27/2015, 9:25:53 PM4 votes

I joined in January 2014 so I am still fairly new to the game. My friend begged me over and over again to try the game out and I was very reluctant to try new games out at the time (and now, still). However, I decided to try out the game and see what all the fuss was about and I soon found out. This game is incredibly addicting, even if most games are played on one map. It is not like FPS games where playing the same map over and over will quickly become boring. League just has so many champions to play and so many ways to play as well. The depth of this game is certainly better than FPS games because most FPS games do have a golden gun that simply dominates everyone else. League doesn't and that really appealed to me.

Either way, the first game I played was Thresh. I just picked him because he looked really cool and I like dark monster-themes. Second game I played Nocturne and thought his ultimate was completely useless because I did not know that you need to press the ult a second time to dash to a target :^).

Nowadays, I enjoy theorycrafting different builds and items on champions, such as testing how big a nerf is to a champion and whether or not that champion's build path needs to be changed to compensate. Being a huge geek, I read up on all the champions and exactly what they do. While I have never touched ranked yet, I still very much enjoy the game for what it is and I love customizing rune pages and masteries to suit my favourite champions.

League is my first MOBA and I am impressed to say the least.

Favourite champions (atm): Zed, Yasuo, Vayne

Zatnikitar1/28/2015, 12:57:51 AM4 votes

My Ex Girlfriends EX Boyfriend (yep complicated), was playing league in the open beta. I went home and downloaded it joining the NA servers from OCE. I played Ashe mid main for maximum teleport-donger trollage. Man those where the days.

Met a great group of dudes from the EU/US and of course me the token Aussie and we just got on VOIP chat and had a blast.

Though I don't play with any of them anymore as time zones and server changes moved us apart, were still some of the funniest nights I've ever spent in front of the screen.

Been here since open BETA and I'll be here until they turn the servers off.

crazee231/30/2015, 10:02:28 AM3 votes

I first got this game when I was maybe 12? lol I don't remember. but being that young I just didn't get the game and the concept so I deleted it pretty quick. I picked it back up after remembering it from a long time ago when I was 16 or 17 and now I can't get away from it I have tons of skins for the champions I love to play and play it all the time with my friends. This game is definitely one of the best I have ever played especially with it being f2p and I don't think I will ever stop playing it. much love to riot!

Toa of Death1/27/2015, 9:57:08 PM3 votes

I joined around end of season 2/start of season 3. During a trip to Michigan to visit a friend I saw him playing League and watched him(He was playing Karthus mid). "What is this? It looks fun." I asked. "League of Legends." he answered. "How much does it cost?" I asked. "It's free." he said. I wasn't too big into MMOs or PC games at the time so I kind of forgot about it. about a month later, I was sitting at my computer bored out of my mind then I thought back that game I saw my friend playing. "What was it again?" I thought "League of Legends?" One Google search and a couple hours later I found my now favorite game.

Vauren1/27/2015, 9:27:18 PM3 votes

I myself was introduced to it by a cousin of mine in season 1 and I had no clue what a moba even was. As he was describing it to me over the phone as I was playing some MTG with my brother, I kind of caught parts and just blanked out on the rest; I was coming from an RPG background largely. Regardless, I gave it a shot with him and I remember he was playing Mordekaiser and I went for the assassin on rotation that week, Irelia. I absolutely hated her haha, I couldn't seem to do anything at all. After that game he had to go and I never got back online because of how badly that first game went.

Later on, another cousin of mine brought it up and this time it was a bit better because he was right there in the room with me instead of trying to chat in game about it. I decided to give swain a try that time and things went sooo much better. He made a comment about crazy dot damages that I was doing and that was the hook right there. I had played on and off during season two and the remainder of 1, more steadily in season 3 and beyond.

Through the years I had found friends who discovered and played league and promptly got their usernames to explore the rift together. Since I've moved away from everybody I knew, it has been a great game to keep the distances relatively small and friendships alive and not forgotten. So thank you Riot for helping keep relationships there and providing a fantastic game for free! (except for awesome skins, grr....lol)

Blayz1/28/2015, 5:30:11 AM3 votes

Well, I think it was October of 2012 when I first gave League a try with some friend. it was fun and I did like the game a little, and thats when I even fell in love with my main and Favorite Miss Fortune (All the MissFortune Mains say "Ayyyyy~)

After a while though I put league down simply because I didn't have friends to play it with. The friends who had got me to join were off doing their own thing and I didn't wanna be a burden.

Around May of 2014, my Auntie and my cousin had to move into our basement after getting put out. My cousin is an avid League player. We downloaded League on my computer and she looked at my match history and was horrified at how long it was since my last match. After some playful banter I said "Ok fine, get me Miss Fortune, Ahri, and Jinx and I'll start playing again."

Fast-Forward 3 days later, she got me Miss Fortune! I started off playing bot games (only bot games) to earn more IP for Jinx and Ahri, and while earning Ahri I saw Teemo and thought that he looked pretty cute (ok, sue me, I like Teemo, dont hate) so I bought him and loved him too!

I wont go into all the details of my account because I feel like I'd be writing an essay and I wont lie, I'm too lazy (and hungry) to write an Essay so lets skip to today.

Here I am, still playing League, I have about 100 skins (Over half of them being Mystery Gifts) and having fun. I no longer only play Bot games and I sadly cut off my cousin due to her letting league dictate her attitude. (She went from being a Sweet person to just Downright Toxic.) I was ranked Silver 3 in Season 4 and I hope I can climb the Elo ladder and reach gold in Season 5. If not Season 5? Then Season 6.

Thank you riot for this lovely game and I hope you continue to keep it as such!

PS: Can Teemo get a VU like Tristana? I would just Fake DIE if that happened!

Kitty Stark1/28/2015, 5:49:06 PM3 votes

I was introduced to League about 2 years ago by a friend I'd met online playing Minecraft. He was level 30, with every champion unlocked and more IP than he could ever spend on runes. When we queued together and I fed to higher-leveled opponents I'd get really frustrated because I'm super-competitive and I felt like my friend was being mean by "making" me play such an unfair and unbalanced game. Starting over every game from level 1? and not knowing the difference between Summoner Spells and Abilities?! That was insane to me at the time. By June of 2013 I quit what I thought was a stupid game. #Noob

Then October came. My Facebook exploded with Riot posts about WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. (P.S. Thanks Riot for the free Tristana code, probably never would have liked your page otherwise lol!) Curious as to how a "lame" game was getting so much hype, I clicked on the currently playing match, OMG vs SKT, and was stunned. The crowd size, the amount of professional players, the teamwork, the skill... it took my breath away! Watching all those players have so much fun and do so well, I knew I'd made a mistake on this one.

I started playing a lot more, and at a time when my personal life was a bit hectic I knew I could hide on the Rift for a match or two and let Annie cheer me up. Now I have so many great friends I'd never have met otherwise, and a ton of skins for all my favorite champs. I just want to say a HUGE thanks to Faker and the SKT team for showing me that I could play mid without feeding, and teamwork makes all the difference in League of Legends.

Empedokle1/28/2015, 6:19:51 PM3 votes

It was November 2011 when I started playing with my friends from high school. We were on the third year, and none of us have played MOBA games before, me especially. But soon enough, after weeks of pressure, I downloaded the game and got hooked within the first hour. Our friendships got strong due to the countless hours on the old Twisted Treeline, in fact, we started playing 5v5 only after level 30, and after the old TT was closed.

We used to go to school early in the morning, watch clips, builds and construct theories and ideas on how to play against this champion, against that champion, on this lane, etc. We got home around 3 PM every day, and without even eating, boot up League of play until 5 in the morning, or at least 6/7 hours a day if we had other work to do. The League has grown since then, and so have we. We all went on different paths, but we still get together a few times a week and play games, since we're hooked as ever on the game. Now especially since it's better than ever.

What an amazing experience, this game. Even if we stop playing it tomorrow, it will forever be a huge part of our lives.

Every year in November, I organize a little celebration since it's another year on the Summoner's Rift, and we just all come together and play until one of us physically can't see any longer, or someone passes out.

Andrew Hammerr1/28/2015, 8:33:58 PM3 votes

One of my teachers in High school told me about this cool game he was playing. He thought I would be interested. He was right.

6 years later, Im still playing it :D

MrXarous1/28/2015, 10:14:26 PM3 votes

I got injured at work and became permanently disabled. I needed something to help my fine motor control and coordination. I had a friend that was like, "Play with me." So I researched everything, decided support would be best and dove in. Through that friend I've made tons more and met some in real life. If it wasn't for LoL as a coping strategy. It would allow me to be absorbed into the game and forget the pain that the drugs couldn't control. I still had balance in the home and a retreat with my headset and the sounds of "First Blood".

Of course I have now spent a ton of time on the game and played at the end of s2 and the start s3 and have enjoyed all of it. Even patch day troubles, rito na east coast ping and such.

I try and suggest it to other friends that are tired of other stuff, that every game is going to be different and there will ALWAYS be room for improvement and learning more.

Thanks Riot.

EvilDJBooty1/28/2015, 10:36:07 PM3 votes

My story is a bit awkward to begin.

It was around beta and there was about 15-20 champions in the pool and there was tutorial mode with Ashe . I started League of Legends to see what is everyone was liking about the game. I went to the tutorial and hopped on a normal game without bots. Realizing today I was one of those people with toasters. I communicated with the team and asked what should i do because i never went bots. My team was supportive and accepted me being noob. Of course the match ended up with me feeding and loosing but I decided to let go of league for a while because I was using a bad computer at the time and can only run so much. Even when my OS was Windows Vista, I tried giving league a shot that day. It is season 3, I finally got my new computer nice and running. It was a HP Pavilon quad core. After getting used to my new computer, my brother and my cousin just started talking about League of Legends. I almost totally forgotten League and started remembering it. I decided to come back and see how the game is now. However, while back, I didn't want my original and first email so I deleted it and made a fresh new one. So that season I had to make a new one. The reason my name is 2moons is because of the revamped game Dekaron 2moons and my account name is literally that name. I enjoyed Dekaron so much I decided to make it that name because I want to remind myself on origins of my start here on league and how fun it became. People been noticing my name since season 3. Not any more I believe. I have returned when Nami was upon release. I tried getting to know the game better since I felt alienated for years then. Of course I was still feeding and being noob but only because I didn't have much choices since masteries requires lvl 30 for completion and runes costed a price. As a league player, I hoped in becoming a better player. However it wasn't just meant to be. End of season 3, there wasn't much for me. It is now season 4. I tried to be closer in rank but still wasn't meant to be. I am a bronze player. Almost came to silver during bronze 1 placements. It is now season 5 and I feel like I shouldn't beat my self up because i couldn't even reach to silver. However, season 5 is a new and since my arrival on league. I am trying to clean my self up and hopefully get to the point where I have complete champion pool and runes. Although I have been experiancing more lag than usual. Noob or not....I just want to experiance the game. Since this month, I have gotten better at my choices on how I play champions and I wont give up on being a better player.

nightsharks1/29/2015, 10:36:45 PM3 votes

I'm a competitive pianist and I overheard some kids at school one day joking that playing this game called League counted as piano practice because of all of the hotkeys and mouse clicks. I laughed then.

Not laughing now.

gavalon551/28/2015, 7:40:39 PM2 votes

Me (1 year ago): Why is everyone so aggressive?

Me(present): I dare anyone to gank me now!?!?

Deadlyjojo1/30/2015, 12:52:25 AM2 votes

We all have a story. mine so happened to start on another account. Now before you throw me aside and just call this a smurfs story, hear me out. Ive been playing league since season 1 as deadlyjojo. but due to multiple friends refusing to play it with me and the feeling of isolation from playing alone for so long, I eventually turned away from league for months. ive played games such as Wow, City of heroes even the free to play games like maplestory to pass the time.

I couldn't play dota because at the time the community was so unforgiving i have grown to hate the game altogether and i was too narrow minded to figure out that there were other mobas to give a shot so i kept playing RPG games and proceeding to not have fun with the games eventually for the same reason as i had with league and move on to the next. i eventually completely forgot Lol existed, that is until i saw a familiar game my brother was playing.

Now let me explain at the time me and my brother used to play City of heroes the most out of all the games we ever played together that involved an Mmo but it had recently had shutdown due to the company not having enough funds to run the game anymore, not because the game was so bad. in fact There was a point that COH eventually rivaled WOW for 1 year, until the new wow expansion came out, but that's beside the point. eventually Coh was running out of money to keep the servers running due to the source engine for the servers being so expensive to keep up, they couldn't come out with any expansions to keep up with the payments and not to mention they recently became a free to play game which was a big jump for the game at the time.

Eventually coh closed and me and my brother set out to try new independent games. I guess it was around mid season 2 when my brother started playing league and he was pretty new at it. i so happen to see him and one of our other coh/wow friends trying to teach him the ropes of what he/she knew at the time because she was pretty new to it as well. eventually My brother invited me to play along side him and learn the game together.

I immediately reinstalled the game at the chance and unfortunately ive logged on to notice that my old summoner account was banned due to an inappropriate name. Apparently my account was hacked and changed then immediately banned due to the name. Luckily for me i didnt spend to much to consider the lost account a big deal, in fact it was a chance to start over with my brother and see all the new changes, but when i created my new account and tried to enter my old summoner name, unfortunately someone has token the name for their own.

I was a bit upset on that fact due to the name being a name i have used ever since i have started gaming online, but i guess i dint care to much and chosen deadlyjoe1 as my new name, ever since I have been climbing the lvls, proceeding to collect every champ and proceed to learn them all as well in order to find my role with the changes of the game as they went along.

Now im here today. i learned every role, how they work, I have and learned every champ that was released so far and i continue being as positive as i can be as i play, and try to work with my team as much as i can. and according to my Honors for teamwork, friendly and honorable opponent id say im doing alright with the occasional bumps i have from now and again. after all, ~~Im only human.~~ Im only 1 summoner.

To Riot Games: Thank you for all that you have done so far to get to where you are today. me and my brother still enjoy this game to the very day (possibly me more then him). To this very day i continue to enjoy league of legends and all of its ups and downs because I was there to experience the improvement. From the 1st shop keeper change to the 2 map changes. the new maps you have added and the one you took down.

Keep up the good work and keep doing your best

I know i will:

Your loyal Summoner: Deadlyjoe1

Off to the next game!

ModFrom The Cosmos1/30/2015, 1:23:43 AM2 votes

Well I'll try to keep it short as there is quite a lot to my story but...

I have always been loyal and borderline obsessed with certain games throughout my childhood, Zelda, Super Metroid 3, Pokemon and for most of my early childhood RuneScape. Judge my all you want, but I watched RuneScape grow from a baby to a success, then around 2008 about a year after the founder left the company and it went to trash (all other words fail me) I needed something new.

My friend was playing a game in late 2009 I believe it was. He said it was League of Legends. I had never played a MOBA, or even knew they existed. If you would have showed me what one was, I probably would have laughed and said I would never play one. Well, being that I trust my best friends' judgement, He told me to try League in early 2010, I believe in February.

The game has had a dramatic impact on my life. I've watched this game grow and have become loyal to it. I love the values that Riot holds as a company and I love the community. (when I am not dealing with a toxic ass) I am super excited with the growth the game has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. With the rise in popularity of E-Sports, my love for this game has grown quite a bit. I look forward to the longevity of this game and its authenticity as a spectator sport.

It would be great to play League with my children when I have them, and have League be a household name. A game where people of all walks of life can enjoy and play. I wish and hope for the day that E-Sports can be globally recognized and respected by the mainstream.

I've been rambling so I'll cut this story short. League just has a special place in my heart, from Riot, the music, the characters (and personalities), the community and E-Sports. I love it all and I look forward to evolving with League over the years and hopefully obtain a job there.

P.S - I love coffee, I would love to retire at Riot games making coffee for all the employees who also love coffee. (Hint for any recruiters.)

Dethkilr1/30/2015, 2:25:46 AM2 votes

I like to play video games, but not so much. My friend played League a lot and when we were at his house and had nothing to do I would usually go on the computer for things. He left League open every time and one day I decided I just want to see who the characters are. After looking at all their splash arts in the shop I instantly noticed Vladimir apart from all of them and thought he looked like one of the coolest characters in any video game I've ever seen. After denying the game for fear that I wouldn't have time in my day I eventually gave in and earned enough ip to make Vladimir my first purchase. He's now my main and somehow Riot must have known that because for being a good summoner they gave me the soulstealer Vladimir skin, which is what I thought was the best skin EVAR! So pretty much if Vladimir wasn't in the game I bet I would've never gained enough interest to get it.

Potato Doc1/30/2015, 6:57:42 AM2 votes

Best friends were really into Star craft II. They found the dota equivalent on there, and by playing it discovered about league and dota. They chose League over dota cuz I could get in on the action aswell. At the time I was heavily into CoD, halo, and SSB. If I remember around the time I had beatten the 3rd place winner of that years national smash tournament, had a 95.82% accuracy with 100k bullets fired, averaged 14 headshots a game, scored a lifetime total of 180 nukes, quickest nuke was 52 seconds, and had a consistant 7.0 KDR on CoD, and was a swat lv 50 on halo 3 and had the most assassinations in Halo reach. (so yea I had alot going for me on those)

After enough weeks of my best friends (best wingmen and team mates) of abandoning me for this new game it peaked my interest. Played a few games and realized I was out of my element. However their persuasive influence in my life drew me back to league time and time again. I believe it took me 6 months before I got my first neutral KDR in league and mained jungle irelia and top moredekaiser in season 1. It was thanks to those 2 champions that I fell in love with league.

I look back at how much I have progressed in this game and feel quite satisfied. CoD had been waining in its "fun" factor for quite a while and I hadnt been picked up by any pro team so there wasnt anything holding me back. Same with the other games I was playing.

Even with the questions on why certain champions are nerfed/ buffed, I really love the game Riot has given us and its been a goal to wanting to work at Riot. My best friends have been playing less since the rest of their family mainly plays WoW but im still hooked, its a great stress relief, and even after having been gone for 2 years without any league when I came back it still was the same great game :D

Thanks rito!

juice loosener1/30/2015, 9:53:36 AM2 votes

I honestly never wanted to play this game. It just so happened at the time around 2010 when this game was still settling in the gaming world. My old high school buddy was pressuring me to play the game. I think he had mentioned it the year before because he used to be a big fan of Warcraft III and the original Dota.

It wasn't until 2010 we had a math class together and there we met someone who actually had an interest for gaming. So my high school bud popped the question "hey, we should all play League together .. all three of us would be a team game".

I remember my first moments playing the game and how much I hated it. I thought it was awful and that I couldn't understand what the point of moba games were. All my friend told me is you have to kill the enemy team mates. I kept sticking to the objectives on the tutorial .. to say the least I didn't really enjoy it my first time around. But considering I was playing the game with 2 buds I was inspired to keep up with them. I'm very competitive when it comes to just about everything so I couldn't resist the temptation.

After settling for a year and a half or so I was finally getting a sense of what I was doing the game. It was then I realized I had some hidden potential that my buddies never seemed to notice. I would often 'practice' playing normal matches and kept up with the patch notes all the time to improve my skills and over time I didn't notice how much I improved. I improved so much that I was doing better than my buddies. I was winning more on solo than I was in pre-mades. It came to a point where I had to give out the pointers .. strengths and weaknesses on each time before the match. It was a fun time.

Even if I just solo'd mostly on Season 4 I got to a point where I realized it wasn't the small game I used to play anymore. I was meeting more people who play league. League of Legends really pushed the moba genre in the forefront and I definitely have a lot of requests for premades though I don't have time to play league anymore it's always good to keep track of what's new. I made it to Silver III in Season 4 which was a vast improvement from the last time I did ranked in Season 2 in which I got Bronze (there were no divisions back then, just elo). I couldn't be happier other than the fact I do regret not doing ranked more often. I probably would've reached gold. But Silver III over the last weekend of Season 4 was a good shot.

Hope to return soon. Thanks riot for the great memories! Shout out to Riot Dikano and Toyzilla two rioters I played with in-game. :)

CritterZoid1/28/2015, 8:37:41 PM2 votes

Hmm lets see it was two years ago, still fresh blood in high school. I was an avid gamer at the start seeing as I was constantly playing games like TF2, or Starcraft II Heart of the Swarm. Yet one day completely unexpectedly, one of my friends who I never really could talk to that much, told me about league, of course me being a big gamer, and having played a few mobas (Smite, DoTA 2, ect.) I immediately was curious and decided to try it out, of course I was new, it's also where I officially coined my gamer name CritterZoid.

Starting at level 1 being a total noob no matter how much experience i had with different mobas, I still sucked. The first map I played on was on TT and I was playing as Annie, even though I didn't know her that well, I quickly figured out her mechanics. I don't exactly remember my score, but i know it as pretty bad, that game I was introduced to many, many things. The bots were one thing, then I hit level 3.

I was happy when I hit level 3 because going against the bots was getting to be a bit bland. So my friend gets me into my first ever PvP game 5v5 Sumoners rift (this was around season 3, or by the end of it). Immediately I was introduced to the horrid side of gamers known as toxic players. Of course it was to be expexted, my friend was level 23 at the time, and I was 20 levels behind him, so I was against people who had a lot more then me at the time. We lost that game I think, but I didn't care I was still learning.

When season 4 came around I went into ranked, naturally I sucked at it, but I know I won more placement matches then I lost, but I ended up in bronze, and I thought "okay no problem, I'll fight my way out!" Only then did I realize my mistake, in that I still fought, and fought hard, but it was all for naught. Yet I kept playing despite all the trolls, feeder, afkers, and just plain toxic people I still played, because I was having fun.

2 years later, i got a job, but I play league as much as I can every day. Thanks riot for making such an awesome game!