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Why Boost to a Rank You Don't Belong In?

McKeifus·4/29/2016, 1:20:53 PM·83 votes·7,103 views

I cannot understand why people want to be higher ranked than they should be. It's not going to get you a better job, and your friends know that you're bad, no matter how high your rank is. The only people you're "impressing" are the other, similarly ranked folks on your team - who are NOT impressed, especially when they see how bad you are. You are ruining every future game for yourself and 9 other random strangers.

So what is the psychology behind getting a higher rank? Bragging rights? To whom? Yourself?

95 Comments

lilpokfluf4/29/2016, 1:24:14 PM48 votes

Everyone knows girls aren't interested unless you're Challenger.

Sasogwa4/29/2016, 1:59:28 PM31 votes

Because they think they're better than they actually are and that they're stuck in elo hell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Killer of Poros4/29/2016, 3:32:30 PM25 votes

I just want the victory skins then stop playing ranked.

macromite4/29/2016, 3:52:15 PM14 votes

reason why. rank shaming. so long as you have a low rank people won't look at you right.

Gaufrus4/29/2016, 8:45:42 PM10 votes

Rewards.

I don't understand why anyone even needs to ask.

Remove the skin, banner, and icon, and people will not get boosted as much...

Hot Belly Dancer4/29/2016, 1:52:49 PM9 votes

Lack of integrity, simple as that. some people are not honest and have no shame. the worst thing is, they brag about 'their' ranks as if they did something. Good thing is, unless they get carried to higher levels, they wont climb at all alone. they eventually lose more and get demoted. Some retard once got boosted to gold, but then proceeded on shit talking the guy who boosted him, behind his back, on how he sucks etc etc. the idiot couldnt get out of silver 5 and was crying about that, be grateful he got you to gold. he later got demoted tho, good for him .

MrWasjig4/29/2016, 3:11:55 PM6 votes

Why? Because people wanna wave their e-peens around as they brag "Yeah check me out!", while not giving a shit about skill or integrity. All they want is a shiny badge, putting them on the same intellectual level of a magpie.

While ultimately Rank doesn't mean anything unless you're Challenger (where you have a real chance of being picked by a pro-team), some of us actually like the sense of achievement and satisfaction that comes from actually TRYING to climb to a high rank.

I'm trying to reach Gold again and I'm within groping distance of my goal. That feeling of excitement and anticipation is what I'm after in the Ranked experience (as well as the competitiveness of course)

No flash no life4/29/2016, 6:57:34 PM6 votes

Firm logic indeed and as someone who got carried to too high of a league I absolutely agree.

However, there's one exception that encourages such odd behavior, and unfortunately NA community falls under such exception - when lower rank is filled with ppl who have absolutely no intention to play and whose sole purpose here is to troll and feast on others' sufferings. Most have seen or heard of them: they ban teammates' preferred champs, take away teammates' roles, feed on purpose, troll by stalking and stealing lane cs or jungle camps from teammates, etc.

TL;DR It's not that ppl want to be gilded, they just want to play with players instead of unsportsmanlike criminals.

slippykitten4/29/2016, 4:12:25 PM5 votes

Sometimes, to be fair, it isn't boosting to a rank you don't belong in, it's just boosting you to a more proper rank faster (as opposed to playing 100's of games). Especially since it's incredibly frustrating to lose games in an elo much lower than your actual skill when you get the worse team.

The other aspect is that because there are so many factors that affect a games outcome, a player might actually find success in a higher elo where they found defeat in a lower one.

Of course that doesn't justify it, just giving some perspective. It took me 4 years to get my main to plat, and games actually got easier and less frustrating the higher i climbed. That's because over 4 years i had developed quite a bit of game knowledge, but not necessarily the skill to match it, making it really frustrating when i knew what needs to be done at every point of the game, but not actually good enough to carry a team that refused to do it.

Myrmiron4/29/2016, 3:38:21 PM5 votes

There's a restaurant in Asia that gives you a discount on your meal based on your rank. So getting a cheap elo boost can literally save you money in the long run.

Nahara4/29/2016, 7:42:04 PM5 votes

There's also the ego part of it. Some people think they're better than others and want to prove it, but their actual skill keeps them at the rank they belong in. They think they belong in Chaneljour, but they're not actually any better than Bronze or Silver.

ArxMessor4/29/2016, 9:37:11 PM4 votes

Process vs Outcome orientation:

Turns out people are different. Who knew?

Some people really value the process or "journey" that is required to reach a goal. Some people value the process so much that the end result's value, in their eyes, can change depending on what the process used was. An extreme example of this is seen in the common saying, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose. Its how you play the game".

Other people care less about the process and focus more heavily on the goal or outcome; way the reach the goal matters less or sometimes doesn't matter at all. "Win at ANY cost" is the extreme end of this thought.

Neither way of thinking is INHERENTLY better or worse, good or bad. It is a subjective thing.

People who value outcomes more than they do the process are more likely to cheat. I admit that that is a major oversimplification of the situation but I don't want to type too much more so don't flip out please.

Player A is willing to be boosted because the vast majority of the value, to HIM, is obtaining the objective award. Getting the border, ward skin, etc. He isn't bothered by the fact that he really isn't "that good" because he doesn't value the actual skill. It's all about the outcome.

Is it wrong for him to value the border more than the skill? No.

Is it wrong for him to get boosted in order to get the border? It is certainly against Riot's ToS.

I'm not claiming that this is the absolute truth in every scenerio. I'm just applying the "process vs outcome" concept from psychology to the OPs context.

La Barbotte4/29/2016, 7:33:56 PM3 votes

league is all about inflated ego

612X0dbmDS4/29/2016, 1:30:28 PM3 votes

bragging rights and also someone wanting to tryout playing at higher league.

The Deckowner4/29/2016, 1:56:24 PM3 votes

grade 3 kids wanna show off to their buddy, basically it.

The Sword Saint4/29/2016, 3:28:53 PM3 votes

They can't accept that they aren't as good as they think they are, and blame being 'stuck' at a lower elo than their ego can handle on their teammates or the system being broken or 'bad placements'.

There is a significant fraction of players who play ranked with the wrong kind of mindset: rather than trying to see what rank their current skill level is and trying to improve, they only play ranked to get the badge that matches up with what rank they think they deserve. They will probably just stop playing ranked after getting boosted either immediately or after going on a losing spree and realize that they actually can't hang with the level of players they thought they could.

Llanite4/29/2016, 4:20:38 PM3 votes

The same can be said for people who take mortgage for Mercedes, BMW or a big house.

We dress up to impress people we don't know. That's what human does.

Papa Slothy4/30/2016, 12:28:49 AM3 votes

some players think they deserve a higher rank then after being boosted, drop to a low winrate

Aliyn4/30/2016, 7:12:36 AM3 votes

THOSE FUCKIN' COOL RIMS AROUND YOUR LOADING SPLASH IS COOL AF.

BeMyFriendPlease4/29/2016, 8:47:45 PM2 votes

Really? how many times have you seen "lol ur bronze you can't talk about the game" or something similar?

Diamonds/plats and even golds have some superiority complex that they are such jackasses about it makes it worth ruining their games with false placement :P

ZeeWolfZ4/29/2016, 3:32:02 PM2 votes

Cause Bads want to feel special. Then destroyed in their New Rank by people who Solo Climbed there.

Asyde4/30/2016, 12:28:48 AM2 votes

I've been trying to get into Gold all season. I know I can compete with Gold players because when I play with higher elo friends, I still do very very well despite the enemy being predominantly gold III+. (I'm currently Silver III)

The problem with Silver is you absolutely can't rely on your teammates for anything. No one pushes objectives, everyone just goes for kills. So despite 3 enemies coming to gank me top, everyone just stays in their lane farming or roaming for more kills rather than taking one or two towers off of it. That and people ragequit/flame soooo easily. Everyone just loses any fighting spirit the second they get behind and just complain/trash talk the rest of the game.

Been trying to learn new champs that are great at turret/objective control so I can carry my way outta this shit.

Flying Eggplant4/30/2016, 11:05:10 AM2 votes

There are 2 (and a half) primary reasons why someone boosts:

  1. That sweet sweet post-season $wag
  2. They believe they are sleeper diamond and are just stuck in "elo hell" 2b. They believe that Plat+ is a magical land where everyone is competent and there are no feeders and trolls so if they can just start there they can climb problem free
VasilisGreen4/30/2016, 5:43:11 PM2 votes

Bragging rights. Nothing more. Oh, and the ranked rewards. Personaly, i don't care about bragging because i have a pride and i can't be proud of myself if i don't make an achievement on my own. But most people don't respect their own self as much.

Trylobyte5/1/2016, 1:18:50 PM2 votes

Most people I've known (who did it by duo-queuing with a friend's smurf) simply wanted to get Gold 5 for the Victorious skin, especially if it was for a champion they liked.

Truly Prideful4/29/2016, 6:54:54 PM2 votes

Because if they are higher ranked than you then you are clearly garbage and they get to tell you about it all game, at least that's what I've gathered from this community. Ignoring that large group, they probably just want their freebie skin at the end of the season.

Andrasta4/30/2016, 4:37:10 AM2 votes

Because daddy's wallet. Let's be honest, that's just the truth. [slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

Reeplay4/30/2016, 9:21:07 AM2 votes

The thought behind most people in lower elo is that they can't climb due to their teammates, when reality there is a fundamental flaw with how they approach the game that limits them to their current elo. Idiotic teammates, getting stuck playing vs premades, elo hell, etc, do exist, but they will never actually stop someone from climbing if they are better than their rank.

Zone of Endless5/1/2016, 2:11:46 PM1 votes

It's all about that e-pen

MrHarshmallow4/30/2016, 10:10:24 AM1 votes

Idk if anyone will see this comment but i'll still put forth my thoughts.. Feel free to criticize if there is some fault in it

I dont mind if i deserve bronze 2 and i dont mind staying there. The only reason i want to get out of low elo is because of the teammates i get. Now i know you all will cuss me out for telling me not to blame teammates and carry or something, but a bot lane giving. 4 kills to enemy adc before i complete my first jungle rotation is just unfair. And its not 1 game. I get these players frequently The other people in my elo dont know the basics of warding, power spikes, passive play, or waiting for the jungler to gank, setting up a gank and not pushing out when you need a gank. Hell, they fight the enemy laner in between the opponent minions, taking full minion damage. And dont even realise what went wrong there, rinse and repeat till we lose

I currently am silver 3 in Garena SEA region and im a stuck in a loop.. Gaining lp, losing lp. Also i never come across these kind of players in the opponent side, everytime i lane i have this ahri or leblanc as th opponent laner who feels like is born with the champion, or a jungler lee who manages to land all the Qs on my teammates (which i can tell you are braindead easy to dodge for me)

No one goes for turrets, or wards dragons, everyone wants kills. They overextend like stupids and get baited in 2v1/3v1s. I call out everytime the top laner tps somewhere and my top laner sits there and freezes the lane to his turret, when he couldve easily taken the top turret

All i want from my teammates is to play sensibly and know how to not feed , which are the basics to enter ranked games in first place

Some people say that gold has the same situation but i dont think it would be as bad as it is in silver

Meowzszs3/18/2017, 11:40:54 PM1 votes

Considering the fact that the boosting websites advise to not play ranked at all; It is probably about getting the end of season rewards.

Imperial Japan4/29/2016, 3:38:29 PM1 votes

{quoted}

I cannot understand why people want to be higher ranked than they should be. It's not going to get you a better job, and your friends know that you're bad, no matter how high your rank is. The only people you're "impressing" are the other, similarly ranked folks on your team - who are NOT impressed, especially when they see how bad you are. You are ruining every future game for yourself and 9 other random strangers.

So what is the psychology behind getting a higher rank? Bragging rights? To whom? Yourself?

To play ranked with friends who are at a higher ranked than you and also to get better at league. Being at a higher rank will show you how to play the game and will allow you to improve at the gane