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Toxicity had the exact opposite effect on player performance as the toxic player intends it to

danmarge·3/12/2015, 7:30:24 PM·3 votes·1,518 views

I was watching brain games the other night and the study at the end of the show reminded me of the toxic nature of some players and the effects that it has on the victim of the behavior. I'll add the link the clip relevant to the post starts at 18:20.

If you don't feel like watching a quick 5 minute clip I'll summarize it in a few quick sentences (skip this paragraph if you watched the clip). The study uses the once popular children's game perfection (a game where you had 1 minute to fit 20 shapes in their corresponding holes in the game board, when the timer is a spring under the board launches all the pieces out). During the first trial the host berated the subjects with negative comments while they were playing, and only 20% of subjects completed the game. During the second set of trails the host used positive statements to encourage the participants to succeed. In this set of trails 80% or participants completed the game.

So when a player berates their team with negative comments it is likely to effect their gameplay in negative fashion. This is contradictory to the objective of any normal team (to win). I see a lot of posts on the forum complaining about their teams being feeders and they have the right to be angry because that's the normal reaction when someone is competitive and loses. I suggest we as a community instead of lashing out at these people try and motivate them to do better using encouraging statements. Maybe this will help and maybe it won't, but at the very least it won't exacerbate the issue.

I'm open to discussion and debate on this topic.

12 Comments

1st HanarSpectre3/12/2015, 8:24:04 PM2 votes

People aren't trying to make anyone play better, they are venting their frustration at what they perceive to be poor plays and skills (whether true or not is actually irrelevant), that's all there is to it.

rumples3/12/2015, 7:33:29 PM1 votes

I don't think most the toxic players are trying to motivate anyone

The Whamboozler3/12/2015, 7:36:57 PM1 votes

^ This. Most players who talk crap to their teammates are just bitter that they think they're gonna lose and they want to place the blame on someone that isn't themselves. It's much easier to scapegoat others than to actually get better at things, after all.

Jubbinaut3/12/2015, 9:24:33 PM1 votes

I try to keep it out of my responses, but my first reaction to posts like "i always get teams with fucking feeders! why can't i ever win?" is usually something like: "Probably because you're calling your teammates fucking feeders like that's gonna help them."

Honestly, there are a lot of people who are toxic purely because they're frustrated and don't care anymore. But there are also plenty who genuinely think that badgering their teammates about mistakes is "helping" them, and this could be eye-opening for some of those players.

Dangerous Man3/13/2015, 4:01:15 AM1 votes

Idk what your point was. But this game was hard to do. I just held the timer so I could play and show my brother I could do it in 1 min even though it was 1:30 or so.

Raptamei3/13/2015, 6:57:29 AM1 votes

Riot just needs to port the performance rating aspect of champion mastery to LP gains and losses so people don't feel threatened by their team in a game that encourages selfish individuality.