The first time I tried to share League of Legends with a loved one was a pretty poor experience. I convinced my brother, despite his skepticism, to download the free-to-play MOBA and give it a shot. We jumped into a game against low-level AI bots together; the lowest-pressure experience possible. Then, my brother made the mistake of purchasing a mana crystal on his AD carry character, and somebody else called him a slur in the chat.

Despite the nightmare carnival of toxicity and yelling I’ve encountered over the years, I love League of Legends and have since 2009, when the game had approximately four polygons. I’ve spent endless hours reading into the backstories of each champion, coming up with theories, and reading other fans speculate on what’s coming next. It’s only recently that I feel like I’ve been able to properly onboard new people into the great lore countless developers and creatives have built up around League. For a long time, Riot’s storytelling felt like the shaky steps of a baby horse, but with Riot Forge games, the Netflix show, the novel, and other ventures I started to feel like all of that investment was solidifying into something I could comfortably........

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