Does anyone EVER think "this guy is having a bad game" instead of "this guy sucks"?

darkdill·Jan 10, 2017·48 votes·2,936 views

Sometimes it feels like no one ever believes the whole "I'm having a bad game" reason, and are intrinsically required to assume the worst of all other random players. If they're underperforming because of a bad matchup, lag, or perhaps just messing up a combo or two that leads to snowballing, you can't even say "having a bad day?". Nonono, they HAVE to be "trash".

Probably people just find it easier when they can say "this guy's cancer" rather than "this guy's having bad luck".

53 Comments

TrulyBlandJan 10, 201722 votes

It's a common bias... Everybody does this all the time. Somebody forgets to use their turning signals? They're a horrible driver. Somebody yells at their children? Horrible parent. Humans instinctively look for patterns, but there are a lot of cases where we have practically no information about another person, because we can only "observe" their behaviour for a very limited amount of time. In those cases our system of looking for patterns makes us extrapolate the tiny information we have, and the behaviour we saw somebody exhibit once, in our mind, becomes something they do all the time.

And suddenly 50% of the players you meet are bad players, rather than 100% of the players you meet playing subpar 50% of the time.

SzGamer227Jan 10, 201710 votes

+1 for explaining human phychological phenomenon in a way we can understand [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

ImTheSideKickJan 10, 201719 votes

OR god forbid, his enemy lanner is better....

I don't know how many times (this works BOTH ways) I was either owned or owning the other due to a skill difference

ive stuck up for enemies before "omg this top so bad please report" "naw he is doing great keeping up in farm and almost killed me a few times" and so on

ProzzakJan 10, 20171 votes

I mean, if you are shitting on him saying the guy is doing great will do nothing but tick off the other team more when it is obvious he isn't even doing ok. Say he is doing his best? Sure. He is doing great is just wrong though because that is relative to who he is against at that time.

ImTheSideKickJan 10, 20172 votes

Point being when some one is losing it is ALWAYS because that person is bad. never because the enemy is better... NEVER

ProzzakJan 10, 20171 votes

My point was the guy wasn't doing great. And yeah, if they are losing it is because they are bad (that game). Saying they are doing great is a load of you know what and would only serve well to antagonise the other team. You know he isn't doing well, he knows he isn't. His team definitely knows he isn't so there is no point saying "he is playing great". Nothing wrong with saying "he is having a bad game, shit happens, there is a reason he is at this tier/division/elo".

ImTheSideKickJan 10, 20171 votes

and my point is he IS doing great I'm just doing BETTER... god dense much

ProzzakJan 10, 20171 votes

My point is he isn't doing great. Doing great is relative to your peers at the time you being his peer. If he is getting destroyed then he is not doing great. Also good to see that you are able to keep the toxicity out of the game but not out of the forums.

ImTheSideKickJan 11, 20171 votes

sigh barely losing lane (such as going 0/2/0 but keeping up in CS) doesn't mean he isn't doing great just because of a outplay...

I mean if they person wards. watches map. uses tp for defensive reasons. and helping his team with objectives. is able to farm and not continue dying ... then I believe he is doing great. least comparatively to what most would be doing at this point... more often then not a person can "lose" lane but still come back end game with a positive score and win the game..

not to mention the ones raging at him for going 0/2/0 are like o/7/0 them self and doesn't do any of the above mechanics...

there is a lot more to "doing great" then just your KDA

example.. know how many times ive seen a adc with a score like 12/7/0 say they are "CARRYING" the useless and feeding 0/3 support?

when the support score is actually 0/3/37... warding.. keeping team alive.. zoning objectives and so on

TS MediaJan 10, 20174 votes

It depends. People always wanna play the, "I'm just having a bad game" card. When it comes down to late game and you're still under performing, I can't say you're just having a bad game anymore. If you still have 0 uses late game, when everyone is full build, then you're useless. I start up games going 0/4 etc quite often due to my reckless play style, but I excel during mid and late game and eventually start evening out MAJORITY of my games. If you're continually 0-3 or 04 no assists and then you continue to be a liability to your team throughout the entire game, is it not safe to say that player is bad?

Maybe not. But I'd definitely be close to it. Normally, I give my junglers more shit than anything, though. Especially with how I play, when my junglers can't take advantage of me rolf stomping my laner, but needing some help just to dive and deny them some more when I'm freezing lane in FRONT of my tower, it kinda ticks me off.

Supreme Senpai69Jan 10, 20171 votes

Well, that's not wrong, but don't give your junglers shit.

TS MediaJan 10, 20171 votes

All depends man. I've seen junglers trying to dive my other laner lanes, dying and getting wrecked when all they have to do is come to me, whose giving them a freebie. Then you have the ones who farm all game and you hear these complaints a lot, "Lanes always pushing and I can never gank. Why when I play the game, do all of my lanes lose?" etc.

Why is it when you get a player that: tells you timers, freezes lanes, roam and helps you gank, but struggle with their lane matchup due to it being unfavorable do you ignore that player? If I'm jungling and I have an active laner like that, that actually pings for help, I'd be up there in a heartbeat.

And nothing irks me more than watching early games jglers like Lee Sin etc sitting there farming all game.

Supreme Senpai69Jan 10, 20171 votes

No trust me. 95% of my games the jungler is shit. It infuriates me when I ping dragons gonna be up in a minute, then 30s, I go to clear wards, and my jungler is trying to gank top when the enemy top laner is under tower. Yet when we've been shoved in, camped, and keep track of summoner spell times, we don't get a single gank bot lane. Then the enemy top laner gets a double kill and we lose drag. It happens nearly every game.

I'm just saying don't give them shit in-game, because that doesn't help anyone. It just makes you get reported (rightfully so!), your jungler becomes a keyboard warrior and even more useless, and it tilts your other teammates

TS MediaJan 11, 20171 votes

Fair enough.

breakordoom444Jan 10, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=TS Media,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=8BEbEHuV,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2017-01-10T03:21:54.288+0000)

It depends. People always wanna play the, "I'm just having a bad game" card. When it comes down to late game and you're still under performing, I can't say you're just having a bad game anymore. If you still have 0 uses late game, when everyone is full build, then you're useless. I start up games going 0/4 etc quite often due to my reckless play style, but I excel during mid and late game and eventually start evening out MAJORITY of my games. If you're continually 0-3 or 04 no assists and then you continue to be a liability to your team throughout the entire game, is it not safe to say that player is bad?

Maybe not. But I'd definitely be close to it. Normally, I give my junglers more shit than anything, though. Especially with how I play, when my junglers can't take advantage of me rolf stomping my laner, but needing some help just to dive and deny them some more when I'm freezing lane in FRONT of my tower, it kinda ticks me off.

what about the champion Singed ? (funny comment not serious) he dies and still be useful to his team

TS MediaJan 10, 20171 votes

A bad singed is actually pretty useless. I know how singed plays, seeing as I've tried him out and fed quite a great deal on him. He's an entirely different champ that wins games in a different way.

I'd probably never get mad at a singed feeding as long as he's providing the appropriate pressure.

SckullzzJan 10, 20174 votes

It's really unfortunate how often this happens, especially when you're the odd one out in a 4-premade...

DrCyanideJan 10, 20173 votes

The people who believe they're just having a bad game don't say anything about it in chat. What would you even say? "Yeah, you really are having a bad game!"? They need to hit some point where they can start to turn it around on their own. The best you can do is complement them when something goes right/better ("Yeah, we lost that teamfight, but it was closer this time").

BreakuJan 10, 20173 votes

That's my general opinion of my team when they're preforming poorly.

And if someone on my team flames another, I'll be sure to correct the phrasing. I've had a few bad games recently, and having a team member mention that it's a bad game helps take me off tilt hahaha.

Vengeful NewbJan 10, 20172 votes

sometimes, it really depends, some players make mistakes that you have to be a truly bad player to make. Others make mistakes that makes me think "oh I bet he is just texting with his GF" or something like that.

woodvsmurphJan 10, 20172 votes

Yes. I've played multiple seasons and if I pay decent attention to a player's decision-making and positioning I can make a reasonable call as to if they are inting or having a bad game. Ex: the adc who has 5 deaths but positions correctly and knows when to engage/chase to follow up her/his team's engage was having a bad game. The adc who has 5 deaths and is sitting on the frontline vs a fed enemy vi and nautilus in range of all their cc when we are about to 5v5 is inting. That or they are boosted -- which is equally bad. So really, it comes down to decision-making and positioning. Do you adjust your play to STOP the feeding, or do you repeat the same bone-headed easily-corrected "mistake" 8 times in a row despite your teammate(s) telling you (politely the first 3 times -- then getting more rude about it) how to easily correct your "mistake" so you don't feed more. Like an 0/3/0 twitch shoving in a 2/0/1 draven to his tower 2v2 -- you are just inviting them to kill you again -- and their jungler to join in on the snowball. Miss a few cs, farm under your tower and catch back up in levels and items; then try your luck 2v2 again if you want. Don't turn that 2/0/1 draven into a 10/1/4 draven in laning phase and ruin any chance your 4/2/6 mid and 3/0/4 top had of carrying your team to a win. If you just have the patience, they will get you fed in teamfights. If you don't, you just make it so they can't carry and you are even further behind. So yeah, there's a clear difference very often between boosted or inting and "bad game".

ZialeskaJan 10, 20172 votes

Usually I will stick up for someone who says they are having a bad game.

Its easy to tell if someone is having a bad game or straight up intentionally feeding but sadly not enough people have any kind of empathy so no most people do not think that :/

YormaughmJan 11, 20172 votes

I don't know if you know this but this is how the world works:

Everything good that ever happens to [SELF] is 100% due to [SELF'S] efforts and [SELF'S] efforts alone.

Everything bad that ever happens to [SELF] is 100% due to [OTHER'S] willful incompetence.

Causality, consequences, and the concept of responsibility do not exist with regard to [SELF] only with regard to [OTHER.]

Replace [SELF] with yourself, and [OTHER] with whoever/whatever you feel like blaming right now.

This is the immutable law of the universe. The world revolves around [SELF] and [OTHER] only exists to ruin everything.

GoleBilonJan 10, 20171 votes

Yea i mostly do , i never blame my teammate for going 0/5 shit happens maybe he got ganked , maybe he is tilted w/e

but you know what sucks , when this fucker is trying hard to NOT get carried, you give him advices he responds with flame. you want to lane swap him bot from top to give him security of a tower he refuses. You ping incoming ganks he does not pay attention. I had a game with toplane nasus. he went 0/11/0 i dont mind the score he wasnt inting he was just bad. But fuck him , when he was 0/5 and like 40-50 cs down with nearly 0 stacks we told him to abort the mission of building triforce because his powerspike will be too late and its not optimal. we told him to build some hp and resistances to survive lane and dont die more as well as tank in TF. He did not respond build tri force ( he had it build at 21 minutes XD without boots) you know what he did after ? he started building tiamat .... we lost he was the sole reason we lost

You know how its called what he did ? inting , he refused to communicate , refused to take advices , and basically 1v9 carried enemy team.

Conclusion: yea there are situations where people have bad game , but if you do dont be shy and ask for help/advice from your team. Dont try to carry while being 0/4 it does not work , try to be rellevant or at least let your team carry.

aspects1Jan 10, 20171 votes

but is it lag or "lag"

Supreme Senpai69Jan 10, 20171 votes

I like to look at my team in op.gg before the game and if I see they generally do well I give them the benefit of the doubt. If their laner is mastery 6 or 7 I won't say anything. If they're nice, they can be the worst bronze 5 player to exist and I'll keep my mouth shut. But every now and then I'll get an ADC who just... just... will not right click? Like, go and run into every Blitz/Thresh Q. I will save you and turn it. Think you're invincible, positioning is hard, go be our frontline. We'll win the teamfight. But if you won't attack the minions or the enemy, I have to assume you just suck ass at the game? That's from my support standpoint. When I jungle and gank, you'll see sometimes that the laners just will not attack the enemy. At all. And so when you have to leave, usually via flash when the enemy realizes it's actually just a 1v1 against someone with less gold, the laner will go in and die.

People do have bad games but honestly, a lot of the time, people are just.... bad.

The real issue stems from what happens after you realize your teammate is a potato. Because it's fine that they suck ass. It's frustrating, but a lot of people suck ass at the game. Just don't flame em.

VirusSixZeroJan 10, 20171 votes

I find bad decision making is the more common trait than fluke bad games. Someone might be legitimately tired, having a bad day, etc. Yet it's more often their gameplay decisions that seal their fate rather than some random wheel of fortune. I see a lot of players go for hail Mary long shots and try to set up complicated, orchestrated combos, only to rage when they don't work out, feeding into their desperation. Not taking a drake that is freely available, scoring an ace and not snowballing that into a Baron or 2 dead towers, but instead backing to get HP and buying items...those are the kinds of things that lose games. Being 0/4/0 at 6 minutes isn't game over, it's the decisions you make with the information you have available that determines the outcome from that point onward.

Sure, bad games happen. If you recognize your game isn't going well, the best course of action is to look at your decisions, and how you can change the working strategy that clearly isn't producing. You may not be able to do anything about an opponent that is simply better than you, but you can at least delay them, prevent roams, soak up opposing team resources, do whatever you can.

If you're having a bad game, you can still look at how you can fit your performance into a strategy that will mesh with your team to get a victory. You might be the ugly duckling on the scoreboard, but a win is a win at the end of it all.

OleandervineJan 10, 20171 votes

I only assume people are assholes if they flame in chat or otherwise start raging about losing and throwing a general fit. I've been on teams where there's been people who have unfortunately died a lot to an enemy champion - most of the time, they keep on trying to make it work, and the jungle helps out too. I always give the benefit of the doubt if they don't start raging at everything.

breakordoom444Jan 10, 20171 votes

i agree, this happens alot. but heres the thing, as people start to know the champions combos,tip etc. people will under stand "having a bad day" and the higher you climb the less people do this.

Shifue DravenJan 10, 20171 votes

I do honestly i know people have bad games and i am fine with this as we all will. However this is a difference between a bad game and doing what the veigar did in my last game of the night facing oriana. He kept rushing her and chasing her down the lane and fed her to hell and back i ganked her after she got 1 kill trying to open him a path and he just kept stupidly rushing her and got destroyed. Which then she lead her team to win as she was at 8-2 but the 14 min mark and we could not team fight because of her aoe. We held out for a while but veigar ham stringed us even more by wandering around and getting caught out so it really ended the game.

I did not bash him or flame him but i did tell him to play safe please cause if she gets to far ahead i can't kill her and that is what happened.

Covert Ops GnarJan 10, 20171 votes

They only have a bad game in my game

Meowing MangoJan 10, 20171 votes

I personally get caught up more in a person's current rank and what I EXPECT them to play like - as I do believe your rank should be a real reflection rather than being a number. If they are Platinum or higher, then I expect them to play as such. Is it wrong for me to think this way? If someone is Silver or Bronze, then I am going to assume some pretty boneheaded plays from their end.

When someone on my team was apparently Diamond last season, but they play like they just installed, I am going to assume they boosted and I wish that I could report them for (apparently) boosting.

And yes, everyone has bad games. Even the best of us, but I just think there should be a certain expectation when someone is sporting a certain border.

Boosted animals everywhere...

AVL PrinceJan 10, 20171 votes

I do everytime, and so I don't flame them.

Doesn't stop me from getting pissed sometimes tho like srsly it's not their fault but come on 1-10??? Ugh that just is so unlucky.

EpicPizzaMasterJan 10, 20171 votes

I try to stay reasonable most of the time. So when someone feeds I try to think that they're having a bad game or they're tilted or something. HOWEVER sometimes there are flamers who are just annoying as shit so i can't help but think "jeez this guy is trash!"

SmileInABoxJan 10, 20171 votes

I think people are just having a bad game if they get crapped on early, but actually play smart and try to come back. I think they're garbage if they die to the same mistake over and over again or just continually fuck up on a mechanical level. If people can't recognize that they're in a losing lane matchup and that they need to play safe though, they're garbage at that role/champ (every bronze Gangplank I've played with.)

PlanetWarwickJan 10, 20171 votes

I do if it's a duo partner

YerroFeverJan 10, 20171 votes

I check player history and ranks post game to see if a guy was intentionally feeding vs having a bad game vs just being bad.

Jet SettJan 10, 20171 votes

Until I see the player do something terrible on their own I always assume it's bad luck.

laner losing hard to a counter? Sucks FOR him, but he doesn't suck.

laner losing a lane they counter? He must not have the best experience, or maybe his opponent is outplaying him.

laner stays in lane with 25 health against a champ like Ziggs Azir Caitlyn Gnar TwistedFate (Anyone with poke?) Yeah that was a stupid move.

Watches me die when they could clearly help? Just gonna ignore them.

Honestly the only thing anyone does that makes me think their bad is making an obvious mistake over and over, and not just one but others too, like not grouping when the team needs you, or failing (repeatedly) to follow up. Everyone fucks up sometimes, bad players fuck up all the time.

AninLegions777Jan 10, 20171 votes

This won't be a problem if those playing bad apologized and tried to play better. The ones I encounter just flame and blame the team then proceed to play without care. If they owned up to playing bad, more people won't bash them for having a bad game.

YormaughmJan 11, 20171 votes

What if their way of "owning up to playing bad" is to not say anything (because at this point their teammates will probably have flamed them incessantly and been muted anyway) but it was to adjust their playstyle to the situation.

Like for example, say you're an AD top laner like Fiora and you wind up getting completely shit on, like 0/8 or something. You're so far behind that you don't contribute much, even to a 5 v 5.

I'd say at this point, the best strategy is to solo push lanes/split push, probably even use TP to return to lane and not to join team fights and here's why.

If the enemy team devotes someone to kill you, so what? You're not worth any gold to them at all, and it creates a 4 v 4 for the rest of your team, AKA a fair situation instead of an unbalanced one where it's a 5 v 5 but you're so behind that's it's really a 4 v 5 even with you there.
As an AD champ, you can actually take objectives fairly quickly if left alone. This could make up for your bad game putting your team in a 4 v 5 if the enemy team doesn't devote resources to you and groups instead.
If you realize you're useless in a teamfight, TP can be used to gain strategic advantages. Say you go into a lane by yourself and get killed....again....well if TP is up, you can just go right back there and finish pushing lane/taking that tower. You've bought time for your team, and a possible way to win later. There's also the last ditch solo nexus kill, should that opportunity present itself.
Since you're probably losing to the most fed person on their team, who will probably peel off to 1 v 1 you, it won't take their whole team to kill you, meaning you can take advantage of this and not give up assist gold like you would be if you died to that same person in a team fight.

That's just a few thoughts, granted, not going 0/8 is ideal, but lemons, lemonade etc. I'd rather have someone atone for a bad game by being as annoying to the enemy team as they can, and in this specific situation that's one way to do it, as opposed to simply being present for 5 v 5s in which you'll get insta-deleted. I've spectated games where a situation very similar to this has happened, and one I can remember the team with the player who's K/D/A looked like someone was seriously intentionally feeding actually won, because they did this. Sure they had a bad game, but the enemy team was too stupid to deal with the macro gameplay this created. You can have a bad game and be useless, or you can have a bad game and still win, if you and your teammates realize how you can still be useful when you literally can't win a fight.

Just saying, I'd feel better if the "bad player" did this rather than just say "I'm having a bad game, sorry guys."

AninLegions777Jan 11, 20171 votes

This won't be a problem if those playing bad apologized and tried to play better

What you said was in the first sentence of my reply. The strategy you mentioned is what I do. I play singed so I can relate to it. But some players (can't say most cos I hate bold statements) just give up and wait for 20 mins to ff and that is why they get flamed. Won't lie, when I get frustrated sometimes, I can act like that but I'm learning to control it.

YormaughmJan 11, 20171 votes

Well then that's good. I just wish more people were on board with this. Sometimes winning the game isn't as simple as "just get kills until you break even" sometimes that isn't going to happen. It's funny cause in another thread right now I basically have someone telling me that the strategy I talked about here, that you said you also use, is completely wrong. I don't know how that guy thinks ignoring macro-objectives leads to wins though.

The thing that sucks is that often the "bad player" who does use this strategy still gets flamed by their own team the whole time, like, their teammates aren't smart enough to realize that it might be the only way they can still impact the game and make the appropriate adjustments.

Like I said I was spectating a game on Twitch that my friend was playing when something like this happened. He was flaming the player who was split pushing but I told him "no dude, that's the only thing that player can do at this point, it doesn't matter if he dies." They won the game, arguably because their WORST player carried them. Granted, this was low ELO, it probably doesn't work like that later on, still, if these players want to climb they need to be less close-minded about how to actually win. You can have a bad game and still win the match, but it's infinitely harder when your team doesn't believe that.

Azure HamsterJan 10, 20171 votes

As a support, I determine this by looking at the ADC's CS skills. You can just tell the difference between a Bronze 5 ADC and a Silver 5 ADC by how they CS. As an ADC, I look at how the support chooses engagements.

If they engage/CS like a moron, they're probably just bad and I try to carry them. If they engage/CS reasonably well and things still aren't working out, I think A) it's a bad game for them or B) our lane opponents are really good.

Sometimes you have bad games because your opponents are particularly good for their MMR, usually through teamcomp/teamwork meshing properly.

Caitlyn

SanKakUJan 10, 20171 votes

The bad luck usually comes in the form of, "Muahahaha...I saw them come after you and I did nothing. Cancer feeder can't even kill 2+ guys in a 1vs3-5...while me and my buddy are just waiting for a favorable moment to join the free for all." kind of players being on their team. Some people just think this game's a free for all, and if you call them out on it, you're the toxic one.

General Esdeath Jan 10, 20171 votes

I had someone praise me one game for going 11/2 as Riven and then flame me the next game calling me trash because I went 1/4.

vOmvbrawfUJan 11, 20171 votes

It's because there is a difference. If you're 0-3 and still trying to all in the enemy, you're not having a bad game, you're trash.

Troll for TrumpJan 11, 20171 votes

"I'm lagging"

"sure" "lol excuses" "you're just bad" "im lagging too ;]"

People in the game are assholes

ChaoticPineconeJan 11, 20171 votes

Depends on the problem in question.

Feeding multiple times in lane cause you keep going aggressive? That guy just sucks. He knows how to play with a lead, but doesnt know how to play when behind. Thats not just a bad game, casue they have the same playstyle each game. Its that they know one playstyle and dont know how to do anything else when it doesnt work.

And you can generally tell who are the good players having a bad game. Just they way they cancel animations, stutter step, the way they weave autoattacks into their abilities, move, CS, map rotations, etc. Even if they arent fed, you can tell when youre playing against or with a good player.

KaabooseJan 11, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Sometimes it feels like no one ever believes the whole "I'm having a bad game" reason, and are intrinsically required to assume the worst of all other random players. If they're underperforming because of a bad matchup, lag, or perhaps just messing up a combo or two that leads to snowballing, you can't even say "having a bad day?". Nonono, they HAVE to be "trash".

Probably people just find it easier when they can say "this guy's cancer" rather than "this guy's having bad luck".

I ALWAYS think of this. It's even worse when the team starts piling onto the poor guy/gal when you KNOW all of these players have had bad games like this as well.