Does the insult "try hard" have any grounds?

Dark Volton·11/1/2014, 7:47:52 AM·15 votes·3,293 views

Maybe its just me, but i really hate the term "try hard", anytime anyone says it i just want to punch them in the face. But hey who knows, maybe its just me, what are your guy's thoughts on the term "try hard"? to me it makes no sense, what do they expect us to do, NOT play the game?

39 Comments

Deep Terror Nami11/1/2014, 12:27:01 PM20 votes

If somebody calls you a "try hard", that only means that they just called themselves "lazy and gives up easily". Take it as a compliment that you are committed to doing your best even when the odds are stacked against you. Just don't respond in a toxic manner; you already know they are immature and rude, it could escalate if you feed the troll.

Dawnpromise11/1/2014, 8:14:15 AM8 votes

I get upset when people say "GG" after a one sided match...so to each their own.

TreasonousSnail11/1/2014, 5:19:40 PM6 votes

Yeah I've always found the term "Try hard" frustrating because i DO TRY HARD. But by making it an insult, they've effectively taking one of the best attributes about your playstyle and turned it against you. The trick is to take it as a complement :P. Next time they call you a try hard, say thanks :).Shaco

PL5511/1/2014, 6:51:45 PM5 votes

I call people "Try Hard" when they become overly toxic and possibly cyber bullying a person who is unintentionally feeding. It's used to make people realize they are overreacting at a loss.

YogSoth0th11/1/2014, 9:31:03 PM5 votes

Try hard is when, in normals, you play a troll team with someone, like everyone goes support, and the other team tears it like ranked, taking drag early cause you can't or something, 4 man ganks, and they punish you for trying to play a fun thing you can't do in ranked because this would happen. Mind, not in draft either, in blind. And of course they either say nothing or they make fun of you. They're not having fun with an obviously troll game they're going to win, they're just trying to ensure you don't have fun with it.

ModFrom The Cosmos11/2/2014, 12:59:34 AM4 votes

Been playing since early 2010 and it used to be that if you wanted to play competitively you would play ranked. If you wanted to practice for ranked, you play draft pick normals.

Anything else can be confined into normals blind pick. The general consensus used to be that blind pick normals were just for casual social gameplay where people just have fun and try champions they aren't comfortable with.

If I see you taking normals seriously, and yelling at your teammates because they "aren't csing properly" or anything like that, then you're a grade A jackass.

If you want to be competitive, go play ranked. If you want to practice for ranked, go play draft. It really is that simple.

Gallowgrim11/1/2014, 6:26:02 PM4 votes

My association with the term is "the 'Stop Having Gun Guy who wants hardcore gaming sensibilities and 'earn your fun' mandatory". Working hard to win isn't "try harding" as I'd define it. When you start yelling at people for not playing as you think they ought, or taking thegame so seriously you forget to have fun (and start dragging the whole experience down for both team and opponents, then you're "tryharding" as I see it. In the sense that applies to LoL anyhow. Outside LoL, the term tends to be directed (by myself at least) at the lunatic fringe of 'challenge gamers' who can't grasp their rather masochistic idea of 'fun' is a niche of a niche in appeal and should quit trying to force it onto other games because they want to suffer and 'earn their fun.'

Graiskye11/1/2014, 10:13:37 PM4 votes

GG EZ, TryHard, whatever the flavor, who cares. The sooner you start using the ignore feature, if you really are bothered by this kind of thing, the happier you'll be playing League. With a game as inherently competitive as League you get egos bumping up against each other, throw in the factor of Internet Anonymity Tough Guy Syndrome, 'IFTGS' for short and you have a guaranteed recipe for douchebaggery. Just ignore it, if you must throw the offending douche on your ignore list. My ignore list has a good 400-500 people on it, I haven't used it much lately as i just don't seem to care anymore. I don't play competitive League just a normals player, so having the odd player on the ignore list is not that big of a hindrance as they usually are not communicating any relevant game info anyhow. Ive played many games where the whole lot of them got ignored, both teams,' ignore ally', ' ignore enemy'. Its not a decision I labor over... when in doubt throw them on ignore, that's the rule I live by......LOL.

disregardable11/1/2014, 7:51:50 AM3 votes

I agree on this one. I also hate when people say something like "It's just normals", "It's just Bronze", "It's just a game", etc. The whole reason people play this game is to be better than others.

Greedalox11/1/2014, 6:38:35 PM3 votes

I don't like having a civil game, where there's no talking between the teams only to have it end and have someone go "GG EZ". Definition of uncalled for ;_;

Junkο11/1/2014, 11:07:33 PM3 votes

When somebody says "try hard" then that means they are mad and you can continue stomping them because they are too mad to focus.

Angry Monster11/1/2014, 8:49:23 AM2 votes

I think try hard in normals can be applied when you constantly abuse someone who is having obvious connections issues.

In ranked i get killing the the DC if you can. But when playing normals their is no point. Your playing for honor only. Where is the honor when people are obviosuly not their but the system has not pulled them back yet.

In rank i totally understand the win no matter the cost. But normals are usually for learning. What are you learning versus a DC?

Gavran11/2/2014, 1:19:12 AM2 votes

anytime anyone says it i just want to punch them in the face.

This is what makes you a tryhard. It's all attitude. Someone who takes the game seriously and always does his best is fine. Someone who thinks he's a tough guy and ties the fact that he always tries really hard into his identity and sense of self-worth is... a joke.

I Main Swain11/1/2014, 6:33:47 PM2 votes

lol that's what I was thinking. tryhard basically is A) what people say when youre doing better than them, which is kinda a good thing and B) it means youre actually trying vs just messing around. kinda like when a jungler is ganking fairly often (although this only annoys me whenever they only gank a few times) and the enemy laner is like "wow babysitting much?"

CertainlyNotKara11/2/2014, 7:57:18 PM1 votes

Meh, I had someone Diamond ranked who purposely grieved me throughout an entire game (as a then lvl 17) player, even leaving Top lane just to get to Bottom to kill me because he couldn't farm well. People on both teams called him a "try-hard" though I don't know what the terminology for what he was doing would best be, if any? Friend of a friend when we did a customs 5v5 with me knowingly being the only player under lvl 30.

AetherKingdom11/2/2014, 2:55:03 AM1 votes

i enjoy killing dc people

Kldran11/2/2014, 5:51:35 AM1 votes

There is a massive difference between playing to win, playing to improve, and playing for fun. A person who only plays to win, will never improve as much as people who play to improve will. Improvement requires doing things a person isn't good at. If a person never does things they aren't already good at, they are try hards who will amount to nothing in the end.

code424011/2/2014, 1:18:28 PM1 votes

Depends on the context. In most situations, it's stupid: -Calling tryhard because enemy is winning -Calling tryhard because they aren't taking the game seriously, and enemy is (related to above) -Using the phrase in ranked, period. Ranked is pretty much Tryhard Central.

However, if you're playing normals (especially if you're doing blind or team builder), and someone flames you for breaking the meta (E.G. AD veigar), or choosing something that isn't perceived as OP (E.G. saying "Velkoz/Ezreal/Azir/Urgot/Heimerdinger/Ashe is trash"), then they are a tryhard. As long as you're still taking the game seriously and making an effort. If you're being lazy and feeding or whatever, you have no right to call tryhard even in this case.

This doesn't come up in teambuilder too often though, for obvious reasons.

BigDaddySenpaiii11/2/2014, 3:03:37 PM1 votes

Another legitimate try hard;

  • Everyone is screwing around in ARAM and dancing or emoting, there's that one guy who just runs on and starts poking/trying to kill you.

Really mang, you've got 20+ minutes to do that.

Stars Shaper11/2/2014, 8:08:58 PM1 votes

I do believe that if you are not playing to win you are better to devote yourself to Paint and Photoshop... or Dating Sim.

Featherztorm11/1/2014, 8:28:05 AM1 votes

The way I look at it is, when someone says "Try hard" to you, you're doing your job in playing the game. They probably think you're a good player, but hate to admit that fact, and just try to insult you with that phrase. Also, I don't mind GG's after a game, even if it was one sided. Now, when they say "It's just a game" and we're playing a ranked, I get pissed. People don't understand the reason a lot of us play ranked. If we wanted to dick around, we play normals. We play ranked to play our hardest and do something in the game. I wish riot would ban THOSE players that just play ranked to eff around.