Look, I don’t game, but I can’t resist a challenge. If millions of people are playing League of Legends then there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to get amongst the action. So here we are, a beginner’s first dive into legit gaming territory. Strap in.
The first thing I remember liking about League of Legends is the music that played while setting up the game. It was like being plunged into a Game of Thrones or Avengers battle scene, and the fate of the world was in my hands. It was full hype mode and I was suddenly ready for action.
Before getting onto the battlefield against all the real players, things kick off with a series of short tutorials against bots so the newbies and I can get the hang of things. That’s when I meet my avatar. I’m told she’s my “champion”. I feel powerful.
Even though at this point I have not yet mastered any coordination of the Q W E and R buttons that control most of my champion’s actions, I manage to get by at first just by frantically pressing any and all of them. I shoot some minions and I’m granted a ‘superpower’, and I cannot describe the validation I get from this minor success.
That motivates me to actually pay attention to how to use my superpowers and it turns out to be super intuitive, because it literally tells me what buttons to press at the bottom of the screen. Once I start pulling out my magic and weapons with actual intention, I feel like a damn professional. The battlefield is my bitch.
The aim of the game is pretty simple, ‘DESTROY THE ENEMY NEXUS’. Suddenly I’m alive with purpose. The distressing meaninglessness of my real life fades into the distance as I embark on my new mission. My life is now this nexus. This nexus is my life.
So before even completing the tutorials I’m feeling pretty confident and getting thirsty for some real action with real players. These guys aren’t ready for how I destroyed the introduction course. I’m about to unleash fury on this League situation. Let me at it.
Once I enter into the real, multiplayer battlefield of Summoner’s Rift (where most League of Legends games are apparently played), I go forth and conquer.
By that, I honestly just mean I don’t feel completely useless, and I die way less frequently than I would have expected. It’s awesome.
At first I’m a little thrown and just over excited by the messages that keep popping up from my teammates. I don’t want to seem like an imposter and get exiled, I want to be part of the LoL banter. So it was a relief to have people genuinely acting like a team and actually giving me tips and tricks for how to help out, and to put it simply, not die.
They teach me what it means to ‘feed’ an enemy, (if I let them keep injuring/killing me, they use it to get stronger), what it means to be ‘ganked’, (when the enemy crew gang up on me to kill me), and how to use my minions as a shield, and killing easy-target enemy minions to become more powerful.
With every minor new thing I learn, the game instantly becomes that much easier. So you very quickly become hooked to playing, as there is so much instant validation as you go. After being in the action for just a few hours, my mastery over the buttons controlling all my superpowers and what not completely exceeds what I ever expected to be capable of.
What clicks pretty quickly is that League of Legends is a game you instantly see yourself playing for a long time, so the deaths and defeats along the way don’t feel so disastrous. Winning or losing a match doesn’t matter as much as just feeling like you’re playing skills are improving. Which they do, quickly.
With just one day under my belt, I found myself already hooked on playing League of Legends. The level of creativity, experimentation and instant gratification that the game allows made me understand very quickly why this is the biggest game in the world.
So look out for user ‘FreshPrinceButch’, (understandably, swearing isn’t allowed in usernames, so this is a poorly-adapted version of my original vision), and I’ll see you all on the battlefield.