A Love Letter to Riot Games
Dear Riot “Rito” Games,
It has been known from almost its inception, that the League of Legends community is one of the most toxic of all the MOBAs (if not all videogames). I have no idea why League incites so many people to troll, to be judgmental, and to be toxic to the people with whom they should be working. This is, in my opinion, the worst aspect of League, and something must be done.
I started playing League back in 2012, near the end of season 2, and to be honest I could not tell you how the community was (or how my experience with the community was) at that point in time, and it very well could have been just as toxic as it is today. But not knowing then what I know now (i.e., many of the intricacies of League: Last hitting, attack-move, jungling, etc.) I went through the gauntlet trying (and failing, most times) to learn how to play, eventually making it to the mountaintop that is level 30 and ranked from that point forward. Many things got in my way; be it this “real life” everyone talks about, or flaming teammates, toxic and taunting enemies, and the like, but one thing that got me through it was my friends. Each night after classes we’d all queue up as four and we’d play league from 4pm to past midnight (with small breaks for dinner and snacks). I consider this one of the best times of my life, the main focal point being this great game of League of Legends. From then on, my friends and I had level 30 accounts and would spam ranked or draft, reveling in victory or wallowing in defeat; all the while atop our high castle away from the worst of the toxicity and trolling. Back then, players had the option to do the tribunal for IP, one factor that motivated me to judge as many tribunal cases as I could daily, to get the IP I needed for the next champ, or my third rune page. Many of the cases I judged had awful, toxic players saying awful, toxic things, or the chat would be filled with accounts of what a teammate was doing to troll, etc. I always had a “this’ll never happen to me” mentality, while reviewing these cases, because I thought this was reserved for the people who were at a lower skill level than I, and their flame was an example of that. Little did I know.
I recently made a new account in order to play with another of my friends, one of whom I myself convinced to play league. It was a joy to me when they agreed to play, because then I could relive the glory days while simultaneously drawing on my past experience to play league to the fullest extent with a friend that I wanted to have the same experience I got years ago. However, after a multitude of games (ballpark, maybe 40; however many it takes to get to level 10) I found my rose-colored glasses shattered, and my friend marveling at the amount of hate one person could shower on another over a videogame. These were the trenches, levels 1 to 29; the war of attrition we all must face before we can make it to the other side (which is presumably greener). Having played League for 4 years, I found myself start to fall into the habit of flaming teammates (though not in chat) and causing my attitude toward League of Legends to fall into that of the toxic player, where if one or more teammates do not play perfectly, they are automatically damned to ELO hell, where miscreants and trolls live their lives tormenting each other into oblivion. I have caught myself, but each game seems to me (an objective viewer) a perpetuating circle of toxicity in the lower levels of League which is hardly seen once a person reaches level 30. This seems to me to be a drastic aberration of League of Legends, and one that Riot should not suffer to live much longer. I do not know what has been done in terms of punishment of players since the abolition of the tribunal, but what I do know is this; in the last 10 or so games on my new account (level 10), I have reported at least one person every two games, on average. Of those one every two games, I have only been notified once that my report caused the punishment of a player. I only report people if they troll, or insult another player, and if the chat shows definitive evidence thereof. I believe this to be an honest way to report people, and have done it many times since starting my new account.
I believe that this circle of toxicity has come about because old players making new accounts are then placed with brand new players. The old players, having played League at a high (or at least higher) skill level than level 1, are accustomed to teammates of a certain skill level. When the new players, who are just there to learn and level up (as we have all done before) make mistakes because they are new, the old players hold them to their high expectations, ridiculing them for playing poorly (or poorer than the enemy) and causing them to play even more poorly. This gives the new players a base in which they learn that when a teammate does something wrong, it’s okay to flame them because otherwise, why would they have been flamed? This creates a cycle of toxicity that perpetuates and proliferates, creating an environment that drives people to comply or to quit the game, which is an unhealthy and sad circumstance.
I write this letter not for me, but for the many people who want very much to start this game, but have not the time to wage the war of attrition from levels 1-30, or have not the patience to outlast the trolls and toxic players, or have not the friends to keep the game light and reveal it for what it actually is (a game). I’m not bashing Riot either; they have created a great game that has both restructured and revolutionized both gaming and the industry. What is needed is either an incentive, or perhaps a harsher punishment, but I know that this is not an easy fix I have no idea whether this letter will make any difference, or whether any change will come as a result of this, but the least I can do is try.
Sincerely,
A player who is fed up with toxicity in the League community --Get0nMyLvl aka Brøøks
