Why is League of Legends so addictive?

So a friend recently exclaimed the oddity that me and many of my companions still played League of Legends. Our replies were all similar. LoL is a great game for many reasons, and we'll always go back to it when we've got nothing more important to play.

This conversation made me think. There are so many reasons to play League, and many more to keep you playing. So I've decided to tally a list here of what keeps us hooked. Take a look and see if it's the same for you, and comment if you think I missed anything.

Anyone can play. It's amazing how easy it is to get started on League of Legends. You can introduce a friend to it and get them enjoying it in a matter of hours. With up to five people per team, you can always make space for an extra friend or even make a custom game if there's too many.

You can enjoy it alone, or with friends. Many a time I haven't had anyone available to play with me, so I just start up a game by myself. It's still a pleasure, albeit harder to win. Playing with friends however, is amazing fun.

Every match is different. No two games go exactly the same, there is so much diversity when it comes to building your team, even if both champion lineups are the same everything can change. Summoner spells, rune pages, play style, and more provides a guarantee that you will always see new things.

You can play casually and seriously. Once you've played plenty of games, it's very possible to play a normal game or dominion very nonchalantly, or a draft pick/ ranked when you feel like putting maximum effort in.

People you meet play. I am no longer surprised when I meet somebody new who already plays LoL. I just ask them to add me and we'll play sometime. It's amazing to meet somebody out during your daily business and discover they play the same game obsessively like you.

There is nothing pushing you to use the cash shop. So many MMO games have been ruined for me because of a game breaking cash shop. It's even worse when they rub it in your face, with a pop up every 10 minutes mentioning how you need to buy something. Riot games want you to know that you can play and access everything without spending a penny. If anything, that's more incentive to buy a skin.

You can always learn to play better. In a match with so many opportunities and a plethora of strategies to employ, you're guaranteed to notice how many chances you had to grab a kill or dodge some damage. It's rare to finish a game and think to yourself 'I played perfect that game, I couldn't have done anything better'.

Losing makes you want to try harder. We've lost plenty of matches, and afterwards we jump straight into another one with more determination to win. When you put on the tryhard boots, it can lead to some really intense games.

There is a lot of theorycrafting and lore. For those of you who love to read lore, there's enough to keep you busy. For the budding strategist, you could spend months planning team compositions, evolving your battle tactics for every possible situation. The meta is always changing, and keeping up is hard enough- never mind setting the trend.

Quitting does not have to be permanent. Once you decide to stop playing, you can leave League for months at a time. There's nothing demanding that you play for at least an hour a day, like a lot of current MMO games that require a certain amount of dedication. You can stop at one game, and not worry that you missed out because you didn't play ten.

You will never master every champion. Take this from me, I've played over 2000 games now and I'm proficient with every character and even exceptional with quite a few. I've only perfected my play on a handful. Trust me, you will never master every champion. Not even the best players in the world are arrogant enough to say that.

The meta-game is always evolving. With a new hero to play every two weeks, patch changes and player trends, the highest level of League play is always adjusting. No single champion will persistently be overpowered, since when it becomes popular- the counter for it will also become popular.

Although I'm sure this doesn't attribute to all the reasons I play LoL, I currently cannot think of what else to add. I think I've demonstrated a good multitude of reasons for my continued decision to play. Make sure to comment if you have something to add, or just if you agree!