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Why player behavior is so bad, and a small step to help improve it

sold22·2/21/2014, 5:51:47 PM·2 votes·542 views

Tell me if I seem crazy here, but please hear me out before you decide I'm not making any sense here.

I play A LOT of ranked solo que. and by A LOT i mean i very rarely play non-ranked. In fact I would say that most likely 90% of my played games are ranked. While I have much experience playing ranked, my rank itself is only gold (I know, I'm not a very good player), but I have played many many games in bronze, silver, and gold as well, so I don't believe this is an isolated problem based on player rank. The problem that plagues league of legends solo que is this : Players have somehow come up with the idea that playing poorly, being a bad player, picking a champion that isn't seen often in the current meta, or basically any behavior they don't agree with is basis for reporting.

Before I just go off the handle with rage here, let me just re-state.

The vast majority of players that play solo que think that you should report a player for playing poorly.

I don't think this is the largest problem necessarily in player behavior, of course flaming, afk'ing if you get behind, insulting teamates ect is far more destructive. However, I feel like this problem is easily remedied and fixing this problem would be a huge step in the right direction.

i know this is a long post, and a bit of a rant, but basically what I'm trying to say here is this : A very large percentage of players do not know what the summoner's code is, or what the rules for player behavior are that are defined within them. I believe that if players (especially those that play solo que) were made aware that 'being bad' or playing poorly actually is NOT against the rules, and is not punishable, then the amount of raging, afk'ing, teamate-blaming, ect would decrease substantially.

I could write a book on this subject, but my post has already gotten entirely too long. Let me know what you think, I'll keep updating as long as people are posting on this topic.

Also, poll attached as a bit of an experiment.

4 Comments

Roaranor2/21/2014, 8:20:56 PM2 votes

You do bring up very valid, very true points about player mentality. May I point out that this not only acts as a catalyst for negative behavior on part of the offending players, but it also serves to incite a negative, passively toxic mindset within the victimized (I'm using this term very loosely) player as well. This manifests itself predominantly in one of two ways:

It serves as a huge blow to the player's self-esteem and self-confidence. You'll see players that aren't necessarily bad, or who actually play quite well apologizing for every little mistake as if they'd just cost their team the game. There are, of course, much lighter cases but this exaggeration gets the point across.
Players will begin to mirror this behavior onto others in following games. Whether it's simply venting, or full-on adopting the mentality, you'll see players who have experienced it multiple times begin treating others the same way. This can lead to a lagely negative cycle within the community.

As for 'Unskilled Player' and its effect,

Don't worry, Unskilled Player reports do not show up in the Tribunal. Those reports are just for our research, analyses and system features. -Lyte, Lead Social Systems Designer

It quite literally does nothing in terms of punishment.

MXXIV2/22/2014, 3:31:00 PM2 votes

While I'm trying to be friendly and cooperative, I often fail in practical aspects of the game. I have green badge for being friendly and cooperating with team, yet I often hear:

"How did you get badge cheater? I report you, you're noob" just because I had failed laning.

sold222/21/2014, 6:03:12 PM1 votes

Also, a small thing I forgot to point out, all these instances where players perform poorly, but are still trying, and get reported 'for being bad'/'trolling' ect fill the tribunal with cases where a player broke no rules. When players go through the tribunal and see these sorts of cases (I see them just as often as I do cases where players were reported for flaming/afking/ect) Oftentimes the player that issued the report is flaming the player that was reported, and the reporting player is the one that should be punished. What I'm getting at, is because such a large percentage of players thinks 'being bad' is a valid reason to report someone, it actually causes them to act in a toxic manner. It is counterproductive.

burdluver902/21/2014, 9:16:38 PM1 votes

One thing I would like to add as a sort of Devil's Advocate is that there is some expectation that you know what you are doing when you start a ranked game.

Ranked isn't meant to be the place where you learn a new champion, or try out your first game after a rework. Or try a whole new build/role, because why not?

Better players can do first time plays in ranked, and no doubt do well, but no one is happy when first-time-who-ever goes top and feeds because they don't know their champion, they just think the champion is OP.

Those are the instances where I get upset with people and might consider reporting someone for "unskilled".

Please don't cost yourself and teammates LP or promotional matches to try something new or to play someone you aren't comfortable on.

This also goes for FoTM champions. "Oh look, Mundo wasn't banned, better play him top." "Have you ever played Mundo?" "Once, in season 2."..."An ally has been slain..."

I feel like all in all, ranked would be better served by people just playing what they are good at, instead of what they think is good.

I love seeing people do something like getting to Diamond 2 on Soraka mid, because it proves that it isn't the champion, but the player that wins games.