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New player. Is LoL worth putting up with the toxicity?

WiggyWitchDoc·6/10/2019, 11:46:39 AM·4 votes·5,268 views

Having put it off for about a year (worried that I might get addicted) I only started playing LoL a few weeks ago.

I have never been flamed/blamed/sworn at/told to uninstall/would rather have an intermediate bot/etc. like I have during my first few weeks in this game. And it amazes me that anyone lasts beyond these initial few weeks. I guess it's a credit to the game design that people keep coming back for more. And this is from normal games only; I have never played ranked and I'm concerned it will only get worse if/when I do.

On a personal level i find the constant flaming faintly amusing. The barely coherent rantings of a few immature gamers are largely meaningless to me, and I try to remind people that, yes I suck. I'm learning the game, and unranked play is where people go to learn how champions work and practice against other players. I also ask for constructive criticism, but, well... its rarely that constructive. I do watch youtube videos/VOD's, read and follow champion guides, watch pros on Twitch to try to improve. But I would be lying if I said I was totally unaffected by what people say, and sometimes I have reported people when they've been particularly mean-spirited/offensive.

I can honestly say that this is the worst new player experience of any game I have played. And even though I am really enjoying LoL, I am concerned that this game will die due to playerbase stagnation and its toxic reputation and rather than invest the huge amount of time it will take to "git gud" it makes me wonder if I should put it down and play something else.

I am having fun at the moment but is it worth persevering, or should I just uninstall and save myself a lot of bother? Should I ever try ranked play? Should I try to show the flamers the error of their ways by being relentlessly nice and positive?

21 Comments

DerMangoJoghurt6/10/2019, 12:02:57 PM5 votes

The reason why lower levels are so toxic is that Riot doesn't ban by IP or mac address (for completely valid reasons). If a toxic person gets permanently banned they can just create a new account and harass new players. If you persist you will find that toxicity should decrease in quantity and severity, but it's never really gone.

In the end it's down to you. If you don't enjoy playing because of the toxic environment, then you should stop. League is a great game, but also has a steep learning curve. Having to learn while you're not enjoying yourself is a chore and in my opinion just not worth it.

AJStarhiker6/10/2019, 12:36:05 PM4 votes

It's not that bad. A lot of what you see will depend on your own attitude and expectations.

People make mistakes or get outclassed by better players. It's not trolling if a new player runs up to the turret when they don't yet know how much it chunks therr life down. It's not trolling if an RPG players comes in thinking ranged characters don't use swords.

But people hear about the trolling and begin to expect to see it. So, instead of seeing a mistake from a new player, they see a trolling smurf... and start flaming.

I've played with genuinely new players and had others ask if they were trolling. One of them, the second time the new player made a noob mistake (ran up to hit a tower w/o minion support), the random player asked if I was sure they were new, and I told them 'Yes, I'm sitting next to them.' (We were at a gaming cafe).

So, you get smurfs who forget there are genuine new players. The smurfs start flaming, then the new players start to think that's 'normal' behavior for the game, while not knowing it's reportable.

LaceUpXX6/10/2019, 3:34:40 PM3 votes

It's really easy to mute people. Now you just have to ask yourself if you're ok wasting time on the game constantly getting trolling players.

Thingamajig6/10/2019, 11:58:40 AM3 votes

the game is amazing people not so much

but if you've ever played any online game with a competitive nature you would encounter the same exact behavior Wow has it's low level campers Lineage 2 has it's low lvl campers and pk clans Dota has it's russians CSGo has it's russians Lol has it's babies and ego players starcraft has it's cheesers

so anywhere you go if you want to play with and against players you will meet shit people if you don't know how to deal with them it's best for you to just stick to single player games not like there is a vast shortage of great single player games oh when i played dota for a month i was told to kill my self get cancer wished death upon my loved ones and all that good stuff

so i think you are over exaggerating on the "Worst beginner experience" you just have very little competitive games experience

and lol is far from dying very far from it yes maybe one day but it's far from that day

Kei1436/10/2019, 7:40:32 PM2 votes

Low levels are a known pocket of toxicity. People get banned, haven't learnt from their past punishments, start a new account and continue with their toxicity ways.

It gets better as those toxic people get banned again.

If someone is bothering you, make sure you report them afterwards.

usul12026/10/2019, 12:51:03 PM2 votes

If the flame doesn't bother you and the game is enjoyable, stick with it. I would recommend finding like-minded people to play with, it makes the game a lot more fun too!

Sky Cardis6/10/2019, 1:52:58 PM2 votes

I refused to have anyone I know touch this game if they haven' already because I know how trashy/toxic everyone in this game is. I made the mistake for an exception of the "Newbie event" that happened. I had a friend join me. First game me and friend played and the entire team did nothing but flame her until she was upset and didn't want to play anymore.

Won't make that mistake again, not even for a future event.

CarpeConundrum6/12/2019, 12:25:29 AM2 votes

"Toxicity" is bullshit. Anyone with any shred of common sense and a mind of their own realizes that "toxicity" means nothing. The people who repeat that phrase ad nausium are the hopeless Red Post worshipers who'd huff Riot's farts if it were in the rules. To this group of people, everything Riot says is sacrosanct, every rule is justified, everything they say is 100% correct and how dare you question our God-King's will?!

Fact. Toxicity is the smallest problem with league, about 1 in 15/20 games I play there is a literal automated feeder bot. In 1 in 5 or so games there is a leaver or afker. In 1 in 3 or so games there is a griefer who's sole objective is to cause a loss. People telling me to uninstall and go fuck myself is the least of my worries in this game. Riot doesn't give a fuck about any of these issues. The best solution to these problems was the Tribunal. Rather than fix the tribunal, giving Tribunal mods access to even MORE in game information and keeping it anonymous so there could be no bias, they scrapped it and instead created this automated system. Playing during a thunderstorm and your power goes out? GG that's a 14 day ban mister.

No. This game isn't worth putting up with OP. This game is a dumpster fire and the only reason I'm still here is because I've sunk 1500-2000 dollars into this game since season 2 and I'll be damned if this disgusting corporation takes my money then does everything it can to make me want to quit.

Telephone Booth6/11/2019, 2:57:41 AM1 votes

Everyone has different tolerance levels when it comes to being flamed. Are these flamers making the game unfun? If yes, then do not play it anymore. If you find your experience being ruined more often than not, do not continue doing it. If flaming hardly bothers you, or you dont mind muting people and playing a chat-less game, then you're gonna have a good time, because yes the game design and mechanics are pretty fun.

Just depends how big an impact these flamers have on you, because its gonna continue for a long time. You gotta play consistently well untilyou stop getting flamed, and even then, your other teammates are going to still argue with eachother, and on the occasions whereyou do get stomped by someone, you will be flamed.

Shadowbyte6/11/2019, 4:36:59 AM1 votes

For your own sake don't play ranked. You saw how people act when it's played CASUALLY. just imagine competitive.

Big Tiddy Fox GF6/11/2019, 5:26:54 AM1 votes

Actually, if you want to climb in ranked, get ready to see a bunch of players flaming/blaming/telling you to unistall and a loooooot of other stuff if you get stuck between iron and gold (maybe plat), because that's where the "fun" part begins.

Especially ego boosting smurfs.

But else if you're not planning on playing ranked, League is still a fun game to play with friends. ######And yet, even in normals you'll still see toxic players, even if they're rare

CharDeeMcDenniz6/11/2019, 8:28:34 AM1 votes

this board is more or less the vocal minority, take what you read here with a BIG grain of salt

rumbleindajungle6/12/2019, 12:18:01 AM1 votes

nope get out now

Sub Human Filth6/12/2019, 12:18:41 PM1 votes

Protip, when you get into a game, type "/fullmute all" in your chat. You're welcome.

Eybdoog6/10/2019, 6:55:37 PM1 votes

Not right now. But it has some potential. Come back next season