Toxicity and why I will look for fun elsewhere

My friend group and I have recently been having a lot of discussions about switching to a different game when we are all looking to play a multiplayer video game together. Normally, I come to League's defense as I enjoy the competitive nature of the game as well as the strategy that is involved.

However, somewhere along my 3-year journey through the rift, I forgot what it felt like to have fun while playing a game. I can't come to League's defense anymore.

Last night, I watched the dev video on position ranks and in my first game I got auto-filled support. Looking to prepare myself and embrace the new changes around the corner, I took on the role with gusto and played Soraka. Within 5 minutes into the game, I was getting flamed by my adc for taking exhuast. The last time I had played support, exhuast was the spell to take, so I took it. Apparently it was such a bad decision that I warranted my adc attacking my mental state.

A few more minutes into the game, our top laner died to a gank when I roamed top to help. This resulted in the top laner calling me about every racial slur invented to date. My adc and top laner fed off of each other's toxicity and soon both were typing continuously.

At this point I had politely stated that I had been auto-filled and was trying my best, and I legitimately was. I ended up 1-12-26, which I thought was reasonable for a game where our team got steamrolled. I know what it looks like when someone is feeding, and I certainly was not doing that, in fact, I got a higher rating after the game than two of the other players on my team.

Post-game I reported the two players and tried to recall some of the sexual and racial comments made before I had muted them. Of course, who knows if any action will ever be taken. The reason I am here at though, is that I realized yesterday, if I actually just want to sit down and have fun playing a video game, League is not for me. I I can't look in the mirror after playing a game of league and convince myself that I'm a better person because of it and because of the games toxicity. It's a hard truth, it's a painful truth, especially for someone like myself who has played for multiple seasons and hundreds of games per season. but it's a truth that I am coming to recognize, and yesterday became the epitome of that enlightenment.

League has failed at addressing their most prominent flaw, the in game toxicity. Riot rolls out patches left and right, but none of them address this toxicity. They roll out an honor system, but most people would just be satisfied with a more active and a more accurate reporting system. I have no want to continue playing a game, where I can spend 30 minutes of my life being told that everything bad that has walked the face of the Earth is due to my Soraka support play. Only to know that my report will go unread, and there is a high chance I will experience the same toxicity next game. I've enjoyed parts of the journey, but enough is enough. If Riot won't take steps towards making League a toxic free game, then I am not going to take steps to avoid playing other games.