League of Legends (often abbreviated as LoL, and sometimes as LofL) is an action RTS video game developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows, inspired by the Defense of the Ancients (DotA) map for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. It was first announced on October 7, 2008, and released on October 27, 2009. The game was in a closed beta from April 10, 2009, to October 22, 2009. It then transitioned to open beta until release.
Players are formed into 2 even teams of Champions, 3v3 or 5v5. As of October 19, 2011, there are 85 different released champions.Each team starts at opposing sides of a map in an area called the “fountain”, near what is called a “Nexus”. A match is won when either the opposing team’s Nexus is destroyed or the other team surrenders. To destroy a Nexus, each team must work through a series of towers called “Turrets”. Turrets are often placed along a path to each base referred to as a “Lane”. Along the way, each player gains levels from killing the opposing team’s champions and “Minions” and defeating neutral monsters. Completing objectives rewards players with gold which is used to purchase items. In League of Legends, each player starts at level 1 at the beginning of the match and can obtain the maximum of level 18 with their champion, leveling 4 different champion-specific abilities.
League of Legends has experienced some moderate success in the competitive video game field. The 2010 World Cyber Games Grand Finals at Los Angeles hosted a competitive tournament for League of Legends. The competitors came from around the world to compete, coming from China, Europe and the Americas. The victors were the Counter Logic Gaming team from North America and won a seven-thousand dollar prize.