Video game ‘League of Legends’ draws students

By Jason Koole
Western Herald

“League of Legends” is a player versus player, or PVP, game that hit the scene about a year ago and is slowly snowballing into popularity and competitive game play.

The game focuses around working well within a team to destroy the opponents’ Nexus, which is the main objective for matches in the game. The Nexus is located in each team’s base.

For each game, a character selects a champion character to control, each of which has a specific set of abilities ranging from stun effects to area nukes.

Games are played in teams of either three or five players, on two different game maps.

The simple, yet skill-rewarding game play, and the fact that the game is completely free to download, are the two biggest draws.  Fans of other games such as “World of Warcraft” and “Defense of the Ancients” will be able to recognize the game’s general interface and idea.

“There’s a lot of good things about the game, especially playing with my friends,” said Brian Courtade, a 17-year-old senior at Catholic Central High School.

“Winning is definitely one of my favorite parts.”

Courtade has been playing “LoL” competitively ever since the beta version first came out in September 2009 and dedicates most of his spare time toward the game.

“[My favorite game moments are] when all hope is lost and then we come back,” said Courtade, who also mentioned quoting inspirational speeches to raise his team’s morale.

To improve at the game, Courtade said it requires a great deal of time and dedication.
“It’s a game of experience,” Courtade said. “[Good players have] good timing. Players also can’t get too anxious, that’s definitely not good. [The best champions] have survivability and stun effects, and have to help play a key role in the game.”

20-year-old Jake Klomparens is a sophomore at Penn State University and is attending Western Michigan University over the summer. He has been playing “LoL” for about two months.

“The game takes some amount of technical skill, being able to use your abilities effectively, and a certain amount of strategic skill,” Klomparens said.

New players can focus on the wrong thing in the game sometimes, Klomparens said.  Even though the object of the game is destroying the Nexus, it is much more important to focus on staying alive.

“New players should just concentrate on not dying,” Komparens said. “I guess new players should also play a little more aggressively.”

The Entertainment Software Rating Board rates the game T for teenagers, but since it’s online and has interactions dealing with other people, other players sometimes can be rude or mean toward newer players.

“Don’t be too worried about what other people think, because they will probably think you are awful no matter what you do because it’s the Internet,” Klomparens said.

“This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing a video game, it’s just great because it’s something that you can’t really finish,” Klomparens said. “It’s just fun the entire time you are playing.”

League of Legends is free to play and download at www.leagueoflegends.com.

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Posted by kleonard on Jun 20 2010. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Kallie