Help or Flame: The Chawse is Yaws!

If your conversation in-game isn't constructive or productive to the gameplay or the teamwork, then hush. I don't really care what your attitude is on forums. Some people are sensitive, some people are a-holes. I'm an a-hole on forums. But, in-game, if you watch someone trying to help someone and your response is "relax it's only a game" but offer no applicable productive or constructive assistance after making empty statements like that, then hush. If all you do is point out problems and offer no solutions, then hush. Pointing out an item path you wouldn't have chosen and not offering a better alternative isn't constructive in any way. The game itself doesn't offer many hands-on tutorials, training or guidance which leaves the player's overall level of experience and knowledge of the game and its mechanics, to the community and the players themselves. This is a good thing, but there isn't much of a handicap for people to work with. Yes, there is the start-up tutorial, bots, custom games, helpful players and now practice tool. It is still up to the actual players to push people along and help each other out.

 I'm not understanding the point of people getting into a game and being completely silent until someone makes a mistake, then all hell breaks loose. This is happening at a rate that is directly counterproductive to the overall experience of the game and to people learning the game which _should be_  all of the player base no matter the rank because the game is constantly changing and evolving, so should the experience level of the players. I take it, this game doesn't attract many people who excel in productive conversations or have basic communication skills for that matter. I thought queuing with friends would solve this silence but I came to find that friends included, have different styles and levels of gameplay experience and knowledge. The friends (and premades) also seem to rally around each other when mistakes are made but in a way that isn't always helpful, more or so like a 'sugarcoated' flaming session under the understanding that "its all jokes, we are friends lol". This _was_ and somewhat _is_ very prevalent in Flex Queue.

 In my opinion, I thought the honor system was a component implemented to give some sort of incentive for helping others or rather just a system that says, we notice you are being a good team player. Because this system is simply a button click at the end of the game, its either rarely used or in extreme cases, used when players actually feel a player was above average helpful and good in assisting the team in objectives. It almost seems like a system that had good intentions but has easily since been forgotten about. The summoner icons that are given for good behavior gave players a pat on the back so to speak. Of course one of the drawbacks of systems like this is, people shouldn't be rewarded for doing what they are supposed to do. I do not in any way expect Riot Games to be held accountable or able to reform people from an online game platform because these types of players have a real life to tend to where real life isn't always nice to them so they aren't always nice to others. I am in no way justifying certain behaviors but I also understand the stigma's surrounding online gaming and competitive gameplay in general.

 I am a Psychology major and minoring in Sociology (and love Philosophy) so from that standpoint it is interesting watching the majority of people this game seems to attract. It really is nothing different from any other competitive gaming environment. But, I feel Riot does implement things that other games have never implemented and have no plans to. For example, tribunal and the autopunishing system and things like LeaverBuster and low priority queue. Of course it does help in reforming players and keeping toxicity down because at the end of the day, it is not worth starting over in a game like this after putting money into it or being chat banned or suspended from certain game modes or the game entirely. Smurfs are of course an exception to this dynamic depending on the intentions of the person smurfing.

  I guess my point is, Riot realizes that they have a platform in the gaming world that IS influential and a substantial grossing system that becomes a part of many different aspects of society, not only gaming. Riot realizes that some people will literally grow up playing this game. So although this is not to blame Riot for its community choosing to either flame and offer no help or be silent and offer no help; I am interested in seeing how they will, over the years, be implementing responsibility in the form of helping to make its players '_better_' players _and_ people because of the magnitude and reach it has with different cohorts.