First, how did Riot Games come to be formed?

That's a very long story that we're excited to tell, but it will likely take too long to fully cover here.

The idea for League of Legends came from a Warcraft III mod. Was it always the intention of the mod team to make a stand alone commerical project?

A lot of the guys felt it was inevitable due to the popularity of DotA – they just didn't think that they would necessarily be the guys that created it. To do it "right" really required an independent company with the resources, the expertise and the appropriate community-centric values pull it off.

To our knowledge, that company really didn't exist until Riot Games was founded.

What can you tell us about the fictional backstory for the game?

The backstory of League of Legends is designed to provide a rich and compelling setting that develops and evolves as the game progresses. An excerpt is provided below:

After centuries of conflict and hardship across the lands of Valoran, the Rune Wars have finally come to an end. Treaties have been signed, and the superpowers that once ravaged this land have turned to a new role. Realizing that there must be a better way to settle their differences, they created the Institute of War, a multinational governing body that would settle all disputes. Inside the Institute is the League of Legends-where powerful magic users and delegates from each of the realms vie with or against each other to rule the land.

The player takes on the role of a Summoner – powerful magic-users who are members of the League of Legends. Summoner's choose a Champion to summon and control in battle during in each game session. Most games are practice games where Summoners are polishing their skills at controlling Champions and learning how to work effectively with their teammates, but there will be circumstances in which the stakes are far higher...