The One Reason Why League is Just Not Fun

Trolls/Toxic Players I rather not simply turn this into a raging post, but bring up an extremely valid point. Let me give you a summary of one of the many circumstances I've encountered in league that warrants huge attention, and I'm sure most people can sympathize with.

My main problem is with how the tribunal system is handled. There are trolls who consistantly and constantly act with beyond toxic behavior that is beyond a report, and as a result of complacency, no one reports the toxic players and they get away with their awful behavior. Try to not be complacent about bad player behavior and take the active step to report toxic players while trying to be kind to the players who are the subjects to the bad behavior.

I was playing a game as Akali in a standard 5v5 ranked game, then out jungler left at the beginning of the game. I was playing against a champion who counters me (annie), and she constantly dove and over extended but we had no jungler to punish her once. I Was zone out of EXP and gold. Duo bot lane blames me for feeding and us not winning a "Winnable" 4v5 even though lee was afk right when the game started and never came back. Needless to say we lost that game. Not once did I swear or curse, but of course I got angry with the fact annie kept diving me and there was nothing I could do about it, yet bot lane blamed me for it. Game ended and one of the bot laners reported me. Not once did i insult anyone or curse... Seriously, that's hard to do as it is, but the constant provocation and no understanding or sympathy from teammates was beyond irritating (You don't have to take the game so seriously, after all it is a game. Even if someone is at fault or not).

Qued up for another match, and the guy who reported me was on the enemy team. About 10-15 minutes in, me and mid exchanged 2 for 2 in kills due to ganks (my jungler ended up with the kills though). Our bot lane gets ganked by their shaco (they are duo que, and It's a Draven and Ashe as our bot lane which is already kind of trolling in a raaked game). Our draven instantly starts to curse and verbally abuse our Vi. After too much of it, I decide to call Draven out on his ridiculous attitude, and the most rude thing I even said was to the effect of "Are you a child? Why are you acting so angry?" Of course the Draven also thinks he is a Master Tier ADC who can do nothing wrong and constantly tries to find error in every single little thing that our team does all game (except ashe of course because that's his duo partner). Draven continues to act extremely rude and easily tops the list of the most toxic players I have ever played with, and consistently curses all game, as soon as he calms down for a moment, I tell him "sorry I got so angry", and "two wrong don't make a right" and I say "let's just have peace and play the game." Of course moments later he continues to curse criticize every little thing our teammates do, and continually rage while Ashe blames me, and says I'm the one raging (tell me how that works). After the game Draven and Ashe report me, then Tell everyone else on the other team to report me and claims falsely that I did the things that Draven did. He claims I was the one doing what he did, when it was entirely not true. The irelia on the other team who was the player I played with the game before who reported me for my poor performance and relatively mild anger which all was the result of a 4v5 scenario, says "haha I played with you last game and I don't believe you. All you did was rage." Even if that were true (which it really isn't, I tried to drop it and get over it mid-late game, while they continued to curse and blame me for failing them). Has anyone ever heard of double jeopardy? As in you can't be tried for the same crime twice? That's exactly what this irelia did along with the draven and ashe who were the true problem on our team. The irelia says "I reported him last game, and I'll report him this game too." Then everyone else on our team just left without barely saying anything about what happened (even though they were the target of most of the cursing and verbal abuse from draven). I'm not claiming like I acted perfectly, but I didn't not curse at all, and I barely insulted anyone, and mostly just got fed up with the toxic teams I got.

Well of course this is irritating, but it's really the principal that I would like to take away from this. Where it is unlikely that Riot will do anything soon about the tribunal system and completely overhauling it to be more effective or accurate (as far as I'm aware), I think it boils down to the community having to be in charge with putting a stop to this issue. To be fair, I did right this post in part to blow off some steam in accordance with what happened, but more importantly, I'm writing it to hopefully change at least some of attitudes of those reading. Here are some suggestions even I could take into consideration more! ** When Problems with you team arise...

1. Review the situation and see first if you are the problem (I don't mean in terms of gameplay, I mean strictly in terms of behavior and communication towards other players). Are you behaving appropriately and furthermore acting as kind and understanding as possible?

2. If someone else is the target of the poor behavior, try to mediate to some extent, but do not blow off bad behavior as being passable or acceptable. If someone is continually being toxic on your team, try to help the one who is being victimized (for lack of a better word), and actively take action to REPORT the toxic players at the end of the game for unacceptable behavior. Don't let it slide is key here.

3. Chill out. If your either person involved (the one who is being toxic, or the one subject to the toxic behavior), try to calm down and mute the toxic players if necessary.

4. Don't act like it's not big deal. If someone is truly being toxic to someone else (and there has been some disgusting behavior and comments I've seen), please do not act like "it's not big deal" "Just mute them and get over it", and don't take the stance of "I don't want to get involved". Even reporting can go a long way. Who knows who is behind the screen? Try to remember that people venting emotions in a toxic manner can be damaging to some people who are the subjects of that toxic behavior. Try to be understanding and compassionate towards all players. It doesn't make for a very fun game either, and that is the point; To have fun! (not to get mad).

5. Don't Act Toxic Yourself. Constant name calling, rude remarks, cursing, and various other behaviors are unacceptable. Do not stoop to the same level yourself. Like I said earlier, two wrongs do not make a right. Just remember to not act like the players who are causing the problem. **

Whether it's ranked or not, there is no excuse for poor behavior. Some people might not have the option with only playing with their friends constantly, and that's no solution to the problem. Try to actively take action to better the playing experience for other players in effective and good ways not tear them down.

Thanks if you read this all, and please don't misunderstand the post for a bunch of "raging". As a matter of fact, what most people call raging, usually stems from the frustration of a player, and it might not always be a toxic player who gets angry. I'm sure many people can sympathize with the frustration that other players have caused them in the past. Thank you for being considerate!