Boards›[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous

Toxicity in this game... from the viewpoint of an admittedly toxic player

Unreal Reality·8/9/2015, 4:15:09 AM·9 votes·1,448 views

So first, I'm going to start this off saying that I am in no way condoning my actions, nor the actions of any other toxic player. Most of the reasoning behind why I've been punished before is solid and deserving. Toxicity has only become such a large issue recently with the ever-growing popularity of League, which means more frustrations with new players/already toxic players joining. I can't offer any solution as to how to deal with toxicity, so please no future comments of "well what do YOU think Riot should do?" What I'm here to address is my own personal experiences as a toxic player and against toxic players.

I've played this game since around the end of season 1 and have enjoyed it ever since. I started this game with no anger issues at all, in real life or on video games. For along time, I was a fun and helpful player (I still can be, but with the majority of the community today I think the fun has run its course). It wasn't until the beginning of this season that my anger towards this game started to plant itself. For some reason unbeknownst to anyone, many players grew toxic. This rubbed off on me the wrong way, and I started getting agitated with people who would intentionally feed, flame, etc. I never did (and still don't) get angry with new players or people who just mess up, but the more I hammered out some soloq and the longer I played this game, the more I realized people are just... jerks. They'll yell at you for failing to camp their lane and win the game for them. They'll completely blow up if you take "their" blue buff (even as mid, yes) and talk you down if you miss a team fight. What most people DON'T realize, though, are the silent toxic players.

Yes, it's easy to track down and ban toxic players with the new Tribunal system, but that's ONLY if they talk. The most persistent lingering threat that I've seen in games (the ones that actually brought out my toxicity) are the ones that feed, or intentionally play worse for x or y reason. It turned me, and I'm sure many others, into the toxic people they became, but while I have mostly recovered from this "disease", it still plagues me sometimes. I still have uncalled for outbursts at people intentionally throwing a game, and while I do know this generally makes it worse it's a hard habit to kill when fixated on justice and putting someone in their place. Anger only begets more anger, but while verbal toxicity is very, very bad, I do not think it should always be BANNED.

I've been handed out 3 temporary suspensions now, all 3 based off of a single game where, yes, I was pretty toxic. Here's the kicker: being suspended did not ease the toxicity at all. In fact, I don't think suspension normally helps players, especially the verbally toxic ones. Here's an idea... instead of chat restrictions, remove their ability to chat ENTIRELY. Riot has said it themselves that most victories have very little or no verbal communication. Or at least give us a way to turn off chat, and not just all chat. I mean the ability to chat with teammates as well. Even without this solution, though, I've found that, personally, chat restrictions have done a LOT better for me than a 2-week suspension. I've never been the type of person that feeds or afk's when flustered, and I know that there are other players out there like that.

In short, banning doesn't always (or even normally) fix the problem. You're going to get that player back or on an alt account, unchanged. We need some way to detect and get rid of those that silently feed or afk (but stay there as not to detect leaverbuster). THOSE are the real threat to the community. For anybody that read this, thank you for your time and input as well if you leave a comment below.

18 Comments

Purodyuusaa8/9/2015, 5:12:11 AM6 votes

Somehow or another, League of Legends develops a "me vs them" mentality amongst its players.
I play lots of different games that require team work in order to succeed. As an example, Final Fantasy 14 and their raid system. We have eight people that have to work together and overcome multiple mechanics in a single fight in order to be victorious. The lengths people go through in that game to be helpful is astounding, from minor tidbits to outright explaining an entire fight from start to finish. The amount of flaming I've experienced in six months can be counted on one hand, whereas all I have to do is play -tonight- in League and I guarantee I'm going to run into at least one person that's being toxic for the sake of being toxic.

I'm not sure what does it, but League's negative influence on someone is ridiculous.

Wade Funk8/9/2015, 8:33:54 AM3 votes

Its just the nature of the game. People aren't toxic.. the game itself breeds toxicity, just as any other MOBA. And the sooner Riot realizes this (which I don't think they will) the sooner they can start taking real steps towards decreasing the toxicity of the game. As an example, replacing a leaver or afker with a bot as heroes of the storm does would no doubt alleviate some of the stress caused by leavers. I think there also needs to be more harsher punishment towards people who queue up for ranked games with no intention of actually trying.. that can be tricky though.

As far as I'm aware MOBA's are the only genre of multiplayer game in which someone messing up on your team or doing poorly can cause you so much stress. Like when you're trying your best and winning against your lane opponent but all of your effort is fully negated by the fact that your bot lane is feeding relentlessly. The person you won against ends up getting in on the feedfest and that person then comes back and destroys you, spamming laughing emotes the whole way to your nexus. All because of that guy in Bot lane who "is just having fun." Expecting people to not get frustrated by those sorts of circumstances is very unrealistic IMO. You would have to be a special kind of person to not let that bother you. Perhaps you are a Saint.

But alas, Lyte and crew continue their campaign of purging "Toxic Players" who are nothing more than a victim to the design of the game.

CaptainTatertits8/9/2015, 4:23:08 AM1 votes

[deleted]

freya od8/9/2015, 10:16:45 AM1 votes

I start to get toxic when i have teams that ignore pointed out logic. Like after the 10th time of asking to group up or having someone blatantly leave you die because you're okay to sacrifice gets me toxic. having teams repeatedly ignore your request to help ward or do anything is when it starts for me.

Yet refusing to play with your team is never a bannable offense, we're always expected to have to keep our mouths shut about every thing, can't say anything slightly negative or truthful. The trolls aren't banned. just people who want to win but is being dragged down with frustration because you're doing what you can and only seem to be getting fucked over.

It's just unfair, in my opinion. I think riot has unrealistic expectations of how people are going to interact in an online MOBA, or rather how they're trying to force them to act. Instead of looking at the causes of it, they try to "fix it" and it doesn't work like that. I'm right there with you, i would rather disable my chat before i start playing rather than just being banned, and it seems really stupid that's not an option.

You can communicate fine in pings, but once someone really starts working my gears in game i can't laugh it off every. single. fucking. time. It's incredibly unrealistic.

illusydara8/9/2015, 12:42:07 PM1 votes

I'm a pessimist. I don't believe what Anne Frank said about humanity. I don't believe that truly toxic people can be rehabilitated by anyone other than themselves. Or more likely, not at all. But, I like the ban system. Not because it will turn you into a better person, but because it gets you the hell out of the way. Sure, there will be others, but their time will come too. Or not, but it's fine with me. It always comes back around. Also, I get a sick pleasure out of seeing people crying about getting banned =/

Was going to downvote, but actually read the whole thing and changed my mind. You make very good points. But, when you're toxic because other toxic people rub off on you, you're just as bad as they are. Stupid assholes never have that kind of self-awareness, and the fact that you recognize your flaws puts you in a different class. Rise above that shit. Find creative ways to channel your anger. As cliche as it sounds, it really is just a game. I'm not saying don't be mad, I'm saying don't take it out on other people.

Here's one: Next time you're mad, sing "Let it Go". You may actually feel better, and you'll probably piss of more people than if you had just started cursing at them.

Jubbinaut8/9/2015, 11:22:00 PM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Unreal Reality,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=LY5EUETn,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-08-09T04:15:09.416+0000)

We need some way to detect and get rid of those that silently feed or afk (but stay there as not to detect leaverbuster). THOSE are the real threat to the community. For anybody that read this, thank you for your time and input as well if you leave a comment below.

Sometime very soon, they should be implementing a system that's been in development for some time that will detect and address feeders much faster than the current systems do. It's important to remember, though, that Riot hasn't been ignoring the problem - it's simply been difficult to address quickly.

Additionally, I feel I should note that afk's are detected by Leaverbuster even if they remain connected to the game. I don't know how it detects them - and I sincerely doubt Riot will tell anyone - but I know that at least one metric it measures by is experience gain. In short, if you aren't doing anything meaningful, Leaverbuster will take notice, regardless of whether or not you are connected to the game.

That said, I want to address a misconception you seem to have.

I've been handed out 3 temporary suspensions now, all 3 based off of a single game where, yes, I was pretty toxic.

Unless you were spewing hate speech or death threats, your bans are extremely unlikely to have been due to a single game. I absolutely believe that they only gave you one game of chat logs, but that's simply because it's much easier to show a sample game than it is to clean and copy all of the games in a particular case.