What keeps League of Legends interesting

A recent game of mine, despite it resulting in a loss for me, was one of my favorite games I have played in a long time. The game lasted just shy of 70 minutes, and there was never a moment where either team was out of it. Each team had their strives, aces, dragons, and barons, but there was not a single vote to surrender, or blaming of other teammates for feeding or making a mistake. It was a friendly competition, but a competitive and intense one too.

This got me to thinking, what makes this game so much better than the others. Was it the intensity of a 70 minute game? Was it the fact that both teams were in it until the final ace? Was it the overall sportsmanship of all players in the game? Was it the fact that I got fed as Fizz? I think the answer is all of these together. Every player contributed to an even game with good sportsmanship. As I think back, all of my favorite games were ones with most or all of those characteristics. Not the ones where the enemy has a troll and we win to a surrender at 20 minutes, not the ones where people are spending more time typing vulgarity into chat than playing the game itself.

I think many of us can all agree on the terms that these traits all contribute to a healthy and fun game, so if we all know what a good game looks like, why are we preventing this from happening, and why don't we see these games more than once in every 30 or so games? I understand that sometimes the match finding system may set up a match that is not fair (in a normal game having a gold adc on one team and having four bronzes and a silver on the other team), but in most cases, it is the fault of us, the players, that results in a less-than-exhilarating game. If we know swearing at a teammate who is having an off game won't improve their performance, why do we add in unnecessary profanity? (adding the word "f--ing" to "buy a f-ing BF Sword". Why do we surrender just because the midlaner is 1/7/3 when your team is ahead in turrets?

In conclusion, we all know what comprises a good game, and even though some of the problem may be determined right when you hit "accept" to a found match because of the match finding system, much of it is the responsibility of us, the players, to create a healthy game that is enjoyable for all players in the game, and I think that we all strive to create games like these.