A game that people love to hate but play anyway. It breeds toxicity like no other and the developer actively ignores smurf accounts, resulting in a majority of the player base wading through unwinnable games for that dose of dopamine. Allowing these players to smurf has been proven to get more people addicted and is just one of many ways the game gets its hooks into people. It pulls people in with its expansive roster of champions and admittedly excellent character designs as well. The standard MOBA format caters to those that like the genre without much to differentiate it from others in the genre. Riot games has created a cash cow and is still milking it to this day. With spin-off games and animations, they are building LoL into an entire universe, however if the main property for this is a toxic MOBA, can it succeed?

You can buy a League account from many different websites. Riot allows this to occur as all that matters to them is that more people end up playing their game. There have been psychological studies about players and how they play. If you are on a losing streak, you are more likely to continue playing until you win. With this perspective, Riot allows smurfs to exist because they cause other players to lose more often, resulting in more playtime. This philosophy is a blatant disregard for the quality of games for the majority of League’s player base. It showcases how much the developer cares about the bottom-dollar rather than the health of the community.

The way everything is monetized really incentivizes you to spend a few bucks each time you log in. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) the latest skin releases have all felt very samey and not worth the asking price. Their battle passes do not supply an adequate amount of rewards for the asking price either. The monetization model is borderline predatory. If you wish to purchase a new skin you must get RP, the currency used to do so. Ten dollars will get you 1380 RP including a “bonus”. This allows you to get a skin, which most are 1350, leaving 30 behind. There’s also a special currency called “mythic essence” which you can only get through loot chests or the battle pass, which require grinding or superfluous spending to obtain. You can also accumulate blue essence, orange essence, and keys for loot chests to further exacerbate the currency types. You can obtain some skins through random chance by playing the game, however it will take substantially longer unless you’re willing to buy some RP, because each skin comes in the form of a shard and to actually unlock the skin you need to use the aforementioned orange essence. How do you get orange essence? It is only obtainable by disenchanting skin shards or getting lucky in loot boxes. Overall this system is convoluted down to the core and is used as another tool to get you to continue playing by rewarding you with constant unlocks. More things to click, means more time spent in the client, which means more opportunities to market new skins to you.

I am one of the players that continues to play, though I think the game is severely toxic. The gameplay is an addiction, giving you a top-off right when you’re ready to call it quits. When you are playing well, you feel amazing. On the flipside, if you are getting dunked on, then it is the worst feeling in the world. Teammates can do a 180 on you and start trashing your play, making you feel even worse. This can happen even if you’re doing well as a small mistake can cause ripple effects throughout the course of the game. You could turn off all chat functionality, but then it feels as though you’re playing a game with bots. When I boot up a multiplayer game, I’m usually looking to chill out and enjoy friendly banter with others, but League does not allow me to do this. It demands attention because if you play badly, you will get harassed.

Gameplay is where the game shines as it is highly technical and rewarding to master. Though lane interactions can be docile, the pace at which the game ramps up is relatively steady. When objectives come up, teams both head towards them and the ensuing fights can be really tense and fun. Depending on the patch, the fights can be too explosive however. Sometimes you will get deleted instantly and have no idea what happened, come to find out an invisible champion killed you or you died from a globally impacting move. There is a lot to keep track of and it does get visually confusing sometimes. Once you know what a majority of the cast can do, and what to look out for, you can play around their most powerful move (most times) and come out the victor. Some victories are small and the sooner this is learned, the better time you will have. The game is severely dependent on micromanaging. You have to ensure you get every minion last hit you can and deny the enemy theirs. Map awareness is also paramount to your success. Managing these aspects becomes second nature with practice, but is rough starting out.

I am not a master, and the casual experience is not one I would recommend to anyone. There is barely a tutorial and the only way to really learn is to play or have prior MOBA experience. Even as an experienced MOBA player, I struggled heavily when I first started. The item system was a lot to get used to, however the shop does well to recommend useful items to the player. Characters and roles however are not touched upon enough. Top, Mid, Bott, Support and Jungle are all completely different experiences and on top of that, some characters are not good in some roles. Playing Yuumi in mid would severely hamper your experience for example. With all the characters to choose from, there is no easy way to introduce new players to this, and Riot does not seem to care about acquiring newbies at all. The game caters to its existing player base with its balance patches and events.

League of Legends is a divisive game because of its community, monetization and developer practices. Its design allows for countless variables for interactions resulting in an experience full of diverse gameplay with a high skill ceiling, a toxic player base and a money sink for those that want to look cool. It chooses to waste your time in many aspects, but rewards those that spend their time playing with a sense of progressive accomplishment in the mastery of the micromanaging systems. If you don’t care about rank, this game is not for you. They have implemented some modes for the casual player, but they leave much to be desired and still reward those with a higher understanding the victory. If you are a casual gamer, do not play this game; If you are a serious gamer you will find some enjoyment in learning the systems here, but you will lose a huge chunk of time doing so.