(copypasting my addiction story off Reddit)
So, League. You either love it, or despise it. You either love it for how addicting it is, great character diversity or the art, or you hate it because of the balance team, frustration, the toxic community or how addicting it is. I hate it for only one of the reasons, how addicting it is. But it goes deeper than that; it's because of myself. I couldn't control my addiction. Even when my life depended on it, I couldn't help but play it. Created some good memories but like 95% of them were negative. It goes deeper though.
You see, in 2012, I was 13 years old. I was an avid gamer playing tons of CS:GO and CoD mostly. I was introduced to this game called "League of Legends". It was in Season 2 at the time. When I first saw gameplay of it I laughed at it. I said "this just looks boring as fuck how is everyone hooked on this". I wrote it off as "some boring ass flash game looking game".
Then we get a fast forward to the 20th of January, 2013. My best friend tells me that on the 15th he started playing. I thought "hey, what's the worst that could happen?"
and wow, was I not prepared for the worst that could happen.
I still remember going onto the site and downloading it. I started playing around when Thresh was added. To this day I still remember playing the tutorial. I was playing on NA at the time despite living in Australia so my ping was a bit bad, but that didn't deter me. I played this game so much that my daily schedule would just consist of do school > play league > sleep. I loved the champions, I loved the core gameplay, I loved the artstyle, I loved everything about it. Some days I wouldn't even sleep and just play League. I'D SKIP SCHOOL for League. I eventually realized it was getting bad so I took a break. The break lasted a week. I then started playing again. Just my friends and I playing League. My uncle then revealed that he was a League player since season 1. He told me that if I could play to a similar rank as him we'd be able to play together. I couldn't play ranked then so I waited I grinded so much.
Around the time the OCE server was released, we did a transfer and my ping finally went down from 200 to around 30-40. I play a ranked match to celebrate. To this day I still remember my first ranked match champ select and how the entire game the enemy mid flamed in all chat for every death. It was around 2014 that my friends and I decided to start grinding ranked. My friend and I placed in Bronze 3. We tried everything to climb and being hardstuck down there for the next 6 months or so. In July I hit Silver and I had an insane reaction, as if I had just graduated from high school. Was hardstuck in silver for a year, started flaming mildly. The problem with playing league too much started again without me realizing it. I eventually hit gold in Season 5 at an internet cafe in South Koreaand was so happy. I played 5 hours a day minimum, and 40 hours a week minimum.
Eventually, in 2016 I hit platinum. This was when it started to get really bad. I dreamed of becoming a pro player, even if I didn't know who I was going to play for. All I knew is I wanted to play in the LCS and one day be a better player than Faker. I start to become really toxic as a result, blaming every loss on my teammates, I called my jungler racial slurs (no joke), and lost my girlfriend as a result of how racist I was becoming.
2017, I'm in uni. Only leaving my dorm room if I really needed to, and starting to gain tons of weight. I only went to the gym once per month and did a very light exercise just to make more time to play League. Eventually, I hit Diamond and am still toxic. My roommate Bob seemed like a cool guy but he was turned off by me playing league. I was now playing 12 hours a day. I would go to one class every 2 weeks. I failed my first year as a result but couldn't help but play it anyway. I try controlling my addiction but the damage had already been done.
Around late 2018 in October, I receive a 14-day suspension. I had received chat bans before but they didn't deter me from being toxic. I was shocked when I saw this but was happy. I decide to play Siege to fill the time, and eventually halfway through my friend tells me that I seem like an entirely different person whenever not playing League, seeming much happier. The suspension comes to an end, I continue. Playing 3 hours a day now. I end the season at Diamond 1, 99LP.
Eventually, in season 2019 I demoted to plat, and getting back to Diamond didn't feel too satisfying. I realized I wasn't having fun anymore, so I decided to try other MOBAs. I find myself enjoying them more and easier to control my addiction to so my uncle and I decide to delete our accounts together, his account is gone now but eventually, 10 days in I decide to cancel because of how much money I spent, a minimum of $681 AUD per account and I could just sell all 4 of my accounts. I find my life drastically improving, now I'm good friends with my roommate, and I see myself doing well in uni. I repaired some of the damage by deleting all my socials trying to move on from my old self. I did a 1km jog every day to start the morning. I went to the gym a lot. I started to recreate some of my socials recently. Now, I recently applied for a job at JB Hi-Fi (a tech store chain in Australia and New Zealand). Now truly begins the rest of my life.
Hopefully, you can understand what I felt through those 6 years and in the end how it was luck that got me out of an addiction.
So, League. You either love it, or despise it. You either love it for how addicting it is, great character diversity or the art, or you hate it because of the balance team, frustration, the toxic community or how addicting it is. I hate it for only one of the reasons, how addicting it is. But it goes deeper than that; it's because of myself. I couldn't control my addiction. Even when my life depended on it, I couldn't help but play it. Created some good memories but like 95% of them were negative. It goes deeper though.
You see, in 2012, I was 13 years old. I was an avid gamer playing tons of CS:GO and CoD mostly. I was introduced to this game called "League of Legends". It was in Season 2 at the time. When I first saw gameplay of it I laughed at it. I said "this just looks boring as fuck how is everyone hooked on this". I wrote it off as "some boring ass flash game looking game".
Then we get a fast forward to the 20th of January, 2013. My best friend tells me that on the 15th he started playing. I thought "hey, what's the worst that could happen?"
and wow, was I not prepared for the worst that could happen.
I still remember going onto the site and downloading it. I started playing around when Thresh was added. To this day I still remember playing the tutorial. I was playing on NA at the time despite living in Australia so my ping was a bit bad, but that didn't deter me. I played this game so much that my daily schedule would just consist of do school > play league > sleep. I loved the champions, I loved the core gameplay, I loved the artstyle, I loved everything about it. Some days I wouldn't even sleep and just play League. I'D SKIP SCHOOL for League. I eventually realized it was getting bad so I took a break. The break lasted a week. I then started playing again. Just my friends and I playing League. My uncle then revealed that he was a League player since season 1. He told me that if I could play to a similar rank as him we'd be able to play together. I couldn't play ranked then so I waited I grinded so much.
Around the time the OCE server was released, we did a transfer and my ping finally went down from 200 to around 30-40. I play a ranked match to celebrate. To this day I still remember my first ranked match champ select and how the entire game the enemy mid flamed in all chat for every death. It was around 2014 that my friends and I decided to start grinding ranked. My friend and I placed in Bronze 3. We tried everything to climb and being hardstuck down there for the next 6 months or so. In July I hit Silver and I had an insane reaction, as if I had just graduated from high school. Was hardstuck in silver for a year, started flaming mildly. The problem with playing league too much started again without me realizing it. I eventually hit gold in Season 5 at an internet cafe in South Koreaand was so happy. I played 5 hours a day minimum, and 40 hours a week minimum.
Eventually, in 2016 I hit platinum. This was when it started to get really bad. I dreamed of becoming a pro player, even if I didn't know who I was going to play for. All I knew is I wanted to play in the LCS and one day be a better player than Faker. I start to become really toxic as a result, blaming every loss on my teammates, I called my jungler racial slurs (no joke), and lost my girlfriend as a result of how racist I was becoming.
2017, I'm in uni. Only leaving my dorm room if I really needed to, and starting to gain tons of weight. I only went to the gym once per month and did a very light exercise just to make more time to play League. Eventually, I hit Diamond and am still toxic. My roommate Bob seemed like a cool guy but he was turned off by me playing league. I was now playing 12 hours a day. I would go to one class every 2 weeks. I failed my first year as a result but couldn't help but play it anyway. I try controlling my addiction but the damage had already been done.
Around late 2018 in October, I receive a 14-day suspension. I had received chat bans before but they didn't deter me from being toxic. I was shocked when I saw this but was happy. I decide to play Siege to fill the time, and eventually halfway through my friend tells me that I seem like an entirely different person whenever not playing League, seeming much happier. The suspension comes to an end, I continue. Playing 3 hours a day now. I end the season at Diamond 1, 99LP.
Eventually, in season 2019 I demoted to plat, and getting back to Diamond didn't feel too satisfying. I realized I wasn't having fun anymore, so I decided to try other MOBAs. I find myself enjoying them more and easier to control my addiction to so my uncle and I decide to delete our accounts together, his account is gone now but eventually, 10 days in I decide to cancel because of how much money I spent, a minimum of $681 AUD per account and I could just sell all 4 of my accounts. I find my life drastically improving, now I'm good friends with my roommate, and I see myself doing well in uni. I repaired some of the damage by deleting all my socials trying to move on from my old self. I did a 1km jog every day to start the morning. I went to the gym a lot. I started to recreate some of my socials recently. Now, I recently applied for a job at JB Hi-Fi (a tech store chain in Australia and New Zealand). Now truly begins the rest of my life.
Hopefully, you can understand what I felt through those 6 years and in the end how it was luck that got me out of an addiction.
Reviewed on May 05, 2022