Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

I don't know from when the whole world started playing League of Legends (LOL), a multiplayer online video game that hit the Chinese mainland in 2011 and instantly stirred a craze among the young generation.

One friend told me that he started playing LOL to get closer to a girl he liked, who was a crazy fan of the game. But after playing for just one week, he had completely forgotten about the girl, and was instead addicted to the game. 

"LOL is enough for me now, who needs a girlfriend?" he said, entirely seriously.

So why do I hate LOL?

Firstly, because it is a symbol for losers like my friend above. Every time people say LOL, the image of a man with an unwashed and unshaven face, surrounded by stacks of empty fast food boxes and a cigarette dangling between his lips comes to my mind.

I'm basically describing half of the single men I know, who waste their entire weekends in front of the computer, dreaming of becoming professional LOL players so that they can keep playing instead of going to work from Monday to Friday.

Such people will probably die alone.

Secondly, I hate LOL because it represents a form of compromise for women. Many of the women I know who play LOL started playing in order to find something in common with men they liked and to please them, which I think is kind of pathetic. A gal pal of mine once asked her boyfriend what he would choose if he had to make a choice between her and LOL. He pondered the question, and didn't reply.

"You hesitated between me and other nine male players?" my friend asked angrily.

But after a few fights, she changed strategy and began playing LOL as well. She even pretended that she liked it, in order to save their relationship.

Thirdly, I hate the arrogance that experienced LOL players show towards new players. In their world, LOL is sacred, only grown-up, skilled, and experienced players are worthy of the game. If you play badly, these "grown-up" players will spam you with preset curse words and insult you as a "primary school student."

Actually, I have been playing online computer games for over ten years. I've been a fan since the very first batch of MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) online computer games came out in China in 2003.

Building up my characters, exploring more unknown maps, beating stronger new enemies, and acquiring precious items and weapons, which form the basic mechanics of all of these games, gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

I never lacked for friends, who joined the game after me. I enjoyed the feeling of helping others and seeing them develop in the game world. I liked taking my new friends to different parts of the game world to sightsee, or maybe to ride my flying magical horse together.

Why do I hate LOL? Because if I tried doing this in LOL, I would be spammed until the end of time.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.