Help me be less toxic

Kazulu Cthulhu·10/25/2018, 1:16:49 PM·3 votes·2,943 views

I have been playing league for about 4 years now and ever since I started my ranked journey I have become extremely toxic. I take the game very seriously, as you should in ranked but that seriousness has carried over to norms. I still find myself trying super hard in norms to the point that my friends won't even play with me. I end up yelling at them saying that they made a giant mistake and I also get extremely upset when I mess up and I yell at the game. How can I get better? It's only in league that I'm like this I play plenty of other games that are just as competitive but league is the only one that makes me feel this way. How can I fix it? How can I get people to enjoy playing with me again?

17 Comments

Smokin Penguin10/25/2018, 1:42:13 PM5 votes

I take the game very seriously, as you should

Why?

No, for real, why are you taking the game so seriously?

So that you can get a different color border?

Unless you're a challenger player and you are hoping to one day get scouted for a pro team, i don't see a point in taking the game seriously.

I know i sound cynical but you gotta realize that you're mental health is more important than a video game.

A lot of people forget that at the end of the day It's just a game.

It's meant to be enjoyed.

##The reason why you get angry with your teammates is because you expect something from them and when they don't deliver, it aggravates you.

 

##Remove your expectations from your teammates and you will stop getting disappointed with them.

ModThe Djinn10/25/2018, 1:36:23 PM4 votes

How can I get people to enjoy playing with me again?

One of two things, really.

  • Find other equally competitive players and yell at the game together if you find that a fun activity.
  • Practice learning how to appreciate the game as a game, rather than as a path to a victory screen.

I recommend the latter approach, as it makes losses significantly more fun. If it seems like something you're interested in, I can share further thoughts.

Josh Sand10/25/2018, 4:41:14 PM2 votes

The fact that you are asking for some perspective is a really big step. And while advice from others can provide some new avenues to experiment with, this is very much an internal journey that you are going to have to solve yourself.

The first step to do that is to ask yourself exploratory questions around your league play. Most importantly, keep asking yourself follow up questions until you can't answer then anymore! Once you do, pause and give that unanswered some thought over time. It might take hours, or days, or weeks, or even months to answer that question - just be sure to give yourself time to process and fully understand it.

I might not be doing a great job explaining this to you, so this is kind of how my internal dialogue went when I try to figure this out myself:

Why am I getting angry at my teammates?

Because I want them to take the game as seriously as I do.

Why does it make you angry that they might not be trying as hard as you are?

Because I want to win, and if they aren't they aren't trying as hard as I am, it makes winning that much harder

Why do you want to win?

Because I want to climb the ladder.

Why do you want to climb the ladder?

Because I want to accomplish my goals in League

Why do you want to accomplish a goal in League?

I don't know. Because it will make me feel more accomplished as a person?

^ This was the last question that had stumped me. Your questions and answers will obviously be different, but for me, when I hit this question, I realized that I was relying pretty heavily on league to deliver a feeling of accomplishment, because in my real life, I wasn't necessarily experiencing much of that for myself.

Reaching this conclusion helped me understand why I was so emotionally invested in League, and it's helped me to have a different perspective on the game. I still care about playing my best, and I still care about challenging myself and learning, but I get a lot less hung up on losses or feeding teammates. If I am playing this game for fun and a sense of accomplishment, I can't tie that to the performance of my teammates - that's always going to lead to outbursts and arguments. I have my moments like everyone else, but learning to just keep my focus isolated on myself has helped overall. Ultimately I have to accept that some games are just going to be a throw, and there's not much that you can do about it.

Your pursuit of these answers will likely be different, but hopefully this creates a frame of something you can try yourself. Good luck dude.

Lord Guan10/25/2018, 1:43:58 PM1 votes

Meditation.

Hexs Fortune10/25/2018, 2:31:53 PM1 votes

You can save your account if you catch yourself typing too much and stop early on.

Most of the punishable chat logs are page long diatribes

MegaSpaceJX10/25/2018, 1:41:06 PM1 votes

Turn/mute off your chat and 1v9. DONE

DOUBLE TAPPED E10/26/2018, 12:53:39 AM1 votes

Remind yourself that the only person whose gameplay you have any control over whatsoever is your own, and focusing on your teammates mistakes can often blind you to your own.

You should also try to understand that if someone makes a mistake and dies, it's pretty likely that they know they made a mistake, because they have already been punished for it... by dying. Pointing it out helps nothing and nobody, and 9 times out of 10 will only make things worse, which REDUCES the chances you can come back.

Have you ever died because you were busy trying to justify your thought process to someone who flamed you for a mistake you made? Don't be the guy who causes that to happen to someone else.

DeracadaVenom10/26/2018, 1:41:26 AM1 votes

Add REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE after everything

works 50% of the time

Tuition Fee10/26/2018, 1:51:44 AM1 votes

Stick pins to all keys other than 123456 and qwer d f

Telephone Booth10/26/2018, 1:55:40 AM1 votes

If you arent getting paid to play the game, stop taking it so seriously. Your ability to control virtual sprites on a computer screen is so fucking pointless dude. Stop caring about it so much. It sounds like a mental illness.