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"The only thing that matters is having fun"

Grim Quazar·12/9/2018, 7:54:48 AM·1 votes·1,655 views

Hi folks, this is a rant.

I'm struggling with an issue about player behavior that I have trouble with articulating. I don't encounter this often but this issue surfaces once in a while. It's about this mentality that the game is all about having fun. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that philosophy and nothing specific I disagree with in that statement, it personally irritates me when it's taken too far. The following details my experience in a recent game I played that illustrates the what I mean by that. TLDR at the end.

I had partied up with a group of 2 people; both were strangers, but person A was a friend of a friend and I have no other association with person B. I get into voice and it's just person B there. We get into a blind pick, we load in, go to our lanes, but bot lane has 2 Adc's and a support while we had no top laner. I express that we needed someone top and that I had thought that the issue of roles was settled in champ select. Person B retorts:

"I don't call lanes" "????" So this person doesn't communicate? "No, I had people dodge and argue over lanes so I don't call lanes anymore." Then why didn't you go to the open lane? "I don't want to go top" and a few other statements that I perceived as "I'll go where I want and have fun there" I stopped arguing with him at this point because the random ADC went to cover top like a bro.

Later, there was evidence that it was going to be a lost game. Enemy top-laner got ahead from the free plates he took, everyone bot got behind because 3 people bot and 2 ADC's farming the same lane isn't ideal, mid laner lost, and I was being a bad jungler (no excuses on my end there). We failed early surrender vote 4-1, which is fine. But then, person B types to person A in chat:

"You know my rule. Don't say yes next time" A: "oh yeah, okay, I forgot"

This indicated person B had no intention of surrendering and got person A to go along with it.

I asked him, why not? He replied 'he doesn't surrender' and something else in addition to that which indicated that he wants to have fun. Note, while I don't remember his exact words, he did NOT reply with the belief that we can win this game, he did NOT reply that he is having fun (e.g. he did NOT reply like "What? But, I'm having fun"), he replied dismissingly and with his philosophy about how he plays games, which through context clues, involve committing to the destruction of nexus, "not giving a fuck", and ignoring my grievances about just going next. We proceeded to get into an argument in voice chat; I expressed that I'm not having fun with the way the game is going and that we should just surrender; he retorts that he's not surrendering, his philosophy that others play to win, but he plays to have fun; I criticized heavily how he's basically holding the game hostage; he argued I'm not being held hostage and that I can just not play the game.

Honestly, neither of us were being really civil. I don't leave games because it's a scummy thing to do, I'm not going to grief because that's also just being an asshole, but I feel like I'm stuck there at that point. Legit, there was nothing inherently wrong with his philosophy to have fun, but there something about it that I can't really put my finger on that irritated me, something about how he expresses that philosophy and just not being open to surrendering at all. This is something I encountered for several occasions, but not frequently.

Granted, I did not have an issue later in the game when the enemy team fails to end the game for 15 minutes with 3 open inhibs going for them. That, I was okay with, it was a novel enough experience. But at that point, I left voice already and stopped trying to argue with him.

I have a lot of questions about myself concerning what went down. What is wrong with me here? Am I just being crazy about this sort of thing? Do I just not like the unwillingness to surrender? Am I wrong for trying to win and have fun at the same time? Is there something wrong with surrendering a game that is evidently futile? I don't think he even had hope that we'll win that game, he's just playing to play. What do I really have a problem here? I am fairly sure that I only care about winning games, because I've had fun playing losing games.

TLDR Dude never surrenders; thinks fun trumps all and it's not all about winning. Why is this annoying to me?

6 Comments

SUPERSATANA12/9/2018, 8:05:56 AM2 votes

Complicated issue. ANY game is "all about having fun" and that's true...but in a team game there is a golden rule: "your fun can't go against the fun of the others". When can you say someone is breaking that rule? That's the tricky part. Letting a lane open to "have fun", tho, is definitely something that goes against it, unless ALL the team was on board. When a player join a LoL match he does so with a series of legitimate expectations and you can't shit on them just cause "you have fun that way". For the "no surrendering" part, eh: I HATE those kind of players with a passion ("OMG IS A GAME, I NEVER SURRENDER!11!" ...yeah, PRECISELY cause is a game and not a matter of life and death if a match is not fun anymore why we can't just start a new one?), but is a legitimate point of view (a point of view that I hate, but not against the "golden rule"). That's ofc, if you aren't doing it just to be a dick with your team, but EVERYTHING that a player do "just to be a dick" goes into that category.

zPOOPz12/9/2018, 8:38:25 AM2 votes

Unless he outright trolled or intentionally feeding or actively flaming the team, he has just as much right to want to play the game out to completion, even in a "futile" game as you called it, as you do to want to surrender. After all, when you hit that queue button, you committed to a full game. "person A" also has as much right to vote along with him or you as he sees fit. Luckily it's in voice comm, but you giving him grief about not wanting to surrender can be considered harassment.

In Blind, there is no "call lane" or requirement to call lane. That's why most people know to steer clear of Blind mode. What "person B" did was probably a dick move if adc and supp already been called in pre-game chat, but unfortunately he has broken no rules. You giving him grief and argue with him about it can also be considered harassment. Again, this is why most people steer clear of Blind Pick or they should go into it not expecting a meta game. This is not Rito's fault. They created Draft mode and enforced meta positions. You and your party chose not to use it.

ı Sona ı12/9/2018, 8:13:23 AM1 votes

Don't argue with anyone! Mute and find the path of least resistance!

R107 Games12/9/2018, 8:21:41 AM1 votes

well NA is regarded as the "4fun" region because of the weak competitive drive from the community. it seems that a bunch of the player base likes to play casually and only for fun, disregarding ranked and not playing to win. Other regions like Korea/EUW have a much more competitive community.

If your playing ranked then the main goal is to try and win, but if your playing normals then the main goal is to try and have fun.

Grim Quazar12/9/2018, 11:10:47 AM1 votes

I can't say I'm satisfied with the verdict, but I appreciate you guys taking the time to review all of this. Thank you.

And to clear a misunderstanding from zPOOPz, I strictly kept it to criticism and challenging his argument. Although I did get exasperated because he encouraged me to "click the exit button" and not play this game.