About This Wiki

A Brief History

This site began its life as the first and second megathreads on the r/leagueoflinux subreddit in 2022 and 2023. Since then it underwent many revisions, including the relaunch as a built-in reddit wiki, before making its way to leagueoflinux.org in June of 2023.

While the original megathreads intended to serve mainly two purposes: provide concise instructions on how to install and play League on Linux, and attempt to document Riot's otherwise erratic posture with regards to Linux players, the content and tone of the threads ended up quickly far surpassing the tools available as simple reddit posts. This wiki would end up becoming the eventual culmination and organisation of the vast majority of the collective knowledge when it came to everything Riot Games on Linux.

As mentioned on the front page, this wiki is something that I am personally quite proud of. You can plot in real-time my understanding and appreciation for well-written documentation, clean formatting, and user-friendly language when you compare this horrific monstrosity, versus what is in my opinion, the coolest page on leagueoflinux.org: the Lutris install page; how awesome was it that at one point in time if you had Lutris installed on your machine, you could click a Riot+Linux-themed install button on a webpage and the installer actually starts downloading and running automatically?? Pretty darn neat for something "not officially supported". Similarly in a totally, shamelessly nerdy fashion, learning to make custom admonitions just so the Ubuntu and Arch buttons could match their corporate branding are the kinds of small touches I've come to totally adore in documentation.

This project made me fall deeply in love with MkDocs (Material), and I now use it regularly in both my homelab and at $DAYJOB.

From 2024 and Beyond

While League of Legends, and several of Riot's other games, are no longer playable on Linux systems as of 2024, in the interest of digital presevation leagueoflinux.org remains online for those curious about some of the history of this once-thriving open source gaming niche.

A few of Riot's games can still run on Linux, notably games published under the now-shutdown Riot Forge publishing label (✊ RIP). All pages found under 🕹️ Other Riot Games on Linux are still actively maintained. Importantly, alongside the Vanguard page, they are the only pages in the main wiki that are still considered up-to-date and maintained besides this meta section.

All other technical information in this wiki is considered outdated and unsupported, and exists only for archival purposes. It is functionally a snapshot of the state of League of Linux at the time of Vanguard implementation in mid-2024.

For any corrections or suggestions, please open an issue.

Final Note from the Maintainer

It was a remarkably fun time while it lasted, and an even greater pleasure to have been a part of a community of so many talented and passionate individuals. The sheer amount dedication, cooperation, and shared love for League of Linux despite the many obstacles never ceased to inspire and amaze me during my years contributing. Thanks to every single player who made it possible along the way.

While personally my interest in League had long waned by the time Vanguard was implemented, it will forever be the single most impactful game I have, and likely will ever play in my life. It’s certainly going to remain my most played game no matter how hard I try from here; life gets far more complicated with age (and the lack of highschool LANs to motivate all nighters...). I have made many lifelong, deeply cherished friends thanks to this game and the communities I was so fortunate to be introduced to via League and its universe.

Frankly, the state of Riot Games has for a long time ranged from shameful and embarrassing, to abhorrent and disturbing, for a whole laundry list of reasons. Not least of which include, but are far from limited to, bathing in Saudi blood money, normalising and defending unprecedented and unnecessary levels of consumer security and privacy invasions, blatantly and shamelessly abusing AI to scam and steal from artists, and the list goes on... I’ve long felt conflicted about my relationship to Riot and League in a similar fashion to a 21st century late-stage capitalist entertainment spin on the age-old “can/should you separate the art from the artist?” question. So, in that respect, I kind of appreciate Vanguard being the final nail in that coffin for good.

It's a shame this is how things ended up, but to be somewhat blunt: Riot very clearly doesn’t want (or arguably deserve) our playtime, nor our money, so why keep fighting to give it to them?

I don’t regret the time, effort, or money spent over the many years. I utterly loved Arcane and still display all my little toys and collectables around; League will forever be a core part of my history and who I’ve become, it is just no longer an active part any more.

All good things must come to an end, and to that end I hope that all of you have been able to move on to better, less player-hostile games, hobbies, activities, or really whatever brings you a moment of joy, or peace in this world :) ❤️ 🐧

-acenomad

leagueoflinux.org maintainer, former r/leagueoflinux moderator, and a forever hardstuck support main