Etiquette?

For starters, this applies no matter what mode.

1. This is bots (or normal, or dominion or aram or ranked) so it DOES matter. No matter where you are, someone will be playing there because they think it is the only mode worth playing. While I'll play bots with a friend that only plays bots, it isn't my favorite mode. But while I'm there, I act with the same courtesy I want others to act with in my favorite mode. Hmmmm ... sounds an awful lot like "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

2. How you talk online (all chat areas) should be at least as courteously as you would to a customer in your business setting. If for no other reason, do it because if you aren't in a bot game with people you know well enough that you know they don't mind your using foul language, that someone on either your team (or the enemy team in pvp) could have their children looking over their shoulders while they are playing. You might be sitting in your underwear alone in your house, but that doesn't mean everyone else is.

3. If you aren't there with just your friends (i.e., a custom game with both sides agreeing on how it is played) then you are there with people that want to play. Don't ruin their game experience just because you can (or because you didn't get things your way).

4. Don't start the game if you don't think you'll be able to finish the game. Yeah, there is leave buster (or whatever they use these days) to penalize those that leave a game, but it is still a pain for those that are playing the only game they will be able to play that day (or their last game, because they know they have something in an hour they would have to leave for).

5. Okay, you just got that brand new champion that you have never used before, and they seem rather complex, but hey I just want to learn them. Have fun, but do it in bots a couple of times so you can at least learn the mechanics. Even having someone that is a level 3 in intermediate doesn't ruin a bot game (and that can actually be more fun ... fed bots can be a pain) so you playing a new to you champion, especially if you announce that fact, will not ruin someone's day. I think of bots as the place to try new things: builds, champions, runes/masteries. Doing so in a PVP is just asking for an "unskilled player" report. NOTE: The exception here is "free to play" or "I hate playing as _____" in ARAM ... can't be helped, and everyone expects it at least part of the time. You can't always have a rr available.

6. If you want to get upset, step back and think: "This is only a game." This is the only place where I can think "this is only _____" is appropriate. This is a game, it is not rocket science, it is not getting an incurable disease (well, some people might call LOL an incurable disease, but that is another discussion). I take playing the game as a commitment from the point I hit accept ... it is a commitment to 2 (TT) or 4 other people playing. But other than that, it is a game. We all need to learn this one more or less at times.

7. okay, I can't think of a 7 at the moment. But I'm sure others can. Think about it.