User blog comment:YourPrivateNightmare/Reasons to quit this game/@comment-4542190-20150913224932

(After reading the blog post and the previous comments I can finally make my own post. Yaaaaay :) )

Let me start off by saying how I got into LoL in the first place. I was pretty much already a moba freak (cough veteran cough) by that time-started playing since classic DotA and have played almost every moba that has come out. It was the time when it started getting amazingly popular. I had heard about it, checked it out a bit from videos but wasn't very interested in it. A friend of mine kept "commanding" me: "Install LoL!" again and again (entirely friendly tone). Another one wanted me to try it too but was less "commanding". I'll write why I was hesitant later.

So, after a lot of demand, I got into it- mainly (99%) because most of my real life friends were already in it and DotA 2- the only 2 I didn't like much and in other mobas-HoN, Smote, HotS, Infinite Crisis-which was sadly shut down Q.Q etc I was #ForeverAlone. Sure I've made some great online friends in all of them but nothing beats rl friends imho. The remaining 1% was just the curiosity of actually playing it and seeing it for myself I guess- though I had a bad feeling I'd regret going into it. I believe I started around season 2-3 ish (when Taric along with 2 others were the new champs iirc).

Now, to answer the questions you put and then I'll talk a bit more in general.

' - Do I still enjoy this game as much as I did when I started playing? '

Without being entirely sure, due to my stance against LoL (again, more on that later), maybe just a bit more. The reason being I've come to appreciate certain things I didn't before about the game- my favorite heroes and the lore. I'm a sucker for a good lore and I give it to Rito (perhaps the only thing I give to them) that creating all this from scratch and, to its largest part, original sure feels great and gives you a nice feeling if one is like me in those things. But I guess I could also say that since I was never a huge fan of the game up to this day, my approach never changed. But let's try to be positive and say I like it a bit more than when I started it.

'- Do I still have fun playing my favourite champs or do I just play to win? '

These 2 parts are linked I believe. When one plays a favorite hero of his/hers, it's logical and expected to want to win more than normal-because, naturally, one would like to play good with his/her favorites (and not feed/suck) or at least be decent- that's the case with me at least. Also, I believe, everyone starts with a pre-determination to win, even subconsciously. Of course, not everyone to the same degree. But truth be told, winning feels better (most of the time at least). Personally, yes, I always have fun and enjoy playing my favorites. My most faves are Garen (since I started playing) and Jayce (wanted to get better with him, played him a lot and loved him-lore helped a lot in both cases) but I have many other favorites as well. Now, I rarely go on try-hard mode and when I do, even when I end up winning, the pressure that it brought me prior (like having to carry my team hard cause I was the only one doing good from our team) barely lets me enjoy it. I hate it when it happens.

'- Do I still get satisfaction out of doing well other than the relief of not being the reason your team is losing? '

Honestly, without bragging/exaggerating (I'm a shy person so I rarely do that even when I have the right to do so) or claiming to be Faker's equal, most of the times my team loses, it's not my fault. I always try my best (out of dignity) without letting it get to my nerves (most of the time, sometimes auto pilot kicks in and I go try hard like I wrote above) and many times, it feels that the reason we either won or lost and it was so close was me and my performance. The only times I'm really what one calls "butthurt" after losing is when I happen to lose vs some non-descript people who go and write "gg ez/izi" in all chat and the like (even when we were 4 or less v 5 due to afks or someone just fed them from the start, lolz), especially when as I say I did my best and it felt like being 1v9 or 8 or whatever. Like, "gj bro, you won a game, you really achieved something in your life" /sarcasm I'm really ready to go into flame wars in most of these instances but I usually end up just making one derogatory comment or 2 and leave the room. When I happen to lose simply because the opponent is better than me/outplayed me, I don't mind.

-' Do I REALLY want to queue up for another game even if you don't get any excitement or joy out of the anticipation? '

I'm not sure I fully understand this question's last part, but, to answer it, since like I said I was never a huge fan of LoL to begin with, I don't end up getting let downs cause I don't put my hopes up beforehand. Usually, I'll keep playing until I get my first win of the day bonus. Then, it depends on the mood. I've gone into lose streaks (which pisses me off, especially when I just want the bonus to get over with it for the day). I can play games even after it though.

'- Can I really keep calm and play the game in a community as tainted as this? '

As arrogant as it may sound, yeah. LoL surely puts up a serious candidate for the most toxic community in mobas (and in video games in general). I have the experience (some at least) to back this since I've played almost every moba out there (most since beta). This very same experience also happens to help me on the matter, since toxic people are a common factor in mobas, I've learned to deal with them. Plus, when you're playing with friends, it can easily outweight the negative experience these people cause you.

Now for some general thoughts and stuff I said I'd write later. The things I dislike about LoL (and had me hesitant on starting it) is first, its nature. It feels too easy to be good at, not much effort required. In one word: casual. And that's precisely why it has such a huge, enormous, gigantic playerbase (imho at least). There are many reasons why this happens, I'll stress the ones I feel most important: a) everyone, and I mean EVERYONE scales into late-game be it AD or AP, or even armor, magic resist or health b) you DON'T lose gold when you die c) no game-breaking ultimates with huge cooldowns. The only thing close to that was Stand United (which wasn't nearly close in comparison to, say DotA's Black Hole, Guardian Angel etc) but they reduced its cds recently. And even if there were, there's cd.r for that d) no uphill/downhill, all lanes have equal distance from the towers on both sides, no deny mechanic e) summoner spells (everyone has access to Flash for example) and so on. You see, I like being challenged. And most often than not, LoL doesn't offer that.

Second, the community as we both said. Getting flamed in games like LoL is usual, sure. The thing is, in LoL, the one cursing/flaming/horrendously insulting you can 99,99% of time be a st00pid 9-yr old (or younger even) because LoL's target group (for me at least) are 14 yr olds max and that, just by thinking it alone makes me explode inside. You see people wishing you and everyone you love die of cancer almost daily- most don't even know what they're saying, they just think they're all cool and tough behind their keyboard cause it is trendy to say those things (they watch streams were the streamers flames constantly like this for the most meaningless of reasons- and they also make lots of money from it). I lost my dad from cancer in 2009...

I was at a point where I had to play LoL for quite a while and thought I'd prolly never play again. I came back just to play URF again (spammed Jayce and from level 2: fire at will!). And you know what happened? I had to file reports after EVERY SINGLE GAME. And believe me, I played LOTS of games. The best part was; people from MY TEAM always (funny because I won all games but one as Jayce because I was in a lane vs Teemo and Sona and our Ryze kinda fed them after I scored some kills- didn't report him cause he was a new player; a friend of one of my friend's whom we play together). Then I thought I was done with LoL again (when URF ended) but I got all hyped for Ekko (not because I thought he'd be OP; didn't care for that. The Seconds teaser captivated me "A hero who can rewind time; I must definitely get my hands on him!" and the like) and insta-unlocked him. Didn't regret it up to this day despite the initial nerf waves that almost made "Better nerf Ekko" instead of Irelia a thing/meme.

In conclusion, let's talk about things that should keep one playing LoL. Like you said, an obvious one would be the time and money (skins and the like) one has invested in it. The more the bigger it gets. Another would be if you have friends that help you enjoy every moment of it (or if you can do that yourself).

Personally, except the things I mentioned above I like (favorite heroes, lore, playing with friends) a huge saving grace I find is the ability to play it in my country's language. The quotes, the item and ability names, all in my mother tongue; just priceless. It cracks me up all the time, some quotes I love so much I want to hear again or both.

P.S. Sorry for the long post