How League of Legends players went from hating Facebook to happily using it to find friends

Hardcore gamers don’t fully trust Facebook and they are dismissive of “Facebook games.” When they see the social network in their “real” games, they worry it will hijack their walls and send invites to their friends. But despite that, one of the biggest developers in the world was able to incorporate Facebook into its game without angering its demanding and fickle community.

Developer Riot has incorporated Facebook into League of Legends, and the players of that game have found little to complain about. This Facebook Login feature connects a player’s account on Riot’s megapopular multiplayer online arena battler (MOBA) with their Facebook social profile. But instead of sending invites and posting wall messages, this is all about helping people find their friends who also play League of Legends. Facebook confirmed to GamesBeat that 4 million players have used this functionality to make 15 million friend connections. That’s a significant chunk of the around 70 million people who actively play League every month. The company thinks this is evidence that it is still an important tool for keeping people — and especially gamers — connected around the world. And this also suggests that developers can hand off the hassle of getting new players to sign up to Facebook without having to worry about a backlash from fans.