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What is it about this game that seems to fester toxicity? A quick story on a typical level up game

VasaviShahkti·5/11/2018, 2:15:30 PM·6 votes·4,496 views

People are toxic and there seems to be a system for punishment that catches the most severe, but more should be done promoting a healthy co-operative mindset in players. We had a shen top lane that said within a minute, guys im new but I am learning. He was facing an enemy top that was much more experienced and he was losing lane. Not a single one of our teamates bmed the shen, but rather It was the opposite, we attempted to teach him. when he pinged for help we ganked. The enemy top laner that was triple the cs started shit talking his own team and ended up afking and titling his entire team.

In summary the shen did better just because we treated him like a human being, got a better score than the enemy top lane and had more fun. Sadly, rarely does this occur, as the most common reply to begginers is toxic and hateful. And you know what else? when he started losing lane our "newbie" did not rage quit like literly 50% of players who have ego problems.

In the first 22 levels on this account this was one of the only games that wasnt a garbage bin of indecency. How do we promote positivity? Toxic levels are outa control riot discuss. I wish I had taken data on these games, but from experience there are just simply way more toxic games in this bracket of play than any other.

10 Comments

y0r1ck5/11/2018, 4:26:09 PM2 votes

It's the inability to sense and vent frustrations before/during/after the game.

La Belle Sauvage5/11/2018, 3:31:19 PM2 votes

I think the best that can be done is to remain Positive towards others in game regardless of how it's going. Stand up to any who are being toxic but not fall into the toxcity chat trap, use the report system liberally and suggest to Riot (like you've done here) that more should be done.

While toxcity is an issue here I don't feel it's out of control. And with exception to stand alone games I've experienced it in many other online multiplayer games from FPS, to RTS, to space Sims.

Anytime there are complete strangers on a team together this will be an issue not limited to LoL.

EL HAMSTERO5/13/2018, 11:12:00 AM1 votes

I think the biggest cause of toxicity in this game is a combination of game length and leaverbuster.

I play a lot of LoL and CoD both. in each game I sometimes get upset and frustrated. the difference is in CoD when I get frustrated and am not having fun, I just turn off the game. this is nearly instant stress relief and I usually feel all better within 5 minutes.

in LoL because of leaverbuster you cant turn off the game. if you are upset and frustrated then too bad. you are stuck in that bad experience for the duration of the game which can be 40+ minutes. there is no instant stress relief. there is no way out without facing penalties.

nothing is more toxic in any game I have played than being trapped like that.

Quiet Dude5/11/2018, 2:19:57 PM1 votes

Some people want to win more than others. If their team mates are doing poorly or they just don’t care as much, that’s usually the strike that lights the match.

FOR JUSTICE5/11/2018, 5:02:21 PM1 votes

ive found people are a lot less toxic to each other when we explain in champ select were newer to whatever were playing

Narabug5/13/2018, 5:47:46 AM1 votes

It's a part of League's culture at this point. It's an unfortunate side effect of having a game that's "free", and extremely low system requirements. Literally anyone can pick it up and start playing, and they don't need mom/dad's approval before doing so. Granted, there are some folks that are well over 18 and still remain extremely toxic, but the majority of the toxic behavior that I see is simply childish behavior (i.e. "I didn't get my way, so I'm going to throw a tantrum to get back at you!").

What's interesting is that I don't see this sort of behavior in any other game that I play. In WoW, 5-10% of the population doesn't just intentionally wipe a raid or dungeon because some messed up one time. In Siege, players who intentionally feed/throw are few and far between. Shit even in Fortnight, it seems like every single player "plays to win". It's something about League that either attracts the toxic player, or brings the worst out in people.

It's also a massive failure by Riot, IMO. They have all of the chat logs and data that they could ever need to resolve issues quickly. It's quite easy to set up a text-parsing program these days, and even easier to set up triggers. Certain words/phrases could very easily trigger an immediate warning/squelch for a few games to curb toxic behavior as it happens. It also seems to take quite a few reports for someone to receive any sort of punishment, and even at the highest levels, players can continuously feed/troll for extended periods of time before Riot takes action. Something tells me Riot knows that the same type of anti-social behavior that causes toxicity in-game is also linked to stealing mom's credit card to buy skins.

Best Ekko NA5/11/2018, 2:32:30 PM1 votes

Depends what mode you are playing. I've almost never criticized or hated on anyone in a regular Blind Pick or Normal Draft Mode match. There's nothing on the line in these modes, nothing to lose or gain, so obviously no reason to be salty either win or lose. It's a whole different league when talking about Ranked, where other players put in hundreds of hours of time and effort to learn and try to climb on the ladder.

Frequently, everyone in this game wants to speak on stories such as the one you are posting.. Stories how everyone is rude because "I'm new" or "I didn't practice my champion", or "I made a mistake", etc. The part that no one seems to want to talk about however, is how disrespectful it is to other players for someone like a new player to rush into ranked thinking they are ready, when they probably aren't. It's very disrespectful to pick champions that you've never played or have almost no experience on.

Taking other player's hard work and dedication for granted is something which shouldn't be taken anymore lightly than someone raging or intentionally feeding in a match. I hate to say it honestly, but it's called "Ranked" for a reason. It's designed for players who are experienced and want to play the game competitively. There's nothing competitive about someone brand new entering the mode and nothing competitive about someone who has never played a champion using it for the first time in a match.

Is it right for someone to be unsportsmanlike to another player? No, not for any reason. It's also not anymore sportsmanlike for that new or first timing player either however to be putting a burden on their teammates.