"TOXIC" Has it gone to far? The Vocabulary and Meaning for Players

Angry Monster·11/24/2014, 1:19:06 AM·1 votes·901 views

This is a true discussion piece and i am looking for other thoughts. Do players used the word Toxic to much and out of context?

So its almost the league buzz word, "TOXIC". While Lyte did not invent the word, he is the one that brought into leagues meta langue.

A quick bring up from dictonary .com comes with the following

of, pertaining to, affected with, or caused by a toxin or poison: a toxic condition. 2. acting as or having the effect of a poison; poisonous: a toxic drug. 3. pertaining to or noting debt that will probably not be repaid: toxic mortgages. 4. pertaining to or noting a financial instrument or other asset that has no value or an unknown value because there is no market for it: toxic mortgage-backed securities.

We can see that Lyte brought over the term in league based off the second definition. Lyte first started talking about how players with extreme negative attitudes or problems would effect players. The whole idea is about transference and one person can cause a chain effect to cause distress of some level out side of that game.

I have seen players respond to the call "stop split pushing we need you" with "do not tell me what to do your toxic". What is toxic here, I want to focus on the idea not specific langue since any request can be made foul ex(get over here you trash and hell, ect.) I want to talk about the idea here, that is saying "what you (players A) is doing is not working out for the some people on the team."

A lot of peoples first reaction is do not tell me how to play (i am doing great). Since you (player B )are telling me how to play my game and i having fun and not intentionally assisting the enemy (feeding) you must be troll, BMing, ect. We do not want to use the word troll anymore its lost meaning(troll CAN mean completely unusual play or strat, even funny). People then use the word TOXIC in the hopes Riot will see how i feel and punish the offending player. This is am emotional response. Is either player really being toxic? When we are in either player A or B shoes we may feel that way at the time.

So the word "TOXIC" is now being thrown around to mean behavior that i do wish to experience. Should the player base be degrading the word to such a board meaning? With board meanings the word can be applied to small actions like i point out above. Every little perceived offense is now toxic. Are we now making it hard to tell the difference between a random comment and those that spam racism and other slurs?

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