Is League of Legends Appropriate for Kids?

We all know League of Legends is a game that has existed for 12 years now, and it’s still going; for those 12 years, the game itself has raised and sheltered many young adults and children in one way or another. The reasons for playing League are different for everyone. 

Some of them love to play it because it’s fun. Some do it out of pure boredom. Others do it cause they want to forget about everyday problems like puberty struggles, especially in these crucial years for children’s development. 

And after all those years of the game’s existence, it’s natural that one important question arises, and that would be, as the title says, Is League of Legends Appropriate for Kids? 

To answer this question, we must go back to the game’s recent history to compare then and now and see how those periods differentiate. 

When I look back on the game, I tend to share it into two periods that changed the game’s flow. Those two periods are before and after the year 2017. Why did I take 2017? Because, in that year, a humongous update changed the game and turned it in another direction.

Besides the regular updates like item and gameplay changes and upgrades, reworks, nerfs, and buffs, many other novelties have appeared, such as the transition from runes, masteries, and glyphs to just premade rune pages and new cartoon-like champions (like Zoe, Pyke, Neeko, Sylas, Lillia, Yuumi), and significant jungle upgrades like Honeyfruit and Scryer’s Bloom.  

As it seems to be, there are no violent and rough animations like before. Skins are also more anime-like with colorful and vivid graphics.

After this update, many of my fellow League players said, “Ah man, this game turned into anime-weeb style real quick.” They frequently claim that the game became childlike and straightforward. 

From big and mighty champions like Aatrox to tiny, bubbly champions like Zoe, “Where did it go wrong” they ask. 

From my point of view, in these days of fast development of modern technology, it’s kind of expected that devices and their perks will attract the young generations. And sometimes, because of the increase in younger audiences, companies (Riot in this case) must adapt to them and make necessary changes. 

There has to exist some kind of compromise, so all the sides can be satisfied. This logic is also applicable to this situation in the 2017—game update. 

This significant shift didn’t backfire on Riot, but it brought an influx of new players and much more money. According to the newest player count, 180 million people are playing League of Legends, which is significantly higher than in 2017, when there were 100 million people.

With this being said, we can further discuss the pros and cons of the game and its significance for Kids.

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Pros

1. Development Of One’s Cognitive Abilities

It is a well-known fact that LoL is a team game that requires concentration and mind work to plan tactics to achieve positive results. To win, the player must at the same time understand and make proper use of champions and items and also know the map very well to see how the enemy team positions itself and to play accordingly to that. 

See, there are so many technical and tactical properties to the game. It is entirely impossible for a kid to play a game such as LoL and not develop some skills in planning, increasing self-awareness, and improving cognitive abilities. 

2. Learning the Power to Adapt

As I mentioned earlier, the game has many updates, and it’s constantly changing, so players must be flexible in adapting fast to those changes so they don’t flank and lose their progress. 

They constantly need to be keeping up with champions and updates on their abilities and item changes, so at any given time, they should be able to make the appropriate choices in the gameplay. Improper use of these components can cost the game outcome.

3. Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork

League of Legends is, before anything else, a team game, where the team with better communication, agreements, and tactics is more likely to succeed. It is natural that in an environment like this, players will be again more self-aware of their position in the team and on the battlefield and will also be able to develop better communication skills and competence to make strong bonds.

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Cons

1. Toxic Community

Besides all of those positive things I mentioned in the previous group, there are opposites, and in this particular case, we have great teamwork on one side and instances when the teamwork goes wrong on the other side. 

It is pleasurable when you get in the lobby and see that all of your teammates are dedicated and cultured, but more frequently, after my experience, you can find those kinds of players on rare occasions. 

Meanwhile, you need to work with what you got, but it isn’t much in this case, especially in lower ranks. There is a bunch of flaming, cursing, and blaming that are all probably powered by impatience and whatsoever. This kind of verbal abuse can be ruinous and dangerous for Kids’ mental health and behavior patterns, especially in the formative years.

2. Addictiveness

Also, this is a massive problem for Kids. As I said earlier, they maybe don’t have the idea of moderation or the sensation of when to stop in their formative years. Some of them maybe don’t have the parent control they should have, so it comes to that that they become addicted. 

It can be tough to stop and heal if not noticed on time. You need to play more and more—one more game, and so on. It is not pleasant or easy to come out of that loop, so players must be cautious of that.

3. Money and time consuming

League of Legends is a free-to-play game, but I think this is just a paravane for what it really is. There are tons of skins that come out from time to time, and they are often eye-catching and attractive to young kids. They sometimes feel left out if they don’t have the skin for their “most played champion,” or their friends have all the new skins. These kinds of situations can affect mental health. 

Regarding the time consumption, the games are usually not that long (they vary between 20 – 30 minutes), but if played consecutively, you can be stuck in a loop, which every player has experienced once in their lifetime. So be mindful of that.  

Conclusion

So the conclusion here would be that, as we saw, a game such as League of Legends has its flaws and virtues like any other thing in this world. The way you behave in it and how you use it will directly affect your experience. 

So, kids may need some guidance before leaping into the game so that it can be more pleasant and exciting for them. They should go into it with the right mindset to make the best of it.

What do you think about this topic? Write your opinion in the comments down below!