Boards›Player Behavior

Is ALL criticism toxic?

PinkSalt·10/8/2017, 9:50:52 PM·2 votes·380 views
Screenshot

Before you downvote, disagree, etc. Carefully read the definition of criticism.

Now, lets continue.

Is simply criticizing someone's mistakes, that are obvious, without insults/bullying/cursing still toxic? Is telling someone they're playing bad bluntly and telling them how to fix it toxic? Is telling them their strategies are bad toxic?

I just got out of a game where there was a riven top lane who lost miserably to a shen. I was, of course, pretty pissed that the riven was building just life steal and almost no tank items (black cleaver and maybe jaurims fist were the only tank[?] items.) The riven went 5/13, and obviously lost us the game. Shen ended up building a crazy tank build then would just teleport to everyone and kill us off.... BUT anyways, I of course told Riven their mistakes and this is basically what I said to them;

"Riven, stop wandering away from tower with 20% health then spam pinging for help." "Riven you're 0/4, you can't win against him so just farm." "Riven stop pinging for help when you aren't helping yourself, play safe." "Riven stop roaming when you know the other laners are more fed than you."

Is anything up there considered toxic? If so, explain how. I'm honestly unsure what is considered toxic and not, because you should be allowed to tell your teammates what they're doing is bad/wrong and how to fix it, right? You should be able to try and help them or dismiss their assumptions (my team sucks, my team didn't help me, etc). I myself had a difficult time in the game after going to Riven's lane and dying because she backed into tower than said "Oh you should play safe." (like OK dude, pinged for help then decided to be an ass.) Then went on to beg the enemy team to report me because I was "toxic" and "unsportsmanlike" AFTER they did that! My GOD the nerve.

18 Comments

ModThe Djinn10/8/2017, 10:16:17 PM3 votes

Criticism is toxic. Constructive criticism isn't, as long as the other player is receptive to it and you do so carefully.

No SINGLE thing you presented there is inherently worthy of a report, although I'd say a few could be better worded, since some border on veiled accusations. The issue is that they're not especially respectful or constructive, and if your chat is full of this sort of thing -- especially if targeted only at one individual -- it begins to become toxic.

"Riven, stop wandering away from tower with 20% health then spam pinging for help." "Riven stop pinging for help when you aren't helping yourself, play safe." "Riven stop roaming when you know the other laners are more fed than you."

These three in particularly come off as a bit overly accusatory, and all of them taken together make it seem like you're coming down a little hard on the Riven player. That's not ideal, and I'd recommend trying to put a friendlier, more constructive spin on your criticism.

Kei14310/8/2017, 9:54:40 PM2 votes

People can report you for anything, but doesn't mean it's all punishable.

The system does have a way to verify the valid/false reports, so if that's what you are doing then have no fear of being reported.

That said, this is over text and it's hard for people to tell whether certain texts are meant to be an insult. So, sometimes people get defensive and thus can't take critisms.

Chermorg10/8/2017, 9:56:35 PM2 votes

Each one of those on its own is not toxic, but they are also not not toxic. I'll address them in the order you wrote them:

  1. You word this one as a command ("stop X"), then you accuse them of "spam pinging". Why do you need to say that? Just say "Riven, if you're behind it's best to stay under turret".

  2. Again, there's absolutely no need to bring their specific score into it. "Riven, if you're behind, farm under turret please".

  3. You accuse them of not helping. While that may be true, it's negative and irrelevant. "Riven, please play safe so they don't get more kills".

  4. This one is probably the least toxic up there, but again you bring score/"fed ness" into it., Just say "Riven, other lanes don't really need your help right now, just farm and play safe"

It's not so much what you say - almost all criticism is fine. It's how you say it.

MadMad Sickness10/8/2017, 10:06:13 PM1 votes

There's a fine line between toxicity/flaming and constructive criticism. Inciting to report is an offense, you should have just reported her, muted her and moved on.

If you go to far and your criticism begins to harass another person, then it can become toxic. As for what you said there, it is leaning towards a negative attitude and it is antagonizing the riven player who may just be having a bad game. If you really care about your presentation, it is a good skill to be able to deliver criticism without hurting the ego or feelings of another person and building a positive environment. you should try to add in positive reinforcement:

"Riven, just farm man we need you in the late game. If you play it safe we can win this" sounds alot better than "Riven, you're 0/4..."

I'm sure the dude already knows hes 0/4, you don't need to point it out to him.

There's definitely a way to be more sportsmanlike and encourage your team to a win. And you know, sometimes it doesn't work but atleast you tried and that's better than nothing. And being positive is MUCH better than being toxic and flaming your team. Hell, one comment can be the difference between an adc who is tilted with an 0/5 record and between an adc who is behind, stays in the game, and gets a penta/quadra becoming 4/5 and steamrolling the rest of the match.

Moral of the story is: positivity wins games.