League of Legends
2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game
League of Legends (LoL), commonly referred to as League, is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by Defense of the Ancients, a custom map for Warcraft III, Riot's founders sought to develop a stand-alone game in the same genre. Since its release in October 2009, League has been free-to-play and is monetized through purchasable character customization. The game is available for Windows and macOS.
In the game's main mode, Summoner's Rift, two teams of five players battle in player-versus-player combat. Each player controls a character, known as a "champion", with unique abilities and styles of play. During a match, champions become more powerful by collecting experience points, earning gold, and purchasing items to defeat the opposing team. Teams defend their base and win by pushing toward the enemy base and destroying a large structure within it, the "Nexus".
League of Legends has received generally favorable reviews, which have highlighted its accessibility, character designs, and production value. The game's long lifespan has resulted in a critical reappraisal, with reviews trending favorably; it is widely considered one of the greatest video games ever made. However, rude and abusive in-game player behavior, criticized since the game's early days, persists despite Riot's attempts to fix the problem.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “League of Legends” as 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q223341. VIAF identifies the subject as 6876149416769889730007. The Library of Congress control number is no2020000916. 2 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “League of Legends”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow League of Legends primary sources, League of Legends archive and League research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “League of Legends”?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “League of Legends” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.