Nerd Legend for the Un-Nerdy: DOTA = Defense of the Ancients; Wow = World of Warcraft
Anyway, the particular game I'm playing unfortunately isn't Starcraft or Wow, but it's supposedly the next best thing: League of Legends (LoL). How does it compare with its infamous predecessors? Well it's supposedly simpler and most importantly, it's FREE!
For those curious about what the game actually entails...
You choose a champion as part of a team of 4 other champions and you face an opposing team of 5 other champions. The objective is to take out the other team's nexus (base) by taking down their defending towers one-by-one. You accomplish this by helping your auto-spawning minions overwhelm their minions or by killing enemies champions and taking down towers yourself.
I don't have particularly great reflexes, and I get a little tense when I have to make reflexive, split-second decisions in games, so why in the world would I be interested in this game? Not to sound like a broken record, but it is primarily for the POWERS. Each champion has unique abilities that enable you to damage, stun, escape from, or defend yourself against enemy champions. Of course, you also get your pick of spells, boosters (called masteries), and runes! How much more magical can a game get? :)
Let me introduce you to a few of my friends...
Morgana
This is my favourite character because she is ranged and has lots of magic power! She's also supposedly a pretty easy character to play because she has a shield and a stun that often lets her support teammates and escape from enemies more easily. Doesn't her pallid, sickly body turn you on?
TristanaThis is my second favourite character. She is also ranged but does physical damage instead of using "magic". She is basically a trigger-happy little girl with a sizable toy.
Shen
This is not one of my favourites, but because teams need balance, I decided to learn one of the characters that have a lot of health and can thus take a lot of damage (i.e. a tank). I don't usually like playing tanks because I have this impression of them being slow and fat like army tanks, but Shen is bearable. Besides, as his description in the game says, "He's a flippin' ninja!"
So far, I've only really talked about the good parts about playing this game; however, like most things, it is not without its faults. Compared to most other games, the community of players is HORRIBLE. There is so much trash-talking, noob-hating, 12 year old girls, and other individuals with the maturity of a 12 year old girl. I was about to say humanity at its worst, but really it's humanity at its non-existence. Furthermore, outside of the bad players, the basic strategies required to win are immoral and without integrity. What exactly do I mean?
1. First, know this: winning is often achieved by killing enemy champions because you receive money for the kills. This money can be used to buy stat-boosting items. So how can I kill the most champions and thus win?
The best way to kill champions is not by valiantly challenging them to a 1v1 duel. Au contraire! you must gather a sizable portion of your team and jump the enemy champion when they are alone and unprepared! What kind of message are we teaching these 12 year old girls about fairness and self-respect? Certainly nothing about fighting fair; seems all's fair in love and LoL.
2. Staying alive is good. How do you do this?
Well, other than the occasional health potion, heal spell, or whatnot, the most effective strategy is to run away with your tail between your legs. In LoL, there is no shame in running away from a fight when you are dying--in fact, most of the game is spent "running away". Even from the measly computerized minions.
Note: But of course, if your trusty teammates come over to help, you should run right back into the fight so that you can kill the enemy 2v1. Where is the courage? The decency to die with pride?
3. White flag-happy. For certain situations (e.g. you have to go back to real life) I can understand why surrendering is an option but I still hate how it is an option. Even if the game isn't completely set, people are begging their own team to surrender for the whole game instead of actually playing it. Even if you truly have no hope, just play the friggen game! Don't give stupid excuses like "this is a waste of time". Lets be realistic; you're playing an online game instead of going outside, exercising, reading a book, eating amazing food, talking to real people, playing a live board game with your friends/family, etc. I could go on and on! The point is that by being on LoL you're already wasting time. In short, LoL hasn't taught these 12 year old girls anything about perseverence or accepting one's fate gracefully and nobly.
