Is the League Grind Unhealthy?

King Kog·5/29/2018, 2:57:45 PM·12 votes·8,449 views

Speaking from a player of 8 years, competitive of 6, and diamond elo of almost 5, the different steps or ways of climbing the ladder all revolved around simply playing the game... ALOT! Countless hours, many late nights, and dBs of rage later, you either achieved your ranked goal for the season or you didn't. For some people that didn't really matter, for others, it does. My question for the community is; has the league grind gotten to a point where it forces a competitive player to continue spending hours on the game just to break even? Is that a problem? Is Decay a problem? Does any of this promote toxicity to tilted players grinding for hours on a rough day of soloqueue "3-11" My opinion is yes, what is yours and how does this game need to change for it get better?

13 Comments

FrozenDeath145/29/2018, 4:16:01 PM3 votes

It is specially ever since they made the game a complete coin flip in every elo. (trash matchmaking,autofill,disgusting meta) Not to mention as of late i rarely skip divisions like i did in the past. Could go from unranked to high diamond in 4 days by skipping tiers now i rarely skip tiers even when i got (I) mmr in a (IV) division.

Games overall trash there is no aspect of improving or doing anything just pick the highest winrate champion and you are more than likely win unless you suck. Which might be the case considering nowadays PLAT 5 aka a BASE rank is top 15-10 % which is hillarious because it's absolutely garbage.

OurLestrade5/29/2018, 4:02:34 PM2 votes

The competitive side of most games is unhealthy, it's why I always preach against it. You turn something you're supposed to use to relax and wind down into another source of stress. What's the point of working all day, coming home and working at a game too?

DeathBurst5/29/2018, 4:38:34 PM2 votes

This is a two-fold issue.

On one side, it's normal and logical that if you want to get better, you need to spend a lot of time playing the game, to train, improve, and actually acquire and maintain the skills to be good. That's not unhealthy, that's just the nature of competition.

On the other side, even if you already have the skills, LoL does require you to invest a lot of time just to get your Rank (seasonal resets, decay, etc.). That part is (a bit) unhealthy I agree. But there is one important mitigating factor: it's only true for the very top of the player base, like the top 10% or so. I think that requiring this grind only from a small portion of the player-base is reasonable, and most players can avoid these unhealthy habits while still getting to a decent Rank.

Leto GT5/29/2018, 9:45:31 PM1 votes

The game generates a lot of adrenaline which is addictive. If you get addicted to the game it's unhealthy already. The form of grind you explain is a result of that, hence is unhealthy aswell. I believe that any form of grind is unhealthy if it does impact IRL stuff, such as your mood, your work, studies, relationships. If it's the case, it's best to take a break.

5050BS5/30/2018, 7:15:31 PM1 votes

I think promos are unhealthy. It is placed there to push down people. Riot makes it so you will get bad players/afker/toxic in your promos so you will lose most of them.