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"It's just a Game..." why this phrase is worst than anything else.

Teufel Monkey·11/5/2014, 7:47:44 AM·19 votes·11,357 views

When entering any mode in League of Legend the goal is generally to do your best for both your benefit and the benefit of your team, bar of course maybe the odd custom game here or there. Usually playing with 1 or 2 friends at a time, there are of course the 2-4 random players I am paired with when playing my usual temporarily available game-type (in this case hexakill) or a good o' aram. Quite nearly 90% of the games I've played in the past week have resulted in losses, mostly due to feeding or other players refusing to allow someone to play a champion and inevitably doing very poorly with that champion. Now of course there is room for error, everyone makes them, but even when trying to convey some sort of advice in chat, the phrase "It's just a game," almost always pops up. Of course it's a game, i am playing it after all. But to everyone I've seen use this phrase, it means "here's my excuse for not putting in an earnest effort to not just win, but to help others enjoy their experience as well." The simple utterance of this phrase which used convey at least good intentions no longer seems to do so in the League community. If you are going to state, hey this is just a game, then PLAY the game especially since you are playing it with others, especially if they are strangers who may not enjoy your unconventional or disruptive antics as much as your friends. Now i am wording this much more kindly then most probably feel about this subject, but I just want to establish a frustration that I am sure is shared between a lot more players than just myself and a few friends. Reply if you know the feeling bros!

33 Comments

Wynsl11/5/2014, 2:44:25 PM13 votes

Well just because someone says "Hey it's just a game" doesn't mean they're not trying. They are trying but they don't want people raging over their performance. I mean come on. If someone does bad in a game and they ARE trying what then? You rage at them?

l AM SCRIPTING11/5/2014, 12:18:25 PM12 votes

It's just a game.

-Yours truly, a diamond player.

MidEvilKnight3k11/5/2014, 11:44:46 AM12 votes

Who say's they aren't playing the game to the best of their ability? The phrase "it's just a game" when said usually means you shouldn't get upset at your allies, or you should move on after a bad fight. Sure it might have caused the loss, but that isn't a reason to quit, get so mad you can't play (tilt), or stop trying.

However, most people read it and think it means that they are not trying because it is just a game.

As a result, people should stop using the phrase because it isn't working.

Oksana11/5/2014, 2:39:45 PM8 votes

Look I play to just have fun. This season I played what? about 120 ranked games and won 75% of them. I have high MMR but i'm in gold 5 just because of the reason I don't rank. When I go play normal's, I'm not going to pretend its ranked and go full try hard. I'm not going to try my hardest and my best. For fucks sake I might even go Rengar/Vlad bot lane just for the hell of it. Because It is just a game and it is for fun. If your playing normal's your playing it to try new things, learn new champs, have fun with friends or just to play because you don't enjoy the ranked arena. Sometimes when I say, Its just a game, its not because I'm loosing or i'm doing bad in lane. Sometimes I say it because someone else is raging and taking it to far, or because I want to try something new and people think its stupid. Whats the point of having normal's and ranked if everyone is going to take normal's so seriously ? summoner 6

Bionic Avian11/5/2014, 4:32:41 PM5 votes

You have to remember, it is ONLY a game. Unless you're making a living off of it, it's nothing more. It's not your livelihood, it's not going to make or break relationships. It's a game. That's it.

Hopeslayer11/5/2014, 10:21:42 AM4 votes

its not just league that people say it, its just something bad players say as an excuse for doing poorly, like they are not trying to win a competitive game

Wullf11/5/2014, 10:57:18 AM4 votes

I know the feeling, but it is nothing wrong with this attitude unless it is in ranked.

Ye, I do not agree with this attitude but in normals, you cannot expect players to try their full best. That is kind of exhausting, Normals are to have fun, excercise and play without any obligations.

Still it is no less frustrating.

Rose crusader11/5/2014, 12:26:34 PM4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzpndHtdl9A

TheRealBOBDOLE11/5/2014, 4:29:11 PM4 votes

I use this phrase. Heres the thing: It is a video game, which i play on MY free time, so I can enjoy MYSELF, doing MY hobby, for MY OWN recreation.

I owe you nothing when i join a game because I'm not there for you. I'm there for ME. I play for ME.

I work for someone else, i care for other people, i pay companies money for bills. i play games for ME.

This is important to understand, because people on league seem to be under the impression that when you join a game, you are agreeing to play in whatever way is expected of you by the rest of the team, and it simply isn't true.

There are some guidelines to follow, riot has made those clear. And contrary to common belief, NONE OF THEM say that I am required to play YOUR way.

ThatWerido11/5/2014, 2:31:31 PM3 votes

I can understand the point you're making here, op. But honestly, there's no reason to get angry over a loss at any gamemode except for ranked. When I play normals, it's usually for fun or i'm practicing a new champion or role that I may or may not be good at.

a call beyond11/5/2014, 11:36:11 AM3 votes

chill out tryhard

LiftsLikeGaston11/5/2014, 11:10:04 AM3 votes

It isn't worse than your english, that's for sure.

Nkeyo11/5/2014, 5:38:14 PM3 votes

I've had people going 0/10/0 and saying "It's just a game", or "It's just normals", and their feeding either loses us the game, or drags it out and wastes everybody's time. What this post is getting at is that it's an excuse to write-off the fact that you're being a prick, and are really just playing to waste everyone's time. Want to try some troll build? Go play a custom, or bots, or put together a 5 man group if you have any friends, but don't go randomly ruin people's games and act like it doesn't matter because "it's just a game". We play and put time into this game in an effort to have fun, and if you're being a prick and ruining that, it's not about the game, it's about you wasting our time and fun just because you can. It's like a 20-minute car ride taking an hour because somebody is being stupid on the road, and having them lean out their window and say "It's just a car ride" when you want them to stop being stupid. The thing is, it's not about the car ride, it's about them wasting 40 minutes of your time so they can act like a special snowflake.

The worst part is people here are defending it. By all means, if you enjoy people wasting your time, ignore this thread and everything in it. If you laugh and have fun when somebody makes something twice as hard as it needs to be, then ignore this, but if it happens to bother you when somebody wastes your time, then have some empathy and be a decent human being you worthless sacks of shit. This isn't a single-player game, the other players aren't ghosts created for your amusement. /endrant

Konidias11/5/2014, 6:03:33 PM3 votes

The "it's just a game" people are just as bad as the people who do really badly and then try to turn it around like they are trolling.

Both are making sad excuses as to why they are doing poorly. Both are lying to themselves.

I've played quite a few online games and usually when my team is getting upset at a teammate, the teammate either uses the "it's just a game, lol" excuse, or they will go full troll and say "lol u mad?" as if their plan was to intentionally do bad so they could make you mad.

I mean, if you can't beat the enemy team, I guess you can have fun trolling your own team...

TenSlashTen11/5/2014, 2:02:29 PM3 votes

"It's just a game," almost always pops up. Of course it's a game, i am playing it after all. But to everyone I've seen use this phrase, it means "here's my excuse for not putting in an earnest effort to not just win, but to help others enjoy their experience as well."

Because they're losers.

AlbireoAzure11/5/2014, 10:29:55 PM2 votes

I use this phrase, ussualy i want to play normals because there should be no pressure, and if i'm playing a champ in pvp for the first time (it's very different than playing in bots) i won't make big plays, but that doesn't mean that i'm not trying or that my allies can rage at me. -Sorry for my english

Teufel Monkey11/6/2014, 12:31:50 AM1 votes

I think a few misconceptions about what I am saying here are that I am talking about Ranked vs. Normal playstyle which i am not. Also I am not crucifying players that are trying out champions or that are not skilled with said champion, I am talking about those who blatantly disregard their teammates by either not participating in a teamfight, running headlong into the full enemy team knowingly, or others that flat out tell their team to basically bugger off because they would rather sink the entire team for their own reason.

stillserenity11/5/2014, 4:28:42 PM1 votes

i can understand just saying its a game in normals but ranked......im in ranked to to my best, not to play with afkers trollers and all that...but hey hurting someones chances to get to their max ability is fun for some pple...never fun going from silver 1 to silver 5....

Adetto11/6/2014, 12:38:46 AM1 votes

People pretty much use it to deflect blame. Odds are they feel targeted, and defensive.

The Curator11/5/2014, 6:27:23 PM1 votes

It's truly just a game though. The goal is to play, regardless of any self-indulgent fantasies you may have. Only in ranked is the goal to win, but outside of ranked, the goal is to play, that is all. Other people mean nothing, we play together because we must, but nobody is going to care about what you may find fun. The quicker you understand that your opinion means nothing to anyone else but yourself, the more fun you too will have in this game.