Creating separation between the different types of Bronze players...
The biggest problem I have with being Bronze is that I feel that it forces me to play with many types of players that I wish I could avoid. What do I mean by that? Well, Bronze is the bottom of the barrel in ranked, but not everyone there is so for the same reason. Let's look at the types of players that are in Bronze:
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New players. Maybe not "new" in a strict sense, but new to ranked: many of these players just hit 30, don't have a large champ pool (and I'm not talking about ones they are proficient playing, but champions that they own, for purposes of trading with others during champion select), and don't have many rune and mastery pages. This isn't the end of the world, but it does make it harder to devise a good team comp during picks and bans. Ultimately, I'm not too worried about these players, provided they aren't also...
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Children. Younger players are typically less mature and less willing to cooperate with the team. Children call their lane and think that entitles them to it, regardless of pick order, regardless of what other players discuss when trying to figure out how best to maximize their chances of victory. I imagine most of the players who threaten to feed when they don't get their way are really just spoiled or poorly parented children. Some of them, however, could just be...
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Trolls. These are the worst. Whether they are children or adults who just have terrible attitudes, and feel entitled to waste other people's time and make them miserable, there are plenty of players who love being in Bronze and making sure everyone else stays there. They especially love to screw with...
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Serious players who want to get better, and get the hell out of Bronze. This is me. This is -- and maybe I'm being generous -- a LOT of players who are Bronze. I watch streams. I play with friends who are as highly ranked as Platinum and can carry my own weight, provided I'm playing one of a few champions that I main. I think about my play often, asking myself "What could I have done better that time?" or "How could I have avoided that?" when I make a mistake. I take responsibility for the bad decisions I know I made and I'm willing to listen to criticism when I think I was right and still failed.
As one of the serious players who wants to improve, I really wish something could be done by Riot to create separation between myself and the other types of players in Bronze. I don't mind playing with other people in Bronze who are trying, really trying, to get better. I don't even mind playing with the new players. But when so many of my games involve playing with children and trolls who not only make winning difficult, but make the game not very fun at all, I get super frustrated, and become less interested in ranked matches, period.
What do you say, Riot? Any chance you could look into segregating Bronze for the benefit of those who wish not to play with its least mature, most toxic members?
