Is PG Trashtalking against an opponent allowed?

Subdue·Aug 14, 2017·3 votes·654 views

A little while ago I was in a match where the opponent's top laner, we'll call her Poppy, would spam her laugh every time I failed to gank her lane, usually punctuated with the ever-taunting, "?".

Of course, this irked me, so I responded in kind, typing, "Lol" every time that I killed her, with the intent to cause her to tilt, which I imagine was the exact same thing she was trying to do to me.

Our "conversation" didn't extend beyond the ?'s, the laugh emotes, and the Lol's, and I didn't even report her after the game, though who knows if she reported me.

Would you consider this toxic or negative?

23 Comments

Silent GravityAug 15, 20173 votes

You were both taking non-gameplay actions designed to tilt the opponent. That's pretty much a clear case of being negative, not necessarily ban worthy (edit: punishment worthy), but it could contribute.

You say specifically that what she did irked you, so you retaliated. Toxicity is called toxicity because it spreads, creating more unfriendly interactions.

My advice: Defeat your opponents with gameplay, not words.

SubdueAug 15, 20172 votes

[{quoted}](name=Silent Gravity,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=AzAjxw9z,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2017-08-15T00:26:45.817+0000)

You were both taking non-gameplay actions designed to tilt the opponent. That's pretty much a clear case of being negative, not necessarily ban worthy, but it could contribute.

You say specifically that what she did irked you, so you retaliated. Toxicity is called toxicity because it spreads, creating more unfriendly interactions.

My advice: Defeat your opponents with gameplay, not words.

Nothing I do to my opponents is "Friendly." And there are plenty of gameplay maneuvers made to intentionally tilt an opponent. It's a part of effective strategy.

"Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." - Sun Tzu

Silent GravityAug 15, 20172 votes

Repeat ganking after someone TPs back to lane: potentially tilting, but it's gameplay. Passively farming against an enemy who's itching to start a fight: potentially tilting, could lead them to foolish dives, but that's gameplay. Split-pushing against a deathball comp: potentially tilting, still gameplay.

Saying, "?" in allchat after every failed gank: potentially tilting (it hit your emotions, first step in tilting), but it's chat, not gameplay.

I see a very clear difference between the two sets.

I enjoyed reading Sun Tzu. He was a fun guy.

Sorin AlucardAug 15, 20173 votes

[{quoted}](name=Silent Gravity,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=AzAjxw9z,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2017-08-15T00:26:45.817+0000)

You were both taking non-gameplay actions designed to tilt the opponent. That's pretty much a clear case of being negative, not necessarily ban worthy (edit: punishment worthy), but it could contribute.

You say specifically that what she did irked you, so you retaliated. Toxicity is called toxicity because it spreads, creating more unfriendly interactions.

My advice: Defeat your opponents with gameplay, not words.

Ok there's a line between competitive taunting and being crude, and this isn't it lol If you consider that "toxic", you're overly sensitive and that's just as bad for social interaction as the opposite. Tilting your opponent is a legitimate tactic. If there's nothing in chat like "you're a fucking scrub, im going to own you and your mom tonight" then there is no reason to make this guy afraid to have some basic competitive fun.

I know some people would prefer that no one say anything that could be interpreted as mean EVER. That's unrealistic, subjective and relative, therefore impossible to make a real standard out of. Yes, you shouldn't be in all chat, putting down another race. You shouldn't be in chat to bash people for their sexuality. On the flip side, if you let every offensive person who opens their mouth ruin your day and put you in crusade mode, that's on you and no one has an obligation to share your intensity of offense. If your self confidence is shattered by strangers on the internet it just shows your own emotional frailty and inability to deal with adversity. So what if you're black,white, purple, gay, bi? OWN THAT SHIT AND BE YOU. Love yourself and accept yourself.

YOU HAVE A MUTE BUTTON.

KlydeFrogAug 15, 20171 votes

but thats not fun thats just being verbal regardless. it is in fact verbal i dont talk crap in any way to my opponents and i hate when my team does it so i reprot them for it. typing in all chat ?, or spamming your taunt emoji, both are verbal abuse

MösentristanaAug 16, 20171 votes

No, they are not. What are you even smoking?!

Imagine a chat log like this:

(1:12) ? (4:46) ? (11:26) ? (16:24) ? (22:42) ?

OH NO, SO VERBALLY ABUSED.

You are more of a bad player with this permanent report abuse and probably so fast yelling around to report someone for chat legs as above it makes me sick somewhat.

KlydeFrogAug 16, 20171 votes

It is toxic no need to talk crap is there? I report everyone on my team who does,it because it pisses me off when they do it .

hexarteAug 15, 20171 votes

I also concur, that a little competitive fun should be allowed, but I'm fully against any remarks towards someone saying "you should kill yourself." Anything of the like, should not be tolerated. If you see someone else being told this or agreeing to this statement towards another player, speak up! Seriously. No game should result in the death of a person.

But in your situation, I could see this as taunting. Nothing too awful. The other person might not understand this upsets you, and if others say your being too sensitive by addressing it, well they shouldn't. It's your opinion, your boundary. Maybe your opponent wanted to make light of it by just having fun. Just in a very childish way, but nothing worth punishing or banning over. As long as you make known, you mean no harm by doing such a thing, just being a small taunt; that's fine.

I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what happened, but if this was an excessive occurring theme, then yes that's just plain childish and rude. Not exactly mean, just not good sportsmanship. I hope I explained things in an understandable form. If not, please reply so I can make myself clear.

[slayer-jinx-catface]

MösentristanaAug 16, 20171 votes

Such a BS. This is 99,9% automated, and "lol" and "?" is not in the badword list. When he gets like 8 reports in every of the next 50 games straight, then he is getting into a manual audit by human staff, but then, what would you say: "I banned him for saying lol 6x in a game"?

**Stop this oversensitive bullshit just once. This is a PvP game with violence and blood, and you act like you need to raise kindergarden kids not to throw the boardgame around when they have a bad roll with their dice.

This permanent "Oh no, this COULD be NEGATIVE and MIGHT CONTRIBUTE to a SINGLE REPORT" stuff makes this game so stale, but then, you are American, and hypocrisy, over-senitiveness and political correctness like you have a stick in your....back....hole.... is typical I guess. Enjoy life more and grow a pair of balls.**

You are the reason why everyone yells "report Tristana for toxic" just when you point out the enemy builds MRES against a full AD team and joke about that.

Silent GravityAug 16, 20171 votes

There is no 'badword list', aside from hate speech slurs and urging self-harm. The IFS determines if you're spending your chat harassing another person.

I don't enjoy playing games with people who throw the board game around when they have a bad roll. That's very analogous to the situation where I don't enjoy playing games with people who act like kindergarten kids in game. The kids from my example are the ones who taunt or flame.

You seem very sensitive to report calls for someone who doesn't care about chat that isn't on the 'badword list'. That said, report calling is also considered negative. A single instance will not lead to punishment, but it can contribute. Just like spamming ? or lol.

BestJhinUniverseAug 14, 20172 votes

Personally no i see nothing wrong with it. Riot wise likely yes since anything can trigger people these days.

PhhaseAug 14, 20172 votes

Nah, that's fine.

CatastropAug 15, 20172 votes

Personally I enjoy trash talk, especially in the form of mastery spam because well, I like interacting with my enemies. It's fun when both sides can talk crap at each other in good spirits, although these days it's next to impossible to come by because most people just take offense to any and everything.

OleandervineAug 16, 20172 votes

Trash talk is completely fine - as long as it doesn't pass that line that turns into derogatory slurs, urging suicide, and actual venomous threats.

Telephone BoothAug 15, 20171 votes

Riot does consider that toxic... doesn't matter if you or I do. People get warnings for shit like spamming "ez", but I've never seen or heard of someone getting punished for that alone. It is toxic, but it's so minor, it probably wouldn't get punished on that alone.

KlydeFrogAug 15, 20171 votes

as some one said chat logs or it didnt happen. meanign riot does not watch games all they read is chat logs

ModPeriscopeAug 15, 20171 votes

The votes are tallied, fried chicken wins.

SubdueAug 15, 20171 votes

{quoted}

The votes are tallied, fried chicken wins.

I regret nothing!

KlydeFrogAug 15, 20171 votes

sadly riot promotes this. but as some one just said chat logs or it didnt happen.

SubdueAug 15, 20171 votes

Just to clarify - I didn't get banned or penalized for this, so there aren't any logs to show you guys. That said, I think my summary is pretty accurate. Question marks and laugh spam from Poppy, and "Lols" from me was the extent of it all.

All chat is there for a reason though, and it defaults to off too. As long as you're not crossing any boundaries, what's wrong with using the chat to get into the opponent's head?