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What Makes League so prone to toxicity and rage?

ScurvyNave··2 votes·1,150 views

I've played other MOBA's and online games with chat and for some reason none of them compare to the amount of raging, swearing, and general toxic comments that arise in LOL games. Not even just ranked games where it is somewhat serious, I've had normals were people have threatened to report me just for playing outside the meta or advised them to buy wards etc. What causes this? Is it the length of the games? The teeth clenched teamwork with strangers?

Other Team games like Tf2 don't have this level of conflict so what makes league bring out the worst in gamers?

Sort of a semi-rant but I also want to figure out what other people think the reason is? In my opinion its the competitive aspects of the game and the long game times that wear people down. Working with 4 other people for almost an hour could easily piss me off in real life if they are incompetent so maybe thats the cause?

What do you think?

16 Comments

Matthias91194 votes

I dunno... I've seen some pretty awful stuff playing Halo/GoW/CoD on Xbox Live too. No shortage of random kids who have discovered they can get attention by screaming obscenities in their mic, or who will gloat and trash-talk whenever they're winning.

Definitely a good chunk of the stress in MOBAs comes from being given a random team to work with and having your success or failure for the next 30+ minutes be largely dependent on them. If your team's getting thrashed in an FPS you can just bail and get into another match instantly if you don't want to play it out. Feeling like a match is lost 10 minutes in and there was nothing you coule do is extremely frustrating.

In games without snowballing mechanics it's also easier to feel like you're personally able to contribute to a comeback, and it's less likely that one bad (or even deliberately griefing) player on your team will make a game completely unwinnable. That's one of the reasons I dislike CoD multiplayer -- they just take whoever's doing the best and make them even stronger, which gets really frustrating sometimes. That can happen in League too, but at a much slower pace.

Killer X 122 votes
  1. Children
  2. Children not being raised with basic things like "respecting others," or simply knowing that what they want isn't the most important thing in the world.
  3. Adults that didn't do number 2 because they are that way, shitty.

I think it happens so much in league because there are so many more people as well. Bigger sample size, more fuckers. Also that rage spreads sometimes. I've played with friends who are usually just fine and eventually they snap for that game and boom start typing in all chat. You just get fed up with little 12 year olds eventually i guess.

Also, League is a game that requires some form of communication and kids don't know how to say things respectfully. I have friends that say "stop getting caught out,' or "stop feeding." Well...thats not advice. Advice is, "Hey try not to go places we do not have warded/vision," or "Chill at tower and farm, i'll be by to help you soon."

On top of that there is no set of rules or things that says "this is what you do when _______" so everyone has different ideas as to what is right and wrong. 2 people say go mid, 2 people say we should dragon, the other says we should just kill mid tower and force the fight at dragon after. Who is right? depends.

NoMonku2 votes

The main reason I feel people rage so much is because they can't leave the game. A lot of other multiplayer games, like TF2 and CoD, you can leave the game if you feel things are already "over" and join a new game. Unlike these games, league forces you to be in the game for 20 minutes until you have the OPTION to surrender and if the majority of your team doesn't want to give up, you have to keep playing. Also comparing LoL and FPS, in an FPS you kind of learn to try and avoid certain players that you see as "better" then you and you only go after what you feel you can take on. Also you all have the same tools, for the most part. In LoL, if you're in lane against someone who is better then you, you will continually be sent back into the same lane over and OVER and OVER again and be shown by them how much worse then them you are at the game, which will also lead to people lashing out. Not saying its justified, but my opinion. Instead of looking at the opportunity as a chance for them to grow and think about what they can do to improve themselves, they just decide to blame ANYONE but themselves because it is always easier to do that.

Also some people are just assholes. Allow them anonymity and they will say PLENTY of things they would never have the courage to say to your face.

SexyTaylorSwift1 votes

The lack of intelligence in the community is my first guess.

ScurvyNave1 votes

Stupidity does not coincide with lack of civility though. Every knows that one friends who isn't the brightest but is still a nice person. Plus even clever and good players are prone to raging or swearing at teammates. I won't claim innocence I get mad too sometimes. I believe its something to do with how the game is designed or its player mindset

SexyTaylorSwift1 votes

Correct. I was more so implying that the lack of intelligence leads others to be toxic towards them. For example: the dumb dumb that runs into the unwarded jungle chasing the tank dies. His team will probably rage at him. If we take these dumb dumbs away, the rage will go away too :). Least that is my opinion since that is where I see most of the "toxic" language happening.

ScurvyNave1 votes

Sadly sometimes the best way to learn is from mistakes but yes when someone continues to make the same foolish decision (we all know that adc who wanders into un-warded jungle on his own) it can quickly get annoying. I just feel like matchmaking, if working correctly, should allow fools to play with each other. Generally people on the same skill level will have better respect for each other than a noob screaming OP at a Plat 5 or a poor Bronze getting harassed by his tea mates when's he's against a Gold 1 in lane. (Not making these up its happened in Teambuilder's matchmaking).

Vincius1 votes

I'd say it is probably because you can't leave even if you are not having fun, if your team is trolling or 2 players are afk you still need to wait for that never ending 20 minutes or that surrender.

chumbler1 votes

It's because games take forever to end despite being won or lost in the first 10 minutes due to Riot never having done a single thing about snowballing and people hate having their time wasted.

The Mormonator1 votes

So this is my theory and this is what causes me to rage as well. Most games can be stopped at any time to no fault of yourself. Even matched based games like Call of Duty and so on can simply be quit if you're playing alone. Then you move into Games like Starcraft where the only person that can be blamed for your failure is yourself and you are too focused on your own performance to worry about teammates if you have them. Then you have League of Legends, where you are in a game for a minimum of 20 minutes and you want that time to be worth it. No one wants to sit behind their computer for 20 minutes and find it was a total waste of time and have it end being a loss. This makes people easily annoyed if things occur that could lose them the game. Like first blood, an afk, etc. The game has started, there is no way to reverse your actions and everyone knows that every action you make affects the late game. Personally, that is why I get upset, because I want to win. I was one of the people "1%" That was banned for toxicity. But the usual toxicity that I prefer is calling someone bad every single time they make a mistake and it gets me into trouble. I want to win. And I know that every single game of League of Legends is winnable. Even the 3v5s because I have indeed won them myself. League of Legends is the most "team"-like game we are going to get. Where each of us is on a football team and if you are the one who throws an interception, fumbles, or drops a pass. Your team is going to blame you when they are doing their job correctly. For some people they may be seeing that they doing their job correctly and someone is ruining it for them and then they get angry at them. I believe that that's the reason. League of Legends is a largeish time investment and you want to win.

ScurvyNave1 votes

I'd have to agree wholeheartedly with you on this point. No other game has the... for lack of a better word... commitment of time and effort that league does. The way the game is set up is to enforce teamwork but sadly teamwork isn't always possible. I've had times were I said "Screw these guys, time to split push and at least make myself look good even if we lose". I want to win, there's greater rewards for winning so goofing off or making mistakes is much more grievous in this game as compared to other online multiplayers.

Sadly I don't think there is any easy solution to the issue of raging/toxicity, its going to happen, we all do it and unless the game is completely overhauled it probably won't go away. Riot has designed a system where you either work together and have a good time or suffer if you can't get along.

The Mormonator1 votes

And what's worse is that the people who can't get along and do get mad at their team are the one's who will be punished. In the long run, "where" League of Legends ends up, as far as toxicity and how they are dealt with, will be decided by the winners. "History is written by the winners" and winners will write the Tribunal.

The Mormonator1 votes

I'm going to start doing some research on this. Thanks for inspiration.

Arch Mage Magnus1 votes

It's also because everyone thinks they are pro because they watch LCS and pros make plays look easy. When losing no one wants to sit back and say "hey.... I'm causing this loss for our team..". Everyone wants to blame everyone else or say dumb comments like "first time Zed", " Sorry I'm just not trying".

League is always about placing the blame on someone else. Honestly even in the pro scene I bet it happens a fair bit. Team blaming bottom while bottom blames the jungle while top blames mid for not pinging roamers. No one wants to take the blame, especially whiny 12 - 16 year old kids.

AloneInTheCrowd1 votes

I've played other MOBA's and online games with chat and for some reason none of them compare to the amount of raging, swearing, and general toxic comments that arise in LOL games. Not even just ranked games where it is somewhat serious, I've had normals were people have threatened to report me just for playing outside the meta or advised them to buy wards etc. What causes this? Is it the length of the games? The teeth clenched teamwork with strangers?

Other Team games like Tf2 don't have this level of conflict so what makes league bring out the worst in gamers?

Sort of a semi-rant but I also want to figure out what other people think the reason is? In my opinion its the competitive aspects of the game and the long game times that wear people down. Working with 4 other people for almost an hour could easily piss me off in real life if they are incompetent so maybe thats the cause?

What do you think?

Nolifers take the game too seriously .

RazorTS1 votes

Toxic behavior or just plain retardiness in game brings toxic behavior in chat and with current system there is no way we can evaluate or prove someone does something bad in game so it ends up "my word against yours" lol that's why chat often explodes with rage. Also these days you cant say anything to someone else in chat or they start crying and yelling "Stop rage" or "don't flame" or my favorite "TOXIC", simple fact too many kids playing with too many mental issues.

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