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Is our community really toxic?

Nin10do0014·3/23/2015, 7:51:50 PM·9 votes·1,450 views

Hello, League of Legends players.

So everywhere I go, forums, YouTube videos, in-game chat, and even Facebook, I always see the one thing people associate with the League of community: toxicity. I just find it so sad that our whole player base is labeled as one toxic group of gamers. I just find it sad that the good teammates who wish for everyone to have fun are not recognized. I just find it sad that no matter where I go, my automatic first impression to my teammates is "He could be toxic."

Yes, I acknowledge that there are indeed players out there who wish the worst upon others, whether it be horrible diseases, a death of a family member, or just straight up death. However, it is impossible for our whole community to be like this. That would be like labeling the entire Halo community as a bunch of 343 Industries haters. In fact, it's a minority of players who are like this, and the illusion that the whole community is toxic comes from the raw number of players encountered each game.

Statistically, let's say that only 5% of the player base is indeed toxic. Each game has 10 people. There is actually quite a high chance that one of those players wants to wish cancer or call everyone mentally ill. Out of every 10 games, which involves 100 people total, 5 players in that collection are statistically going to be toxic. They might be all in 1 or 2 games, or they could be in an unfortunate 5 of those 10 games. Hence, it's just unfortunate that it's hard to avoid these players completely.

However, should we really condemn the whole community for even just a minority of our player population? I don't think I should be considered potentially toxic because of a few loose cannons, and I don't think my teammate over there should be either. I am not saying that our community is purely good, but what I do believe is that if just that one player is raging and being a total D-bag, the rest of the players shouldn't be condemned for it.

Anyway, that's just my two cents on this community.

37 Comments

Sir Yamazuki3/24/2015, 2:37:18 PM2 votes

Well, people don't understand it is a minority and that there's people like this in every game community, and community in general. There is no perfect community, but people like to act like x community is better than y, when both are just as bad for different reasons. I've played online games for years and every game had a community that was messed up somehow. Whether it was just plain assholes, scammers, or constant drama.

Positive things tend not to get as much attention as negative things either. That 1 guy being a jerk is basically equal to 100 people being neutral or positive. We're also more likely to remember a negative experience than a positive one.

air tiger3/23/2015, 9:26:51 PM2 votes

I agree that the truly toxic players make up a small % of the total population, but there's a catch. Toxicity spreads, and when you're stuck in a game with a troll/feeder/asshole, the negativity can and does easily spread to their team and to your team.

So, no, not everyone is toxic. Yet, those with the loudest voices are heard.

Saint Archer3/24/2015, 2:50:27 AM2 votes

i hope that's rhetorical because this community is absolutely disgusting.

Kazaashi3/23/2015, 8:50:42 PM2 votes

I think the best thing that can happen is just remove chat. It's just troll bait.

Sir ArmaMalum3/23/2015, 8:01:39 PM2 votes

This is a much more all-ecompassing topic than most realize.

First off, you're close with your stat guesses. Lyte (lead in Riot's behaviour team) claims that about 1% of the community are truly negative players, and by that he means consistently toxic. Whereas ~90% of the playerbase is neutral (rarely chats) and ~10% of the community is regularly positive/sportsmanlike. Most of the time toxicity comes not from a regularly bad player but from a neutral/positive player on a bad swing. As far as this coloring our entire community's generalization I'll lend that to several factors, chief among them being isolation.

Each game is an isolated 'cage match' where you're stuck with each other, making it a far cry from trolls/ragers in other games where you can jump somewhere else at any time. Not only that, the result of your time investment is completely dependent on this guy/gal you're not getting along with. To anyone not already very practiced in that kind of environment (i.e. traditional sports if we were somehow able to 'matchmake') it's like pulling teeth, and still is a horrible time for those used to it. So while, yes, I agree with you that the generalization is producing unfair assumptions on an individual level League's nature amplifies a negative experience so much I don't really blame them.

Pæan3/23/2015, 9:40:15 PM1 votes

A majority of the players are relatively positive or at least quiet when angry. The thing is, most of the "toxic" players are incredibly outspoken so we hear more from them than we do from others.

Sirsir3/24/2015, 2:12:53 PM1 votes

I don't assume everyone is toxic. I give them the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. But quite frankly its just naive to not expect it at this point. Anyone can have a bad day, and if that person is prone to venting on other players that person has the potential to be toxic in a game.

Eleshakai3/24/2015, 5:02:46 PM1 votes

This is a subject that's pretty near to me. I've actually written on the subject before.(although the way people reacted to the new leaverbuster thing kind of has me doubting myself but I digress...)

I've done posts trying to encourage people to recognize not only the infrequency of actual negativity in people they play with as well as the differences between 'toxicity' and 'frustration', but also the impact they can have on all of the above by simply being a positive player themself...

It's easy to get into the habit of believing that one negative experience defines a community, a person, etc. but doing so really taints your experience and prevents you from seeing the good. Also, it's easy to assume 'it can't be like this elsewhere' but my experience with the many gaming communities I've been a part of is that they're all relatively similar. But that's not a bad thing if you recognize that there's good and bad all around.

Nucleophilic atk3/24/2015, 5:11:59 PM1 votes

Honestly, I find there is a shit ton more toxic gameplay than there is toxic language. It is not rare to see someone playing a first time champ, feeding, afking, and just losing the game on purpose. Most of the time I see someone flaming, is because someone is intentionally losing the game. I'm not sure why Riot decided to try and address the "toxic language" aspect instead of fixing the cause of it, but I don't work for the company so I can't say.

Raxicor3/24/2015, 5:17:05 PM1 votes

There's more toxic MOBAs out there.

GaleWinUnleashed3/24/2015, 5:42:11 PM1 votes

Toxicity tends to crop up when things start going wrong, and most of the time it's one player looking for someone else to blame. While it is psychologically good in the short term for one person to find a way to excuse themselves of blame, thus reducing their personal stress (a long-term pattern of this behavior is a pretty good sign of narcissism, but that's a different topic), it's very counter-productive when they publicly put the blame on someone else. It creates an immediate defensiveness, and any backlash usually results in an argument.

It really appears that a large part of the problem is that many players feel obligated to type out all of their negative thoughts and criticisms in chat, rather than just venting by shouting at their computer screen. It's perfectly fine to be mad at someone, but there's no reason to let that anger leave the room you're sitting in. Put a stress ball by the computer if it's really that difficult. Or channel that frustration into a workout later on. Anything but shoving your anger at other people/players, really.

For me, seeing as I don't have these problems with anger, I instead put a lot of effort into defusing sticky situations in chat, ideally before any fights start up. As far as I can tell, being only 1 player in a game of 10, my efforts appear to make my games more enjoyable as a whole. The chances for toxic behavior in a given game seem to go down sharply if you can introduce a lighter mood to the game early on, and make things a bit less serious and more about fun. I'd like to get some second opinions from others about this, though. So, has anyone encountered players that attempt to defuse conflict, and/or reduce the seriousness of a game, and have you noticed any substantial improvement when this occurs?

Yandere Carry3/23/2015, 8:22:08 PM1 votes

It is exaggerated in my opinion, and I believe trying to understand other's reasoning would make things better. What do I know though? Not much really.

Jubbinaut3/23/2015, 8:31:56 PM1 votes

To build on what Sir ArmaMalum said:

It's fascinating how often our judgement of people is built entirely from one single moment of shared time.

We experience other members of this community in chunks of ~30 minutes. Often times, that's the only match we'll ever play with that person. Yet it's extremely common for a player who is toxic in only that single match to be defined by that.

But consider how small a part of their life that really is - even limiting it to their time on League. I've only been playing for a couple years, but I've got more than 600 games played (between various modes - mostly ARAM). One single match is a bare fraction of a percent of my total time.

I believe that we, as members of this community, need to stop for reality checks now and then. We need to remind ourselves of just how little we know of most of the players we're working with, and perhaps not pass such harsh judgments as quickly as we do.

S H A Y C 03/23/2015, 8:35:39 PM1 votes

Give it enough time...this thread will be trolled hard, and then it will be difficult to argue percentages. Just sayin.

BlazinHot63/23/2015, 9:26:53 PM1 votes

I like to think that most of the players in this game are not toxic: we just hold each other to very high standards.