International video game League of Legends on the rise

One hundred million dollars—that was the grand prize for playing a video game in October. With the PC game League of Legends’s second year championships held in Los Angeles, California, ending with a bang, the start of year three, and the port to Mac clients, the game’s popularity has steadily climbed in the last few weeks.

“I play every day now,” senior Joey Strickland said.

The free-to-play online video game features many different roles to fill with 112 champions to choose from between millions of players. It allows limitless possibility.

“My favorite character to play is Shen,” senior Josh Sanders said.” He is the Eye of Twilight in a group whose mission is to keep equilibrium in the world. His moves are fast and he can take a lot of damage.”

The game’s main feature is a five-versus-five mode in which the objective is to fight to and destroy the other team’s base. Each champion is controlled from a bird’s eye perspective in a mix of strategy and action. Every match has different players with different styles and different situations to face.

“It’s not repetitive,” Strickland said. “Everyone has their own personality.”

The game is even further diversified with purchasable items that improve the character. They can be made more durable, powerful, quicker and more helpful to the team.

“You get a ton of choices at what to do and how to play,” Sanders said. “The team play is what I like most about it.”

With so many ways to play with other people, criticism among one another abounds. Tension is high, so teamwork and communication are musts.

“A lot of different people play, so it has a pretty big variety from game to game,” Sanders said. “You get to meet new people with different strategies each time.”

Some people play for fun, while others play to win. Some League of Legends games are ultra-competitive and held in tournaments with enormous cash prizes.

“I play not to die and to have fun,” Strickland said.