What is it about this game that brings out the worst of us while we play?

A Dying Dream·10/17/2013, 7:46:38 PM·1 votes·450 views

Title.

Why can players like me, who admit outright that we are not fun to play with and are generally assholes, love the game so much when we're not playing but get sent into the most bitter of moods when we start?

I'd like to say it's because of balance and champions being too strong but I've been dealing with that on and off for two and a half years now. Every time it's the same old story. "I can't wait until x gets gutted, x is fucking r%%%%%ed" until a new x comes along.

6 Comments

Urdnot Entar10/17/2013, 8:07:46 PM1 votes

I've thought for a while that the game gets people on edge, and that leads to people raging when bad things happen or their teammates don't play well. It does this in two ways:

1: It gets people very competitive, which is natural. It's a competitive team game, and people get into it. I'm ok with that, but I think it is a factor.

2: The balance issues, bugs that often screw up the game for you, etc. can make you pretty ticked off, which isn't going to help when you're working with your team who just made a bad play.

Riot could make a lot of progress in player behavior if they just cleaned up the unclear things, fixed the bugs, did a bit better with characters that are inherently frustrating to play against, etc.

SmokingPuffin10/17/2013, 11:11:11 PM1 votes

I think it's mostly about solo queue. I've never had someone rage out at me in a 5s team. It happens every few games with internet randoms.

I think that most competitive team games would have a similar player behavior problem with randomly assigned teams.

LoL does make it worse because there isn't a way to leave a game when you just can't handle the rage. If you get down to fight or flight brain mode, LoL makes you choose fight.

Solan Stonewhip10/17/2013, 11:33:31 PM1 votes

whenever i find myself getting too worked up over this GAME i take a break. sometimes if 5 min. sometimes its 20.

just calm down, and not worry aobut what others do. work on playing my game to the best of my abilities. and if i can be good and strong enough to help them too. then i do. if i can give advice to those who are having trouble i do, without snark. if someone else is having a bad game. i try to be encouraging and positive.

i'm not good at it either. i recently changed my perspective on this game, because i used to rage like you, if not always in chat. it wasn't fun. it got me aggravated. now i'm much more relaxed about it. you learn something from every game. and while i can't hlep it if someone else is doing really poorly. i try to do the best that i can. and if i can help them out by ganking or roaming down or warding. then i do it.

we are too focused on personal glory out in NA, when it's a team sport. when i played soccer i wouldn't have flamed at my teammates. if i did, it wouldn't help. anymore than at this game.

LilYonsan10/18/2013, 5:27:21 AM1 votes

You know, I seem to recall Riot doing a study on this, and finding that only about five percent of the player base is actually truly toxic, and the large majority of the player base are neutral people that are affected negatively by a few bad apples.

Honestly, to me the mute button is my best friend. Ever since I discovered that I actually win more when I mute the toxic player on my team, I've been muting people a lot faster.

In the end, it helps to realize that THIS IS JUST A GAME and that YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES TO HAVE FUN. This INCLUDES RANKED because it is still only a game. Many people lose sight of that, and I feel like it's one of the silliest things that people can feel towards a video game. League of Legends is meant to be a fun experience. It isn't meant to be a "win or feel terrible" scenario, it's meant to encourage people to have fun and to enjoy their life for a little bit.

Cinders10/19/2013, 6:35:36 PM1 votes

The worst comes out of me when players fail to work together. I mean the game practically builds around it but when others are blind playing a one mans army it's very disappointing and I believe it's tactics that are reasons for winning.