Am I an idiot?

Desaesid·Jan 2, 2015·2 votes·862 views

Recently, I made a smurf account with the intention of only playing support in co-op vs AI. Yes, already, that is dumb, I know, but my idea is that I want to help beginners learn the game and show them that it can be fun. I announce that I'll support anybody in game and would be glad to answer any questions they have. I do my best to keep them safe while also giving them as many kills as possible. Lots of people seem to enjoy it.

My concern here is that I'm not actually helping, or worse, hurting their growth as players. Sure, it's nice to see a friendly player in game, but am I maybe giving them unrealistic expectations? Is me cheering them on when I do all the work and they get the last hit a case of me creating bad habits for them? I'm just worried that rather than actually helping, I'm just inflating my own ego. The IGN is HereToHelp, but I'm worried that maybe I'm not helping as I really wanted.

Any thoughts or advice are welcome, as well as blatant mocking for making a smurf to play support in co-ops (it's just so ridiculous).

9 Comments

Astral ZephyroroJan 2, 20151 votes

I think what your doing is a great idea. A lot of lower accounts can easily turn toxic due to getting care bear stomped in lane. After so many abysmal losses the game never seems appealing or fun to play anymore, and your possibly helping the transition to PVP. On the other hand you may be inflating the ego just a tad bit to much. Make sure you are letting them know when they should do this, when they should not have done that, what they should have done here, when its safe to poke, when its not safe to poke, when and where is the best place to initiate, and constantly make sure they realize that CS'ing is the most important aspect for them to be learning at the moment. All in all I salute you trying to help, just make sure you dont get to rust only playing bots that you start to slack off. Advice doesnt really help when your off your game also.

EleshakaiJan 2, 20151 votes

Eh if you're giving players a friendly first introduction to the game, you're doing the community a great service. People don't learn all that much in those first few levels anyways, to be honest. It's more about getting a feel for the controls... that's why you're forced against bots.

Probably the biggest problem this community has is that there are too many people with bad attitudes forced to go through the leveling process after they got banned... people get a negative impression right off the bat and sometimes just straight up quit. If you're helping to prevent that, and providing people with a postiive first experience then I think you're doing something awesome.

DesaesidJan 2, 20151 votes

Thanks for the feedback! It's just tougher than it sounds to really teach them how to correctly play, as most don't know how to play at all. Most of the players I find just buy recommended items and attack bots whenever they see them, then back off when they start to lose (minions OP). Just knowing how to play the game and what their champions do is usually their game to game challenge. The concepts of poking, trading, initiation, and any real sort of counterplay is beyond what they can really grasp. And there are much, MUCH worse cases of players being completely clueless (I have seen 3 separate players get Spellthief's Edge on Zed). I have played with people who lose beginner bot games, and not just once. That's why I'm real on the fence if I'm really even helping here. I feel like maybe they just need to play and understand the game on their own. On the other hand, getting killed by bots over and over isn't fun, so many of them may just quit. I dunno, I'll keep at it for now, but any other feedback or ideas are welcome.

EleshakaiJan 2, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Thanks for the feedback! It's just tougher than it sounds to really teach them how to correctly play, as most don't know how to play at all. Most of the players I find just buy recommended items and attack bots whenever they see them, then back off when they start to lose (minions OP). Just knowing how to play the game and what their champions do is usually their game to game challenge. The concepts of poking, trading, initiation, and any real sort of counterplay is beyond what they can really grasp. And there are much, MUCH worse cases of players being completely clueless (I have seen 3 separate players get Spellthief's Edge on Zed). I have played with people who lose beginner bot games, and not just once. That's why I'm real on the fence if I'm really even helping here. I feel like maybe they just need to play and understand the game on their own. On the other hand, getting killed by bots over and over isn't fun, so many of them may just quit. I dunno, I'll keep at it for now, but any other feedback or ideas are welcome.

Ya, those first few games are just supposed to be that. Let them get that out of their system and be there to help and answer any questions they may have. MAke sure to focus on the ABSOLUTE basics - they have another 50-100 games to go before they have to worry about those advanced concepts - and give them a good foundation while making sure they have a good time.

You just want them to have fun. If they enjoy the game they'll stick with it and if they stick with it they'll hopefully eventually learn the rest.

EstebanElGuapoJan 2, 20151 votes

IF you can slip in some helpful explanations of those concepts in a way that doesn't come across as preachy or critical then it may carry forward into their future play and make a permanent difference in reducing their time to learning.

Also too much information can interfere with learning. One concept at a time may be the way to go.

I know someone that has played for a few years still has some of those issues that should have been weeded out in coops vs bots but takes any helpful advice as unwanted criticism; which is why I said 'slip it in'.

It is very fine line between helping someone learn something and making them defensive or even causing them information overload which is just as counter productive.

DesaesidJan 2, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I know someone that has played for a few years still has some of those issues that should have been weeded out in coops vs bots but takes any helpful advice as unwanted criticism; which is why I said 'slip it in'.

Oh boy, I have a friend that has played for 5 years that's so defensive, if I say something like "That flash was unnecessary", he throws a fit.

But yeah, it's really, REALLY tough to really connect with a lot of these players, but those that I do, I always try and leave them with a little more information than they went into the game with.