I guess I can't really call this a definite story, for I haven't reached the end of it. I'm not even sure if I can call it a story.

I had first discovered League when I was on a band trip in California. One of my roommates in the hotel room with me opened up his laptop and started playing this game I had never seen before. He told me it was League of Legends and I was interested in it. Thus, I downloaded it when I got back from the trip. I remember clearly laying down in my bed, bad posture and all, clicking randomly around the foreign Summoner's Rift with 10 fps while some friends were trying to explain to me what farming, laneing and all those other things I now know by heart. Honestly, I was too focused on how cool Xerath looked to listen to them at the time. But mechanics aren’t the crux of what this game has given me. It was a perfect alignment of timing to discover League at such a time: my beginning year of high school. Being plagued by an introverted personality, a lack of confidence, parent issues and constant melancholy, League was the cure I needed even if I didn’t yet know it.
After playing some games I don’t recall being super into the game, but I continued to play it because it gave me something to do during my lonely hours at home. But the love I have now was beginning to kindle during my Sophomore year when I met my current best friend, Alex. Still being one with not many friends, Alex messaging me on Facebook regarding Spanish homework was an opportunity I had to change things.
And I did. We became acquainted friends and it was a few weeks into our new relationship where I asked him if he played League. He said no and I encouraged him to install him, and so he did. I remember our first Skype call when my level 18 skills were trying to teach him how to play Zed after his 8th death. And from there, everything changed for me.
It became our weekend routine initially to grind to level 30, and then to get those really cool looking champions, get ranked, and then get out of Bronze. I began to actually become confident and I obtained my first true friend. From the computer screen I met other players around the school and the city that sprouted the most memorable of friendships. One person I met (a several yearlong friend with Alex) over League came down from Canada to Arizona to meet us for a week. We shout, accompanied with our parents’ annoyance, at the amazing plays we make with each other and laugh at the silly things we say and groan when the other teams destroys us. The best memories I have are the eight hour skype calls that would run into the early morning to where I was too tired to even conjure an understandable sentence. The best memories I have are where I’d go to my friends’ houses to just play the game and enjoy ourselves. At one point all these people I know and love were strangers to me, but became some of my best friends over the click of the mouse and a keyboard.

League has become an antidote for me, an escape from the world. No matter the stress I have, the weight I feel, the sadness, the complexities of life I encounter, or the people I lose, League of Legends is there for me to play when I need it. Every game, every Skype call, every LCS game, every “gg”, hell, every time I rage, I will cherish League of Legends for being more than a game to me, but a near livelihood. This all began 4 years ago, during my Freshmen year of high school and, at the time, I would not have been able to even barely foreshadow the immense impact of a game, dictated by some clicks of a mouse and keyboard, could have on my waking life.

I have spent 1,941 hours playing League of Legends.
And damn has it been time well spent.