How hard is this game for new players?

Something about this game has intrigued me for awhile now... Mostly the whole "this is free" aspect of it.. Anyway, I was watching some kid play this at the school library and it looked intense. I couldn't quite figure out any game mechanics by watching other than it looks like some kind of RTS game. I'm currently in the process of downloading it now, but feel very intimidated by it. Due to the competitive nature of the game, I don't wanna be that guy who sucks and gets yelled at. I was wondering how high is the learning curve for new players? Also, any tips on what to do or how to get better including good learning videos or text would be greatly appreciated. I've been looking for a new game to play for a little while now and the lack of a price tag makes this seem worth it. Thank you!

It's very hard to get into based on the one time that I played it. Also, in my first match someone told me to kill myself. So there's that!

Yeah, that's why I hate mobas, it's not the game that's the problem, it's the disgusting community that forms around them..

@topchef: I've been playing League of Legends for about a week and haven't encountered the putative negatives of the LoL community. Pretty friendly so far. We can play some time if you want.

I couldn't find the south park scene on youtube where they go "We're going dowwwwn, we're gonna get creaaammmeed."

So yeah, you're going dowwwwn, you're gonna get creaaaamedddd.

you can play vs bots to start with, all-chat is off by default so you won't have to listen to the ragging from the other team.

The most learning tends to be learning all the different champions, there's a lot now. On the other hand, at lower levels you'll have a MUCH smaller champion pool to learn than in Dota. Largely because most players at those low levels will be playing with whatever the free champions of that week are, which is a set of 10.

Play against bots or with a group of friends, or you may find yourself hitting LoL's notorious community. It's potentially hard to get into due to the frequent sweeping balance changes that the developers implement. This is just based on my experience, and the last time I played was around the end of 2012, I think?