Alright folks, settle in. Tonight’s share is a bit… personal. And kinda scary. It all started because I saw a random meme online, some dude crying over his total spend in League of Legends. And I thought, “Haha, poor guy. Wonder what mine is? Bet it’s not that bad.” Famous last words, right?
Curiosity got the better of me. Logged into the League client, went straight to the store like I’ve done a thousand times before. Usually, I’m there to grab the latest skin or some shiny new thing Riot’s selling. But this time? I started poking around, clicking buttons. Found the “Account” section, then dove into “Order History”. Felt like I was just messing about, nothing serious.
Scrolled down a bit, looking at my recent purchases. “Oh yeah, that Pulsefire skin bundle,” and “Hah, forgot I bought that ugly Chroma.” But then I thought, wait a minute… there’s gotta be a way to see everything, right? Kept tinkering, clicked on “Purchase History”. This page shows you way back. But it’s just lists – item names and tiny RP icons. No total amount. Useless.
Felt a flicker of annoyance. Riot makes it way too damn hard to see your total spending. Seriously! Anyway, remembered hearing whispers online about a support page. Took forever to find it – Riot support site isn’t exactly user-friendly. Finally landed on a page for purchase history verification. There it was! A button to “Check My Purchase History”. Gave it a click.
It prompted me to log in again. Typical security check. Did it. Then… bam! A giant list of every single transaction since the day I created my account years and years ago flooded my screen. I mean, every RP purchase, every bundle, every damn icon. Dates, amounts paid… it just kept going and going as I scrolled down.
My eyes glazed over. Seeing them all listed out like that? It hit different. This wasn’t just buying a skin because it looked cool on Friday night. This was… a pattern. Years of patterns. “Okay,” I thought, breathing a bit shallow. “Time to do the math.”
Opened my crappy calculator app. Started adding. Small RP purchases here ($5, $10), big bundles there ($35, $50). Christmas events… Worlds passes… URFwick skin because… why not? The numbers started ticking up. Slowly at first, then faster. Past $500. Kept going. Past $1000. Kept going. Past $1500. Still going. My fingers kinda froze. My brain said “No way. I couldn’t have.” I went through the list again, meticulously. Added the small packs I’d forgotten about. Added a couple of those ‘special gift’ packs I got for friends years ago.
The grand total? Over three thousand dollars. Three. Thousand. Dollars. My jaw literally dropped. I sat there staring at the screen. My hands were cold. “$3K? On League? Are you shitting me?!” Felt like someone had dropped a rock in my gut. Like holy crap.
Started breaking it down, trying to make sense of this ridiculous number:
- Skins, Skins, Skins: Easily 80% of that mountain of cash. Legendaries, mythics, battle passes dripping with skins I barely use. The shockwave Zed skin? Bought it, used it once. Cosmic Yi? Thought it looked awesome… played him twice.
- Champs with RP: Yep, guilty. Early on, when IP (now BE) felt like it took forever, I’d drop some RP to unlock a champ I really wanted right now. More times than I care to admit.
- Event Passes & Orbs: Oh man, those are sneaky. “$15 for the pass? Good deal!” Then you grind, feel pressured to buy orbs to hit that prestige skin milestone… suddenly that $15 pass cost $50+. Did that multiple times.
- Random Gifts: Grabbed the occasional skin or chest for friends during birthdays. Small amounts, but hey, it all adds up!
The realization hit hard. That’s money spent over what, 8 or 9 years? Felt like eternity scrolling down that list. It wasn’t big purchases all at once; it was death by a thousand tiny RP cuts. “$10 feels like nothing,” right? Multiply that by hundreds of “not nothings” over nearly a decade? It adds up to something terrifying.
Part of me wants to justify it. “Well, I played a LOT of hours… thousands of hours. That’s value for money per hour of entertainment, right?” And yeah, maybe. But honestly? Standing here looking at that massive total? Could’ve bought a really nice guitar. Paid for a vacation. Put it towards a car or something actually… tangible. Instead, it’s digital outfits for pixels I won’t even see in a few years once the game dies.
It’s kinda sobering. Makes you think twice about those “just $10” RP purchases. I might still buy the occasional skin I truly love… but man, the era of mindlessly grabbing event passes and bundles? That ends now. Seeing that three thousand dollar price tag? Yeah, that’ll wake you up real fast. It’s not about regret, really. It’s about awareness. And shock. Seriously nuts.
