Legitimate Taunting?

Nightsky Pirate·8/5/2019, 7:46:49 AM·2 votes·2,162 views

Here are some IN GAME taunts that champions say. These are surely the minimum level of taunting we are allowed to say. I seek the boundary of what is acceptable.

"Lowly blasphemer! You are in the presence of a god!" "Are you even trying?" "Amateur hour." "Come back when you've collected all the bits of yourself!" "Only two jokers in a deck, and I got dealt you." "Smile, child, or I'll shove your jaw into your brain." "You are mediocrity. My genius will supplant you."

Taunting in all-chat is an effective strategy. It can help you win games. Taunting is a blatant attempt to trigger the opponent to make impudent choices or fear you more than they should. It is a core function in the game that only a handful use, and fewer use effectively.

Yet what taunts are legitimate? What are the boundaries? Clearly going past them can be even more effective for winning. It is not my intent to find what taunts are most effective, but rather, what taunting is legitimate and effective. I think these are good examples.

"You do know Sion's passive, don't you? I mean, I'd assume in ranked, a player would know the champion they're playing, but you make me wonder." "For a Vel'Koz, you're not very good at zoning... Actually, you seem a shame to Vel'Koz players... You should try Yasuo, he's more your style. Brash." "I'm embarrassed to be matched against you. I thought I was better than this... This is ranked, isn't it?" "I've seen Support Nunu do a better job in JG than your JG... Sorry (insert lane opponent), better JG wins!"

What about name-calling? "Are you guys a couple? Because I'm seeing an ADC with anemic girlfriend support." "You had to wiki his passive? What a pleeb." "SCRUB- you thought you could flash into a 1v1 against a fed Morde?"

Well, I'm not sure where the boundaries are. I intend to take use taunts, responsibly, aggressively, and legitimately. Like Dunkmaster Darius .

19 Comments

ModThe Djinn8/5/2019, 12:43:59 PM8 votes

All of your proposed taunts are verbose ways to actively insult others. As a result, that's not acceptable.

Some things that are acceptable, in moderation, from my own experience:

  1. Come top again, Lee Sin. I could use another kill.
  2. (Playing Cho'Gath) Season yourself before you come back, please! The flavor is getting predictable. Maybe a little spice this time?
  3. (Lux misses an ultimate) Ooh. Nice ult. You showed those minions who's boss!

These are provoking without being insulting: at worst they trumpet my success and poke at momentary enemy failures, at best they're amusing and lighthearted banter. At no point are they insulting or abusive, provided they are used in moderation.

Umbral Regent8/5/2019, 8:13:50 AM5 votes

Literally all of your examples of "taunts" are against the rules. They're disrespectful, insulting, and overall toxic verbal attacks.

Here's an example of legitimate taunting within the bounds of the rules from one of my recent matches;

I was playing Jinx, attempting to recall at low health, and the enemy Jungler started chasing me. I managed to get down into the safety of my turrets and my Support helped me kill the Jungler, and I typed in /all chat "No. >:c"

When I finished my recall, I fired my ult down middle lane because I saw our Jungler was about to kill the enemy ADC, and my ult landed and scored the killing blow, so I added into /all chat; "And a boom-de-yada for good measure."

That is the kind of taunting that's allowed. It's curt, a little bit rude, but it's not straight-up insulting anyone's intelligence or skill - it's celebrating my own.

Jennifer4208/5/2019, 6:04:32 PM2 votes

i miss xayahs pbe line when the first minion wave arrived... "great, more little shits"

SoulAced8/5/2019, 7:55:31 AM1 votes

Is any taunting in chat really legitimate. Most of the time it just makes the other person look like a child and just results in them being muted and talking to themselves... and if someone takes the bait of someone talking shit in chat instead of ignoring it they were probably going to lose that fight anyway. Anyone who can't play this without getting triggered at the smallest thing is not going to do well.

Telephone Booth8/6/2019, 2:10:35 AM1 votes

I would avoid every example you give. Stick to built in taunts that the game gives you. Or if you must, dont include ANY personal insults. Calling people plebs and scrubs, implying the jungler is the reason for their loss, or talking about how bad at zoning they are, could open you up to getting your account punished. If anything, stick to super light things like "ohhh better luck next time actually hitting your skillshots ;)" or "you thought you could kill me? Hah!" ...stupid corny shit I would never say. I just stick to emotes at opportune times. (Im just saying this as a "better safe than sorry" sort of thing. Riot is super strict about verbal toxicity)