League of Legends is a game known for its engaging gameplay and huge cast of colorful characters. Ever since it emerged on the scene, its combination of action and strategy has captivated millions of players, and, for three years, I was one of them.

Back then, I spent countless hours teaming up with friends and trying to learn new champions and roles, while also following the booming esports empire that Riot, the developer, had built around it. Over time, however, my engagement changed from playing the game to watching professionals play via Twitch and YouTube. Since then, I am no longer engaged as a player, but rather as one of many spectators who are becoming invested in the growing world of professional League of Legends players.

From the outside, this change of heart must seem strange. Why would I stop playing a game that I profess to enjoy? Furthermore, how can I call myself a “fan” of the game if I don’t play it? It may sound like a thinly veiled way to say that the game is bad, that I myself am bad at playing it, or both. While it’s certainly true that I’m not a good player by any stretch of the imagination, as my unfortunate teammates have often let me know, there’s more to my decision than my own lack of skill.

Let’s start with the ranking system in League of Legends.  As a new player, you begin at the rank of Bronze.  Then, as you get better, you might move on to Silver, up to Gold, and—if you are getting really good--maybe Platinum.  Possibly, if you are part of that god-like player base, you might progress up to Platinum and even Diamond rank. 

But there’s more. 

If you are in the top 0.02 percent of all League of Legends Players (of which there are over 100 million), you could hit that unobtainable rank of Challenger and maybe then think of getting to join professional playing teams like Team Solo Mid or Finatic, which manage esport teams for League of Legends.  For a player like me, it’s an unobtainable goal to make it to the Challenger level, and the more I played, the more I realized I was not likely to make it to the Platinum rank, let alone Challenger--ever.

For those of you of you unfamiliar with esports or video games in general, this disenchantment shouldn’t be too hard to understand, as this happens in just about every kind of team sport imaginable. Children who grow up playing traditional sports like football or basketball eventually reach a point where they have peaked; they aren’t going to progress much further, and they know they aren’t going to be part of the miniscule percentage of players who are going to get to play professionally. 

Sure, they have the option of getting to play recreationally and many of them continue to do so.  Sometimes, and more often than we would like, they realize their professional dreams are over, hang up their towels, and just quit the sport all together.

But for those of us who leave behind a game we love, there’s another way we can get our “fix.”

Professional sports are on display just about anytime and anywhere, and League of Legends is no exception. Any avid sports fan would say that a game played by professionals is on another level, and far more entertaining than anything a bottom-tier player could produce. On this level, teams can execute plays that would be impossible for a bronze rank player to even think of.

Just as in traditional sports, such high-level play is only a part of what draws people into the esports scene.  Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, have gone out of their way throughout most of the game’s history to make their professional league as exciting to watch as possible.

Like the Super Bowl or World Series, Riot Games’ live events like Worlds (the League of Legends World Championships) are known to have live musical performances and high production values. Of course, that’s all merely an accessory. Above all else, the biggest draw to these events, and to League of Legends in its entirety, is its roster of talented players.

As with any sports league, esports fans take sides to root for their favorite teams, each team stocked with a slew of unique players. For years, a young Korean man who goes by the stage name “Faker” reigned supreme as the top player in the world, referred to in his heyday as the “Michael Jordan of Esports.” Like Jordan, he’s fallen from grace recently, with his once-insurmountable team, SK Telecom, not even making it to the world stage for 2018. However, the impact he’s had on the player base is nothing to scoff at. After an explosive performance in League of Legends’ third esports season, Faker cemented himself as an icon, and since then many players as low as Bronze in the rankings have aspired to be like him. Now that his team has forfeited their undefeatable status, new players have the chance to step in and fill his shoes, but even as they do, Faker’s impact is one that will not be forgotten any time soon.

Although I no longer play the game, League of Legends still offers me a way to experience the game. As it happens, this game is a great spectator sport. The years that I spent playing the game do afford me an advantage as a spectator, as I have a relatively extensive understanding of how the game works. While my skills may not have flourished as I might have once wanted them to, there’s too much to enjoy in the exciting esports scene for me to give up entirely.

And that’s why I am still in the game—this time, as a devoted spectator.