Passive play

Passive play is when you are encourged to avoid interacting with the enemy.

This includes healing abilities that arent champion based or even farming focused abilities and items that don't lead to enemy interaction.

Nami's W for example is interactive when she is using it on enemies and bouncing it in lane. It is uninteractive when she is just using it on an ally while hanging back.

An ADC or late game champ focusing on CS when up against a lane bully is passive play.

The goal of passive play is to minimize mistakes and give enemies less things to capitalize on or punish, allowing the player to build an advantage over their enemy and punish mistakes they make in return when they present themselves.

There is this idea that passive play i inherently bad when it isn't. Its only a problem when it becomes too strong, because unlike other forms of gameplay, it much more easily leads to a bricked game scenario and what some would consider "boring games". (Muh lc$bigplays).

Aggressive play can lead to more opportunities to capitalise and outplay enemies as well as mistakes, as agressive play often takes more commitment. Passive play on the other hand when too strong generally doesn't leave as much room for mistakes to be capitalized on, and thus can often discourage interaction between the players.

Passive play however is a necessity for the game. Without passive play, some matchups, playstyles and entire methods of play on the proactive and aggressive side simply could not be allowed to exist in the game.

This isnt to say agressive play doesnt have its own fair share of problems tho.

Lane bullies for example would be fundamentally broken. Most mobility would be fundamentally broken. Poke would be fundamentally broken, etc.

As all things, it comes down to finding a satisfactory medium in terms of balancing aproaches to gameplay.

Sometimes that means encouraging more proactive play on passive champions. (Soraka needs to Q to get more heals)

Sometimes it means encouraging more reactive and passive play on agressive champions. ( Talon last hitting with Q on minions to heal back up )

i suppose fighting without fighting is passive still which might explain jungle, barriers, tanks, supports