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Did the right thing, netted in a loss, but I don't feel bad about it at all.

LilYonsan·10/24/2013, 6:03:31 PM·30 votes·630 views

I don't think that I have to explain that this game can be ruthless. We've all had those games where everything is just so frustrating that we leave this game tired, stressed and we didn't gain anything from the experience except for negative emotions.

This is a story about how I decided to be a good guy, which may not have gotten me anywhere, but still I don't feel guilty about what I did at all.

So we're in champ select, being last pick I'm surprised by the fact that rather than getting mid (which is what I would've liked) I got top. I pick Jayce, and the enemy counter picks with Xin Zhao. "This is gonna be a rough lane", I say to myself. Determined to just sit back and farm and rely on ganks, I soon realize that Xin hasn't shown himself in lane. When he finally does, I'm level four and he's level one.

"Stupid dormmates and their use of wireless routers", he says in all chat. I know of this problem well, as I have friends that I have visited that have had to deal with that problem much of the time before their adventures with the cure-all that is the ethernet connection.

So the lane continue, and I kill him, resulting in a significant lead for myself, yet, something feels wrong. The kill didn't FEEL good, instead it felt like I had cheated (in a manner of speaking).

Couple of minutes later and Xin is nowhere to be found, and I'm just enjoying a pleasant farm lane. Finally, he fixes it. At this point, I'm level eleven and he's level four. Naturally, if I were anybody else; suffice to say he would have had a bad time. However, taking pity, I offer a deal. "tell you what", I say sympathetically, "I won't harass you until you reach my level".

My team is in fumes. "Dude don't do that, just do well". They say. Part of me is doubting my own words, but I decide to stay true. The game continues on and it seems that both their mid, jungle, and adc (ironically their scariest of roles) have done exceedingly well and have made my team more and more angry. They begin bickering at each other, until finally they turn their hatred towards me.

"AND JAYCE", says our jinx, indignantly. "IF YOU HAD TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF XIN YOU COULD HAVE HELPED MID WIN THE GAME", this is true, and we are losing. Yet, I don't feel guilty at all. Soon master yi turns on me as well and says "yeah if you had the damages, we would have won, being a good guy was not worth", and finally our zyra chimes in "this game is about taking advantage of their mistakes, they had a xin that couldn't connect, that was our biggest advantage and you threw it away".

At this point, I was becoming fed up. I muted both yi and jinx and then begun to philosophically "wax" with Zyra. In the end, we lost, and yet the enemy team had nothing but praise for me, as well as our mid laner.

After the match, I honor the enemy team, our orianna, and send a simple report to yi and jinx (which I doubt will do much). Then I leave, showing that I had +4 honorable opponents and +1 friendly, as well as a friend request from the enemy sona.

Having doubted my actions before, seeing these honors filled me with a sense of pride. I didn't mind that we had lost the game, instead I felt good that I had done the right thing.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a nice guy, I'm not always this decent and had this had been a ranked, I would have taken advantage of this more than a hedgefund manager would take advantage of a sinking boat filled with money.

At the same time, let this be a lesson to all of you summoner's out there; new and old. Not everyone is toxic, and not everyone is indecent. While people take this game too seriously, remember that it is just a game and not only do you have the right to play it however you wish, but you also should concentrate on having fun with it rather than getting angry. And who knows? Perhaps a random act of kindness will come back to reward you, even if at first things seem grim.

Until then, have a nice day of league, and may all of your matches go exceedingly well. :)

64 Comments

J0HN C3N410/24/2013, 7:41:03 PM7 votes

Hey at least you got satisfaction from that game. Nothing, NOTHING guarantee's your team would've won had you "stomped" low lvl xin. That is all.

DocSmoothJew10/24/2013, 6:16:03 PM7 votes

I don't agree with your actions but respect them. Your teammates should have been reported and they probably will feel the pain. They were welcome to criticize the decision you made but flaming over it isn't acceptable.

The only reason I'd say just stomp on Xin would be that, well, mercy is for the weak. No one would give you the same courtesy in this game. Obviously in real life it's cowardly to stomp on the little guy but this is a game and your team got a lucky break. No reason to throw it away.

On the other hand, the toxic Yi and Jinx in your team sound like they deserved the loss.

Oriana10/25/2013, 6:34:30 AM5 votes

Love this. Thank you for sharing :) Personally I hate having to play against a team that's gimped and so long as they all continue playing and trying to the best of their abilities to win without whining constantly I pretty much always honor them. It's my only way of rewarding them for doing their best even in a bad situation.

Your team was definitely being ridiculous babies. They should have been focusing on handling their own lanes, not crying and blaming anyone else for their own failures.

Fawlty10/25/2013, 2:37:59 AM5 votes

I would have reported you for assisting enemy team.

SIDxVICIOUS10/25/2013, 2:57:19 AM5 votes

This honestly just put a smile on my face! Seeing the good Summoners out there on the Rift is a joyous occurrence! You sir deserve a pat on the back and a honorable ribbon! The high road is one rarely taken in LoL. Thank you for being a decent person, a considerate gamer, and a model for Summoners everywhere!

900110/25/2013, 4:08:42 PM5 votes

Good work man, it takes a lot of guts to do what you did and to not take advantage of the Xin. Props to you!

NinjaToad9910/25/2013, 4:25:11 PM5 votes

Have, ALL OF MY RESPECT!!! But seriously, that's a real nice thing to do, and I think you did the right thing. :)

Solan Stonewhip10/24/2013, 6:49:59 PM4 votes

i think you did the right thing. not sure i would have done the same. but i would have been tempted. it would be cool if we could all agree to just pause the game sometimes. for technical difficulties.

Lindsey Bot10/25/2013, 11:09:40 PM3 votes

First of all: Defining sportsmanship: fairness in following the rules of the game.

I would understand his teammates' frustration if DCing were a game mechanic, but it is not. That player (probably) wanted to be there, but could not be. That is no one's fault (except maybe sometimes COX), especially not the DCer's teammates' fault.

If Xin had AFKd and OP had treated him the same way, then I would see a problem with his behavior. An AFKer chooses to go AFK. Still not his team's fault, but I will give that AFKer a loss.

MackleDoge10/24/2013, 6:34:29 PM3 votes

Good on you fellow summoner. Personally, I play League almost exclusively with friends because I'm generally busy between class and work, but when I do soloque I'm always in the game to enjoy myself. Whether we win or not doesn't determine whether I had fun or not (actually I almost find myself enjoying a losing game because I want to test myself to see if I can bring it back). And while this may earn me some flack here from people that are all gung-ho about winning, which is cool it's your game too, I think that if you can only have fun when you win then you should reevaluate gaming in general for you.

PS If you do get queued up with me, don't worry. I'm not there to troll or throw the game or anything, I do actually try. I'm just saying that enjoying the game doesn't hinge on the victory for me.

Sona heals ftw10/25/2013, 5:07:29 PM3 votes

I met two people I queue up with in a very similar game. Our five players queued in, but only three of theirs did. Both mids were Twisted Fates, their wukong went top and I was bot support with our carry vs a jungle Maoki . We were seriously dominating our smite-ridden Moaki, and the enemy was all chatting how much they just wanted the game over but were so disappointed they had to wait 20 minutes to surrender. I said in team chat that maybe we could be nice and square up the odds a bit until the rest of their team showed up. (Which they never did.) Our adc and jungle started to just roam. I was bot vs Moaki. (Fairly even.) The two Twisted Fates continued to face off, but were discussing strategies, as it was the week of his rework. Our top played for a while but then decided to go afk, I think. No worries. Several times I attempted to solo Barron.. as Sona. In all chat I kept them up with my progress. Which was zero. Everyone had a good time. The stress was off. To my surprise, 20 minutes rolled around and there was no surrender vote. We were doing our best to keep it even but we were still getting turrets down. They were not. Due to the fact that we all tried to keep it fair, we ended up playing just under 40 minutes. I still queue up with their Wukong and Maoki. Of all the games I've played, that is the one I remember the best.

Red Ryu10/25/2013, 7:46:29 PM2 votes

That is really bad sport and being horrible to your own team.

On one hand, yes you were "honorable" if you even wanna call it that. On the other, you screwed 4 other people over including yourself to help that one person.

Look it sucks what happened to him, but your job is to help your team win when you get Quered up with a team. Instead you gave them the middle finger by letting him catch up.

If I saw that in tribunal, I'd hit punish even if your intentions were not malicious. Not because it's strictly against the rules, not because I don't agree with your actions.

But because you were a jerk to your own team.

Invictrix10/30/2013, 3:52:18 AM1 votes

Um this sounds like throwing the game to get honor in my opinion.

Wizz Kalista10/24/2013, 11:01:32 PM1 votes

I would like to do this. Until I realize that every time I've been on the other side of the table the enemy has taken advantage of that 1 guy who's dc'd. I don't give pity to those who wouldn't give pity back and in this game I assume nobody would give pity back.