a serious and legitimate question

do ranks even mean anything other than ego points? while i never played ranked back when i played, from what i see frequently on boards is irons being matched with gold which get matched with plats and diamonds. everyone knows that you almost never get matched with players of same rank regardless of the tens of thousands of players per region. and it is because of this players are more toxic than ever. if i didn't know any better, i'd say that this entire game (even causal normal games) revolve around ranks. players with high ranks get cocky and think they are invincible until a low rank player pushes the right buttons to make them snap which in turn makes them drop ranks at best and banned at worst. and because they lost their high rank their ego will be crippled and they will be determined to get back up to that rank to rebuild their ego. and to put the cherry on top, riot knows this and doesn't care about your ego as long as they make a buck.