When I played my first League of Legends match, I thought to my self “Ok this looks easy. Three roads, some stuff in between and a few little roads connecting them.” The concept seemed simple, just kill the little guys coming down the opponents lane and kill the bad guys too while trying to destroy guard towers in each lane. This image of a simple, easy to master game is far from the truth.
League of Legends (LoL) is a game called a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and is one of the most complex games to learn. Complex but additively fun. This is due to the incredible amount of verity and styles of game play and players. LoL is home to over one hundred characters (champions) to chose from and each one is unique with different abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and quarks. When this is combined with the thirty million active monthly users, things become interesting.

Gameplay in LoL is centered around the lanes. This lanes follow the outside of the square that is the map and one goes straight from the bottom left to the top right of the map. In these two corners are the bases that house the two teams. Each team is made of five players. Who each chose one of the 115 champions. Teams generally sort themselves according to a meta-game is too extensive to discus here. The players kill minions (the small characters who come down each lane) to earn gold which is then spent on items to increase each players power. Now that I have mentioned the champions, I will elaborate on the most interesting concept of the game. Each champion has different abilities which the player can use in battle at will. The abilities and attack type of the champion determines what type of role that champion fits into. Items also increase the power and abilities of the champions by increasing the overall statistics of the champion.

While League of Legends does sound simple on the surface to people who have never played it ( trust me, I was one), the game does have one of the highest learning curves I have ever seen. Players must be concerned about items, team mates, having enough gold, and other things which relate back to the meta-game to worry about in order to make a match a success. This learning cure must be repeated for each one of the hundred plus champions. This is because everything about a champion is different from every other one in very fundamental ways. This when combined with advanced tactics that experienced players use can make it difficult and intimidating for new players to enjoy the LoL ad much as those who have experience with the game. The lack of new player support from Riot Games does nothing to help with this issue. LoL only has a few tutorials and the option to play a computer team which behaves nothing like real players. The community that supports the game more than makes up for this. The majority of other players will generally help newer ones with suggestions on what to buy or what the new player needs to do to benefit the team in a certain situation.

Graphically speaking, League of Legends is nothing new or exciting in quality or design. The animations do have a high quality and a drop in performance only occurs if somehow the game becomes disconnected. I nice feature is that each of the 115 champions has his or her unique voice acting, animations, and graphical effects. Some of the champions have special interactions with others depending on if they have any lore or if Riot Games felt like it was appropriate. This does create some interesting sense but they are few and far between.

Riot Games' League of Legends is a unique game due to its mechanics and option when it comes to player style. However, it is incredibly difficult for new players to gain a foothold in this game due to the complexity and lack of player support. Supporting a massive fan base and even a World Championship with a one million dollar prize going to the wining team. League of Legends is an addicting and challenging game that is well worth the time investment