Give every group in Solo Queue Shot Caller
I like to think that I make exceptional game choices. I'm only gold 4, and my mechanics are not great and while I am climbing quickly, I know much more about the ins and out of the game than the average player.
The average player gets on, hops in solo queue and plays with what I'll call a "Personal Future" in mind. They can only see themselves winning, and they see themselves as much better than they are. These are the guys that dive turrets often, are generally above the rest mechanically. However, they have very little to NO game knowledge and the lead they may have gotten in lane, is gone. Most often, these players are Top or ADC players. You've all seen it. These are the first players to blame team mates for not following up on the 1v4 because the team was "Ahead."
Another type of player is the "Team Player" - They're all about snowballing their team mates and then relying on them to play. You see, a lot of solo queue players think that if their team mate is 3/0 in lane, that they're good and will continue playing at that level throughout the match. This is simply false. The laning phase is often the best part of any low elo game. It's ugly, but it's the best they're going to get. In lane, they know what to do and have a clear objective. CS, kill lane opponent, take turret. Team Players will willingly sacrifice their own lane or self to get a team mate ahead, expecting that now fed, their team mate is going to play at a high enough level to carry the game.
The last type of player, and the extremely vast minority (i'd say about 5%) of solo queue players are what I'd call the "Shot Callers." These are the guys that know the game. They may be Bronze 3, Silver 2, Gold 1, Plat 5, Diamond 2 or what have you, but they know they're going to climb not because they're cocky, but simply because they have what it takes to climb. These are the players that often take time outside of the game client itself to LEARN about the game. They're usually above average mechanically through a higher willingness to learn and are far ahead of everyone around them in game knowledge. The "Personal future" player is all about me, the team player is all about the team, and the shot caller is about winning, and doing it right. These are the guys on your team who are 7/0/10 and aren't trying to fight constant 2v2 skirmishes. These are the guys pushing lanes out just enough, these are the guys who don't need wards to know they're about to get ganked. These are the guys who are pinging away from Dragon and Baron, and these are the guys who are climbing.
I'd put myself personally (and again) not to be cocky - In the last category. I'm not going to say I'm better than my team mates, but I'm almost always smarter. And smart wins games. I've noticed a trend in solo queue recently especially in the last 2 months, and that is that not only are games taking longer to close, but the number of throws I experience on either side of the spectrum have increased dramatically. Us shotcallers know how to win games. I can often be ahead 17-5 (like I just was and still lost) and see a throw coming a MILE away. I know the players on my team are nearsighted, they think they can just march down mid lane, tank towers and end the game at 25 minutes and you can't. I know how to end the game, and given the gold I know how to win the game, and my team mates often don't!
I think there needs to be a way for people to be implemented as the group shot caller. Viable criteria for this could be things like highest average gold lead when winning a game, least deaths, highest win % rate, or most farm and most wins from behind in team gold. Make it hard to get, make it a respectable title that when people are paired with you they want to listen to you. The people with those green and red ribbons, who cares? Grats you have a ribbon but they earn no extra respect. You see a guy come in with a GOLD ribbon (lets see the Shot Caller role gives you a gold ribbon) and they're going to respect you. They're going to realize that statistically, you are probably ahead of them in many aspects and if they want to win, they listen to your pings and your calls. Give us bigger, louder pings and larger text with the addition of us allowing to mark text as important and even give it a glow or a sound effect. For instance, when I say "Don't siege here, we're low, they're up in 10 and if we die we lose baron" (like what happened last game) people would be inclined to listen.
I just lost probably the most disappointing game in my League of Legends career and I think maybe we can make a change. I know this is a long read but hopefully something good could come out of it.
