League of Legends Got Me Again
I thought I got over it, I thought I had seen it all. It turns out you’ve never seen it all.
A global pandemic. Me having three months of spare time. One YouTube video suggestion. That’s all it took to send me down the rabbit hole again.
It was at the beginning of June, and I was sitting at home with nothing to do. Somehow the YouTube algorithm thought it was a good idea to suggest a video of RossBoomsocks trying out an utterly dumb build.
That’s all it took for me to reconsider my decision from over two years ago to uninstall League. I made said decision because I’ve had enough of League. I told myself that I had spent too many hours playing the game and that it wasn’t worth the time anymore.
Now, two years older and wiser I concluded that I’d download it again, hoping I’d not get caught up in its complexity again. I thought I’d be smart enough to know when to stop, not to play five games a day. It turns out that those sweet pentas are still too tempting for me.
Even though League of Legends is over a decade old, it still feels fresh to me. It is hands down the most complex game I have ever played, and every time I come back to it, it feels like I am a complete noob again.
In almost any category, League can’t compare to any of the rest of my favourite games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or No Man’s Sky. Its graphics aren’t fancy, there is still a ton of buggy coding, and it has no storyline.
However, League is the only game that feels different every time you spawn into the Rift. For someone who has never played League, it may seem odd. Basically, every game is the same. One team destroys the other team’s nexus. As the player, however, there are so many nuances to the game, it seems like each round is an entirely new one.
I have so many choices to make, and each one has an impact on my game. I have to keep track of the enemies team, their build, and so much more. That complexity of League of Legends is what hooks me again and again.
I am by no means a good League player. I am a bronze player with a no real main role this season. Even though I am not that skilled, League is one of the most satisfying games I have ever played. Landing a perfect flash kick on Lee Sin or taking out four enemies with a Jhin ultimate always will be one of the most satisfying things I experienced while gaming.
League will forever have a special place in my gamer heart. I spent over two weeks of my life playing League of Legends. However, I think I am ready to let League be just another one of my favourite games. Although fighting in Summoners Rift is fantastic, this was the last time I will allow myself to get hooked by it that much.
I am not ready anymore to spend so much time in front of a grey screen tilting because my teammates flame me rather than help me. I moved on from spending my nights in summoners rift trying to play zed like I’m faker and feeding the hell out of the enemy mid laner.
I want to spend some time with my friends off the screen instead of screaming at them not to steal my farm.
In the end, I have to admit though that League got me once again two months ago. The game managed to pull me in into its universe back and I became reinvested into it. It’s not leagues fault at all, but I won’t let it happen again. I won’t let the game become, so time-consuming again.
That’s not to say that I won’t play it ever again. I won’t play it for days on end again. I’ll still join the occasional ranked with my mate to try and get a bit better rank or go into normal and completely tilt the enemy ADC with Yasuo Malphite bot lane.
Because after all, League of Legend is fun.
Stay safe, stay kind and stay healthy out there.
Raffael