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Do you have any tips for reforming negative players?

Ghiefelstein··2 votes·539 views

I always try to reform negative players and help them improve their behavior. Maybe I can make their future games a little more positive for everyone involved. However, I have no idea how to reform someone most effectively. So do you have any tips?

This is how I approach negative players:

Step 1 Win the game. In game I advice people to stop using chat and focus on winning the game. Reforming can be done in after-game chat, but first everyone just wants to play the game.

Step 2 Win their trust. In after-game chat I try to reform a negative player. But they need to trust me first. It helps if I had a positive attitude from champ select onward.

Step 3 Make them realize they are negative. Many players deny at first that they were negative. They need to realize that they have a problem that needs to be solved.

Step 4 Tell them how to improve their behavior. Usually I suggest a small step to reduce negativity or increase positivity.

Maybe you can give better tips if I give an example as well. This is after-game chat with me trying to reform someone. The entire conversation was really long, so this is a selection.

Enemy player: was a great game ty team Teammate 1: all lanes feeding Teammate 1: blaming jungler Teammate 1: nice Teammate 1: standard Me: jax, just ask yourself Me: why were you chat restricted? Me: hint: you are negative all game Teammate 1: does it reflect my gameplay? Teammate 1: ofc i was negative [...] Teammate 1: how can xerath lose his lane Teammate 1: when i gave first blood to him Teammate 1: really Teammate 1: and he was diamond? Me: because his opponent is better? Teammate 1: he got, was it is, 400g? Teammate 1: and he cant poke him down? Teammate 1: snowball? Teammate 1: buy mana pot and spam skills? Me: next time something like that happens Teammate 1: xerath was bad Teammate 1: no offence Me: keep quiet and play the game Teammate 1: lol? Teammate 1: no Teammate 1: we need communication Teammate 1: i tried to communicate Teammate 1: no1 wanted Teammate 1: i was solo Teammate 1: in this team [...] Me: the reason i am telling you this is because you are negative without realizing it Teammate 1: haha dude Me: at least i did not mean to flame you at all Teammate 1: i know im negative Teammate 1: i know im negative Me: so do something about it Teammate 1: but i have my reasons Teammate 1: no Teammate 1: my team should Teammate 1: do something Teammate 1: about it Teammate 1: its their fault Teammate 1: they fail Teammate 1: they fail Teammate 1: and i get mad Me: do you think your team plays better if you point out their failures? Teammate 1: i fail, the flame me Teammate 1: i dont Teammate 1: point out Teammate 1: their failures Teammate 1: i say Teammate 1: "next time do this or do that" [...] Teammate 1: im tired of "teaching" Me: do you believe i am trying to help you? Teammate 1: yeah Teammate 1: ofc Teammate 1: you are a good guy Me: ok, consider this advice Teammate 1: xerath isnt Me: you think you are 'teaching', but other players are butthurt Me: for example, you asked me to ward dragon from now on Teammate 1: why do they get butthurt Me: i could act all butthurt about it, or ward dragon Teammate 1: seriously i just tell them to do things better Me: people don't want to hear that Teammate 1: lol? haha wtf? why not? Teammate 1: if u dont ward it Teammate 1: we lose drake Teammate 1: and we lose money and power and we lose the game Teammate 1: logics dude Me: yes, and i know i am bad for not warding it Teammate 1: -.- Teammate 1: i didnt tell u Teammate 1: that u are bad..? Teammate 1: just said Teammate 1: ward drake from now on Me: i know Teammate 1: do i have to make a smiley face? Teammate 1: :) Teammate 1: better? Me: that would actually help a lot :) Teammate 1: lol y Teammate 1: but Teammate 1: no1 else does it [...] Teammate 1: no1 fun to be alone with smileys <.< Me: i would say continue with your advice, it helped me to remember to ward Me: but if people act negatively back Me: stop talking in chat [...] Teammate 1: but i like to teach others Teammate 1: not if i mute them Me: ok, when teaching Me: try to think about how someone else interprets it Me: i could read: hey, this guy reminds me to ward Me: or i could read: this bad jax is telling me i am doing bad Me: and act angry Teammate 1: well if u think the second Teammate 1: u are just a sad kid Teammate 1: erally Teammate 1: really Me: well, then there are a lot of sad kids out there Teammate 1: it is Teammate 1: its league of legends mate Me: i really believe you should use chat a bit less Teammate 1: okey okey i try Me: especially when you think there are sad kids on the other side Teammate 1: okey i try it Teammate 1: have a nice day Teammate 1: c u Me: good luck, i hope your chat restrict gets lifted Me: have a nice day Teammate 1: lol Teammate 1: it wont Teammate 1: bye^^ Me: bye

Thank you for reading, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

7 Comments

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

+1

I don't particularly have a step-by-step process because it's always a case-by-case thing for me. However I always do my best to not get them on the defensive, as that's the easiest way to have said target ignore/mute you. That usually means being supportive to the person they're flaming (repair the damage), bringing up another more pressing issue (re-focus), or even just ask questions (distract).

Working with that as a general framework I can have some good success usually. Of course, there are always going to be the people who just want to be angry no matter what, but it's always worth the effort for the occasional "you're right, I'll take a step back for a moment.".

Ghiefelstein1 votes

Thank you for the tips. I especially like the distraction part by asking questions. Can you give an example of re-focussing with more pressing issues? I usually put the focus on winning, but sometimes the angry person doesn't believe we can win anymore or just says they don't care.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

re-focusing can be as such:

"Guys, dragon is in 30 seconds, group up." or "Top lane is pushing"

Giving them something else to focus on is sometimes a good way to break someone's tirade.

Drunk Rummate1 votes

I reform negative players by ignoring them and reporting them after the game. Riot has a metric that says over 70% of players punished end up reforming, so I figure I'll just let that do the work rather than stress myself out over it.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

You're not wrong, however another metric to consider is that <10% of the playerbase is regularly negative, most are neutral or even positive. But naturally even the most positive player can have a bad day. Most of the people I run into (with the exception of the rare truly malicious player) are only toxic/negative for a single game or two. Otherwise they're pretty quiet. Letting them know they're overstepping in a non-confrontational manner can help them out without feeling punished.

At the same time of course I don't think anyone is obligated to help negative players except possibly Riot and the negative player themselves.

Drunk Rummate1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sir ArmaMalum,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=0mcvGeAx,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2015-04-15T14:11:36.156+0000)

You're not wrong, however another metric to consider is that <10% of the playerbase is regularly negative, most are neutral or even positive. But naturally even the most positive player can have a bad day. Most of the people I run into (with the exception of the rare truly malicious player) are only toxic/negative for a single game or two. Otherwise they're pretty quiet. Letting them know they're overstepping in a non-confrontational manner can help them out without feeling punished.

At the same time of course I don't think anyone is obligated to help negative players except possibly Riot and the negative player themselves.

I find that efforts to communicate with negative players generally end in an even more negative experience. They lash out or worse in many cases. As someone who ignores negative players, it upsets me when people try to communicate with them - even if it's an attempt to improve their behavior - because it just gives them more to complain about in the end if someone is talking back to them.

If I say anything it's usually something along the lines of "shut up and play the game" which has worked a surprising amount of times, but I still generally like to avoid communicating with negative players because I know it makes the experience even worse for my teammates.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

{quoted}

I find that efforts to communicate with negative players generally end in an even more negative experience. They lash out or worse in many cases. As someone who ignores negative players, it upsets me when people try to communicate with them - even if it's an attempt to improve their behavior - because it just gives them more to complain about in the end if someone is talking back to them.

If I say anything it's usually something along the lines of "shut up and play the game" which has worked a surprising amount of times, but I still generally like to avoid communicating with negative players because I know it makes the experience even worse for my teammates.

Very valid point that. One of the hardest things I had to learn was knowing when starting a conversation will end up hurting more than helping.

At the same time you're also touching on one of the key reasons you don't see actively positive people often in League. It's simply much more difficult to do properly.

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