A mom says she refused to purchase her son an expensive “skin” in the League of Legends video game — which resulted in a blow-out fight with her husband.
Earlier this month, the mom posted to Reddit’s ever-popular AITA (aka “Am I the a——?”) forum after her 10-year-old son asked for permission to purchase a skin in the game, “essentially, to look cool.” She wrote in her original post that she was floored by the price.
“Normally I am not a fan of buying things in video games, but since Christmas is coming up I was willing to make an exception,” the mom, as user name Few-Needleworker7044, wrote in the post. “I was thinking it would be around $25, maybe $50 at the most and I could deal with that. But no. It was $300!!”
League of Legends signage at an event in Germany in 2023.
Gerald Matzka/Getty
League of Legends is one of the most popular multiplayer online games in the world with over 20 million people playing, daily, according to a company fact sheet. The skins the Redditor is referring to are categorized in tiers, giving players an array of cosmetic, animation and in-game effects. More advanced skins allow players to customize voice lines, among other things.
“My issue is not that I cannot afford it, because I easily could,” the mom wrote. “My issue is that he wants something in a video game, something that is essentially useless, for that amount of money. With that much money I could buy something physical that he could actually use.”
The original poster said her husband was not understanding of her mindset, explaining, “We fought over this a lot.”
“His father is calling me selfish and unreasonable for not buying this, telling me to lighten up because it’s Christmas,” the woman wrote of the conversation with her husband.
The woman said she tried explaining to him that they could purchase physical gifts for their son instead but, “he blew up on me.” She added that she shared the same sentiment with her son, and he, on the other hand, “seemed to be receptive.”
“My son literally could not care less and said it was ‘chill’ and went back to playing like nothing happened,” the woman said, admitting her husband was visibly more upset than her son. “Now if he threw a fit over wanting this ‘skin’ badly I would understand my husband’s frustration … but that’s not the case here.”
However, the husband still insisted they make the purchase for their son.
“Am I in the wrong for not wanting to spend so much money on this ‘skin’ in a literal video game?” the woman asked users on Reddit.
In the comment section one user wrote, “If you’re no longer doing Santa, tell him that he’s got a choice, multiple gifts or this one skin for Christmas. If he chooses the skin, stick with it. Bet he won’t make that choice again watching everyone else open gifts when he gets a skin.”
“My kids have allowances and do earn money, and can spend how they want with that allowance,” another user weighed in.
The mom followed up with additional information to her original post after reading the comments and thanked users.
“I’m going to talk to him again and tell him that he can choose between this $250 skin or the other (physical) things he wants (which are in total ~$300) and it is his decision in the end. Thank you to those that offered this solution,” she wrote.
She followed up again with Reddit users after the conversation with her son to give an update on his decision.
“He told me that he ‘had no idea what he was thinking at first but now that he thinks about it he doesn’t really even want it that much’ and it’s ‘wayyyyy too expensive,’ ” the mom wrote of her conversation with her son. “He’s also told me just yesterday he’s heard from his friends that this skin might make him a bullying target (as many of you had also mentioned) even though I have no idea about gaming culture, I’m very sure that’s not a good sign and I am glad he is sensible enough to know this.”
After receiving many comments about her husband’s handling of the situation, the woman said, “I will have a talk with him today.”
