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What’s your story?

Riot·8/31/2016, 9:39:45 PM·2 votes·45,915 views

In this episode of Live/Play, a few NA players shared how League of Legends impacted their lives, and it inspired some NA Rioters to share their stories:


ADillonMostDirty: Since first trying the game out six years ago on a buddy's recommendation (Shaco + Rammus bot lane 4 lyfe), League's been a huge constant in my life, intertwined with everything from my professional development to the numerous friends I've made. Getting older as a gamer, it’s easy to get jaded, but the sheer magnitude of League's impact on both the world and players' lives continues to inspire me in adding to the ecosystem and looking forward to everything still to come.

Ransom: I got into League by playing nightly games with same group of five guys, including my brother. Now four of us work here. GG

Sherman: Going into freshman year, I was a really shy and introverted person (still am), but I knew 1 league player at my school and through him I was introduced to some of the closest friends I've ever had. About 2 weeks into college, I ended up introducing 5 people I met through that friend to League by setting everyone’s laptop up in the communal laundry room in our dorm (it had the best wifi in the building), and downloading and playing our first game as league. After that, I lived with those same people for the next 3 years of college, traveling across Texas to play in tournaments.

RiotGenzer: If it weren’t for League of Legends, I would still be working in a trailer on a car lot in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

MiniWhiteRabbit: I started playing League as job research and fell in love with it, bringing all my friends to it. The person who recommended I play League for research ended up being hired by Riot. I kept playing and met my now SO (and Rioter) through League. We played daily and I met a bunch of other amazing players who became good friends. League became the thing I looked forward to the most as I was going through severe depression and panic attacks. Eventually I applied to Riot, was hired, and ended up on the same team as the person who recommended I play League for research in the first place!

What’s your story? Tell us in the comments about a cool League experience you’ve had!

783 Comments

Alto Saxophone9/1/2016, 8:14:54 PM226 votes

I found league by advertisement when I was at porn hub

Hamßone9/1/2016, 11:11:49 PM163 votes

League is Life here at our house. At least for many nights. My wife and I run a therapeutic youth program and every night we bring our kids in for a few games of league. We noticed when some of our kids played each night they were able to learn how to cooperate better. For many of our kids that struggle with reading and math, they put extra effort into learning abilities and how they scale. Many other benefits were showing up and we made it mandatory to play.(they don't complain)

Now we got to this point after three years of playing. That all started after we adopted our son and were trying to find a way to spend time together. We found league. It started off small, playing a game after work and homework. Bots first (intermediate was so hard) then we got gutsy and played some ARAMS. The wife hated them so we had to balance the two games types.

Overall League has played a huge role in how my family has grown together. We have a night of gaming and talk about everything. Most kids don't talk with parents like he can. Of course the conversations are league, girls, league, sports, league, food, league, go to bed, one more game....ok.

So...League is life.

Hazania9/1/2016, 9:16:22 PM104 votes

I joined league about 4 years ago when my cousin told me about it and recommended it (strongly). I absolutely hated it. I couldn't figure it out at all and watching my cousin slaughter bots whilst I died repeatedly was incredibly discouraging. So I quit. Then a couple months later, he convinced me to give it a second shot. I ended up playing it hardcore for months on end, met a bunch of new friends with crazy backstories and played with them for quite a while. Then I found out one had cancer. He was always incredibly optimistic and happy. He would have the biggest dreams for us to go big in team 5v5s, but we all knew it would never happen. After quite some time of playing with these friends, I ended up quietly disappearing for a good year while I was getting over some personal things that were happening at the time (some friends committed suicide irl). When I came back, I found out my friend who had cancer had passed. And all my friends who once played together addictively kind of just became a band of quiet brothers who seldom played together. Now League leaves me with a very empty feeling when I play, but don't get me wrong I still have a passion for it. It helps me push myself to extremes that are hard to find irl. I just want to be the best I can be and help others be the best they can be and I feel awful for those that end their lives feeling beaten. Don't commit suicide and DON'T JOKE ABOUT IT PLEASE. I cry almost everytime.

Bandlebro9/1/2016, 9:39:39 PM72 votes

When I was very young my older brother and I played DotA on Warcraft 3 almost religiously. We took turns using the computer playing matches and he helped me learn every character and helped me improve. When league came out he introduced me to it and walked me through the tutorial and helped me learn the basics of a match. My first champion was Tristana Tristana and she remains my favorite to this day. Over the years, I eventually met a man named Adam online who I learned also played League and we played from dawn 'til dusk. He was an amazing shot caller and helped me improve even more, and we joked about our favorite champions and other nonsense to the point where we were talking every second we were sitting at our computers.

Through Adam I met a man called Andrew, who has cemented himself as our unrelated sibling of sorts. He was our jungler usually and we always played together. We were both heartbroken when we heard of his deployment to Afghanistan and we sent him care packages and always talked whenever we could get the chance. We'd briefly talk about the patch notes with him, new champ teasers, all that good stuff. He's currently deployed to South Korea for work, but he still calls us all the time to discuss his life, how he's doing and of course, League of Legends. As obnoxious as he is, I never would have met him if not for this game, and he has become an irreplaceable part of my life.

Back to that guy Adam I mentioned. Eventually he decided I was cool enough to fly 3000 miles to visit and after spending time in person together, we both agreed this was a relationship we wanted to pursue, regardless of the distance. Every night we'd play matches together and chat on skype. 2 years later, this man showed me a ring in a box and asked if I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. Our friend we connected with through league, Andrew, attended our wedding. 14 months after that amazing day, I packed my bags and moved 3000 miles to America from Canada and I'm now happily living with the love of my life.

I hear people say how much they hate this game and it's community, but my experience has been life changing. I love League of Legends, and I love the people I've met and connected through it. Thanks, Riot. [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

How Do You Meta9/1/2016, 9:09:58 PM51 votes

I play League of Legends as a faulty coping mechanism to escape from real life as well as to beat out my frustrations from harsh reality as well.

After playing thousands of games of League of Legends, it became real life and now I don't like it enough and enjoy real life a lot more.

It's a circle of escapism.

Hellfrost9/1/2016, 11:52:57 PM35 votes

well It all started a while back long long time ago when.......

no one cares, give us urf.

Nami in Bush9/1/2016, 8:20:18 PM33 votes

My Grandma does hypnotherapy and she had a patient coming from Maine to have a session. I met this person, and through small talk, found out about League of Legends. I started playing when it was Draven's first free week after release. He was in the military and died in the middle east this last year.

Swizzle9/1/2016, 10:36:33 PM25 votes

This will be long but could make for a good video maybe?

I started playing League something like 6 years ago, it all started when we went up to my friends cottage for the weekend for some drinking and lake front relaxing. As the weekend progressed we got rained out and had to come inside, his brother proposed we play World of Warcraft which was quickly turned down because well we wanted something quick and easy, hit up the good ol google and came across "League of Legends Clash of Fates." Spent an entire day dying over and over as twisted fate top building 6 phantom dancers with no regrets.

Eventually hitting level 30 at the start of season 2 and finally understanding that champion selection and team comps matter I started reading up on the game. I remember very specifically in my senior year of highschool I downloaded this app that had all of the champion abilities as well as the items in the game. I memorized that thing, I knew everything about this game and wanted know more so a bit of searching brought me to surrender at 20 and reign of gaming.

This sparked the next chapter of my League of legends life, October 16th 2013 I created an Instagram fan account for League of Legends known as "Leagueofupdates." This account was something like Moobeat was doing at surrenderat20.net, we both used to datamine the PBE as patches were pushed out to get the content out as soon as possible. Being something that hasn't been seen on Instagram yet the account blew up, within a year I had 15,000 followers gaining traction in the game and across other medias. The year after I had 70,000 and being noticed every game turned into a normal thing for me. I had a small taste of being famous in a growing community and it was exciting.

That same year I figured this game is becoming a big part of my life so I wanted to get in touch with the devs that made it. Started following whoever I could find anyone from Steve in Product to Katey. This led to making alot of cool friends to this date. At this time I was still in school for Bio-med and not liking any bit of it. With all this success on social media I figured I would apply for esports social media position, got through a few stages of interviews only to not get the job to my boy Joe (would link his twitter but not sure if he wants attention).

The next year was my graduating year and still didn't want to be in Bio-med, so I started trying to learn a new skill to see maybe if I could make I could do something I loved in the community I am in love with. Allstar's were in LA this year so I figured I would go and enjoy the games considering it was so close. Got a tour from a friend of the Riot office and instantly fell in love, i knew this is where I wanted to be. On the last day of the games I hit up Scarizard challenging him to a little smash bros throw down (which i lost miserably). So he signed me in and we went backstage to the sm4sh for setup they had in F building, only to find Darshan and some of the EU casters sitting playing. Me trying not to lose my cool I sat there and kinda grabbed a remote and played it off.

Heads up I couldn't keep my cool, I watched the top laner of the my favorite team lose money to one of the nicest guys I've ever met on the Internet and couldn't be more giddy. That same day I met a bunch of other Rioters who I've known for a while but never really sat down and talked with and it was surreal seeing them as faces rather then profile pictures and 140 character tweets.

What I may have forgot to mention, my parents told me I should quit playing video games and grow up a few years before this so they don't know any of this. I flew to LA from Toronto without them knowing to attend these events.

The last bit of the school year ended, I moved to Los Angeles to work for Riot as a contract photographer for the LCS and was beyond happy with life. I would keep this going if anyone cared but it is def long. I attended team parties and drank and hung out with the grows I grew up watching, I think the moral of the story is if you have a dream to be somewhere always work hard and always go towards your goal.

R.I.P Harambe

poseidonsson9/1/2016, 11:40:28 PM24 votes

[zombie-brand-clap] i don't know how i found league but one day i found my self addicted

Donovin9/1/2016, 8:27:33 PM20 votes

I found league by finally going outside of my house to a resturant I saw an ad for league.And 6 years later I get a maid to get my outside world foods to eats. The reason I left wasn't for league im scared of the feminists. All I ever hear now is Im Triggered*[zombie-nunu-tears]* Thats some feelsbadman Amumu item 3070

Fondling Gems9/1/2016, 9:22:56 PM18 votes

League helped me open up a lot and appreciate the beauty in this world. I used to be very anti people, to the point where for a long time I was actually anti-humanity. Then I started playing League and discovered Taric. Something about him clicked with me. At the time he was a champion that no one took seriously and made everyone laugh.

I discovered that making people laugh and be happy is the most important thing to me. I no longer hate humanity. I love it. Making people laugh and enjoy their time in this world has become the most important part of who I am and it is thanks to League that I can be happy. Committing suicide is no longer something that even crosses my mind, something I can not say was always true.

Thank you League of Legends, from the bottom of my heart. You gave me a life worth living and changed how I think of everything.

MrFlippahs9/2/2016, 3:10:47 AM17 votes

I started league about a year ago when I started dating a girl who was super in to it. I told her I didn't really find it interesting, but I saw it as an opportunity to have some fun with her and to get to know her better as well as her hobbies. So as with everything I do, I read up for about a week on it learning about the game and it turned out to be so much more complex than I thought. There were so many intricacies and nuances. And I am always one for stimulating gameplay and challenge. I told her I'd play and she was so excited.

After a few games, I was hooked. But of course, I wasn't going to fully admit it.. c; League quickly replaced my gaming need as I was now going to college and didn't have the time to play games that would eat up my life (I'm looking at you Skyrim). So a game a day kept me nice and healthy as that relationship became more and more unhealthy..

It was such a strange falling out. We didn't really make the decision to break up. It just ended happening that way. In the end, I never quite understood what got us to the point where we couldn't stand each other. And so there I was, staring into Summoners Rift, trying to fill the emptiness I felt. An emptiness that I honestly still feel today. She was unlike anyone I had ever known and the only things I could bare to keep was a picture, our memories, and this game.

Of course, this game quickly became all my own rather than a coping mechanism. Through her and this community I've grown as a person and I'm thankful that she passed through my life. I'll never forget what she said the first time we played league together. "Dude, I love Aatrox build! You try so hard to kill him and when you finally do he's like 'Nope.'"

Aatrox was the first champion I bought and is the champion I'm most experienced with. Unfortunately, he's not very good so hopefully Rito reworks him somewhat soon like they said >.>

Skazm9/2/2016, 4:32:11 AM16 votes

If League of Legends didn't have Vayne, I would have quit a long time ago.

Hear me out. Vayne mains get a lot of flac. They're stereotyped as some of the most toxic players in the game. Everyone rolls their eyes when someone locks Vayne because they know he's probably going to sh*t the bed and then blame his teammates. And even though I'm not toxic I still get flamed when I mess up.

But I love that.

I love it when I'm told that I'm bad because that's what drives me. And when I finally make a godly play...

It fucking hits me.

All of the flame I take, all of the desire to shut people up that's been building, all of the practice and effort I put into my champion - it gets released in a few glorious moments and I create something I'm proud of.

League is my drug, and I'm willing to endure the hate to have a taste of it every once in a while.

Keep fighting for what you want. Don't let anyone stand in your way.

TehDom9/1/2016, 11:48:03 PM15 votes

A while back When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, she felt symptoms before she went to get diagnosed but didn't think much of it. She was 39 when she died while I was next to her on her death bed. When she died I got really depressed and got into video games. When I found twitch and began watching Nighblue3 and started playing league, I've found happiness again and I feel purpose again, even if it is to just become really good at the game or for people to enjoy my content and streams.

ArmiPagan9/1/2016, 8:42:10 PM14 votes

My cousin owns a club in Orange County, CA that I go to every now and then on Friday nights. This one time when we got home at 3am, some of his friends took their laptops out and started playing this game "League of Legends". They quickly asked if I wanted to get on their extra computer and play. I was hesitant since I hadn't played video games in a while, let alone on a laptop...

After the first game (which we lost, my fault obviously) I fell in love oh so quick! Faster than anything I've ever fallen in love with before. Fast forward about 2 years and I'm still playing with the same excitement I felt on that first day.

Ps. Almost took a job 2 weeks ago where I would have been doing Riot/League of Legends advertising out here in LA. I'm currently working with Apple's advertising. Hit me up if you're looking for someone on the client side. ;)

Support Main Zyra + Nami

FannyFrustrated9/2/2016, 1:32:12 AM13 votes

league helped get me into college because during the phone interview my interviewer played too and we talked about it for like 20 minutes

Dependable9/2/2016, 3:03:02 AM12 votes

League of Legends has given me family that will last a lifetime. Way back in Season 2 I started playing this game and I was introduced to a friend of a friend. This person was similar in age to I, and shared the same interest as me. When I mean shared the same interest, I literally mean everything from video games to music. Our friendship came natural and we started playing almost everyday together. I honestly have not had that many stable people in my life, and this person has been the best thing that I could ask for. He helped me through my lows without even knowing it by just being there and playing league with me. I helped him by being there for him whenever he needed help too.

After 5 years of us knowing each other I decided to finally visit him across the U.S. I took an 18 hour train ride and that was honestly one of the best vacations I ever had. Not because I did great things, but because I realized how lucky I was to meet someone who honestly cared for me and I for them. League of Legends gave me a bro for life, and for that I am thankful. No-homo Taric

ReFizzed9/1/2016, 8:28:02 PM12 votes

I used to go outside to have fun.

Byteblitz9/2/2016, 3:36:19 AM11 votes

League of Legends is most known for its toxic playerbase, and for someone like me that made this game scary... I had no intention of getting into this game.

One of my close friends moved across the country, i couldn't see him anymore and it hurt. I kept in contact via skype. Then one day he is like omg come you have to play this game with me you sound just like one of the characters! it is a cute little mouse? badger? thing? you will like it =]

That character, was teemo. i played it free, then i bought it and a bunch of other characters, so i had options, but all i have ever wanted to play is teemo. My friend taught me the teemo lines and laughed at things i said over skype while playing, saying it was trippy how much i sounded like him. It was amusing and I felt like even though my friend was so far away, League helped keep us together. It gave us something we could do together, could socialize together while playing.

Sometimes you get a toxic person playing with you, and I am unfortunate enough to not be the best player... I have high functioning autism and part of that is a processing disorder, so I can't really catch everything going on around me cuz it is too much to process all at once. I also have anxiety issues, and personal issues from a not great environment growing up autistic, being called stupid/retarded.

It made me super sensitive, and toxic players effect me more than it should, and when i get distressed, i start going melt down, which is basically like halving your iq. i get stupid, make mistakes, etc. if i was doing mediocre before, i turn horribad and toxic person starts accusing of feeding.

but that is where you find new friends. they will be the ones speaking out against the toxic person. then you friend them, and play with them.

I am not afraid of the toxic people anymore, but i stick to normals, no ranked for me. It's something i still don't dare attempt.

SETH R0GEN9/2/2016, 1:16:12 AM11 votes

It started off with my cousin trying to get me in to league. I would always say "yeah sure ill download it later" but in my head I didnt want to cause I thought it was a game for nerds and losers. He kept asking and asking so I just decided to download it and play it so he could shut up about it. We played with his friends and I ended up liking the game. We would get on every night and pull all nighters even though i had to work early in the morning. Then we met some girls and started playing with them. She turned out to be hot so we started talking and becoming friends. She was from San Diego and it so happened that I was going to Comic Con that year which was also in San Diego. So my opportunity to smash was right there. I wanted to look good so I started working out and getting fit just to impress her. But I ended up liking working out and started doing it more and more for myself other than the pootang. So basically League turned me to a muscle head.

Tricks Bicth 9/2/2016, 3:03:21 PM10 votes

I started playing league because my boyfriend play it... Now I'm better then him because he fucking sucks and hes a fratboy.

Masterlol16739/2/2016, 4:14:57 AM10 votes

Yorick I only played this because of Yorick.

Hi im Kovar9/1/2016, 9:27:23 PM9 votes

MY friend Cindy told me about this game in 1 1/2 years ago in 10th grade when I first met her she was quiet and we had nothing incoming but anime and she said she loved this game called league of legends, so finally after like 4 months of me stalling I finally got the game and then I told my other friend Johnathan to play it. Every since then me cindy and Johnathan friendship has grown and we always have fun and try to play while graduating from highschool #Classof2017 #RockyRiverRavens

ZubianGlory9/2/2016, 12:17:58 AM8 votes

I first came into League of Legends when I was bored one day in August, and I saw this strange little video on my Youtube suggestions.

It was called A New Dawn.

You could imagine my excitement when I figured out that this was based on a game, and that game was free.

I remember being a first-time player during the Harrowing of 2014. That login screen was so legit. I still remember the chills of being greeted by that orchestral music, and watching those green souls go flying around. God, that was so cool.

I think Aatrox and Ahri may have been free that week. I remember practicing with them and slowly, very slowly, getting better. To this day, they are both my favorite champs. (You couldn't force me to pick one over the other!)

And the rest, as they say, is history.