Boards›Player Behavior

Consumer Smarts - Don't Fall For The Trap: Everything is designed to enrage you...

FederationFurry·6/1/2019, 2:01:16 PM·3 votes·2,396 views

From emotes (which nobody uses correctly - Most are used to insult the enemy team) To being able to speak to the enemy team (Which you cannot do in SMITE, HOTS or Overwatch)

From unfair ranked match placements To smurfs and premades...

Everything in this game has been purposely built around one core concept. To make the game as frustrating for people as possible. Riot are aware that some people are so shamelessly addicted to League and committed to maybe, one day, becoming an LCS player (which is impossible for more then 1% of the total fanbase) that they know they can make the game as awful as possible and people will STILL play it.

Riot is a real big company, they have their own psychologists. They know how to manipulate human behaviour. (I have a psychology degree myself and I've seen this in this game which is why I do not play it anymore or put money into it). Riot deliberately create things that they know will frustrate their playerbase, from playing favourites with champion balance, to releasing overpowered items. They KNOW that this will enrage the playerbase and cause them to die more in the game.

The reason for this is in the automated banning system. Some players are able to control their emotions during a game but Riot are aware that most of their playerbase are of a younger demographic that have not learnt to do that yet, its the reason why so many younger people are so politically active and then tend to lose interest as they get older.

To the people that can control their emotions... Good for you! but to the people that get angry when they die unfairly or because of intentionally poor design choices... you will get angry and go toxic. Then the system will happily ban your high level account and force you to make a new one so that you need to spend more money rebuying the same skins again and because you've already invested, you are pretty much not going to abandon the game.

Having multiple "warnings" do not really affect this either as the game is still built around the core concept of frustrating as many players as possible and provoking them into toxic behaviour.

It is not a conspiracy theory, its just a manipulative business stance and most business models these days are built around manipulating their customer base, rather then making them happy. You only have to look at Hollywood for more examples of this kind of phenomenon.

Once you accept that everything is deliberately designed in this game to enrage and frustrate you. You can play this game with that in mind and not fall into the trap that Riot has set that some people are unwilling to break out of.

I am sure that people will comment saying "I've had this account since... so and so..." but it does not really disprove that some people are indeed stuck in this cycle and therefore sustaining Riot. Its a very manipulative business model which is far too common today due to insufficient business regulation in both the US and Europe as well as Asian markets.

Don't fall for the trap...

I am also NOT saying "Don't play the game". I am just making people aware of this trap which is fairly common in most free 2 play games but Riot seem to have taken frustrating design to another level. Even if you do not believe me, try to keep an open mind and just look for evidence of that pattern in game, look at champion design over the last few years and balance changes. You will find some evidence to support this hypothesis.

8 Comments

Imperial Pandaa6/1/2019, 2:33:38 PM7 votes

{quoted}

From emotes (which nobody uses correctly - Most are used to insult the enemy team)

That is your opinion. Believe it or not, people can use it properly though.

To being able to speak to the enemy team (Which you cannot do in SMITE, HOTS or Overwatch)

Played like 5 matched of SMITE and 0 HOTS, but I know in Overwatch you can talk to the enemy team so... yeah, your information/opinion is already looking iffy.

From unfair ranked match placements

How exactly is it unfair?

To smurfs and premades...

Smurfs are annoying, and are you implying playing with friends in a game shouldn't be allowed?

Everything in this game has been purposely built around one core concept. To make the game as frustrating for people as possible. Riot are aware that some people are so shamelessly addicted to League and committed to maybe, one day, becoming an LCS player (which is impossible for more then 1% of the total fanbase) that they know they can make the game as awful as possible and people will STILL play it.

False. The game has been purposely built to provide entertainment. If you are going to say it is to frustrate people as much as possible; then you may as well say that about every game that has ever been an arcade cabinet.

Riot is a real big company, they have their own psychologists. They know how to manipulate human behaviour. (I have a psychology degree myself and I've seen this in this game which is why I do not play it anymore or put money into it). Riot deliberately create things that they know will frustrate their playerbase, from playing favourites with champion balance, to releasing overpowered items. They KNOW that this will enrage the playerbase and cause them to die more in the game.

Well, you don't need a degree to manipulate people. There is also a difference between persuasion and manipulation; which is intent. They want to persuade you to behave properly with Honor, and persuade you to not misbehave by punishing said behavior. Champion balance? Yes some take a while to get nerfed or buffed, but numbers can be tricky. "Reeeee! Master Yi has a 67% WR in Low Elo! reeeee! Nerf! Nerf!" But on the opposite side, he has a 27% WR in high elo (random numbers for example). Malphite Support has a 80% WR. Malph support also only has a .04% pick rate.

It does suck that they have to adjust champs so much due to pro play though. As for items, if it is being released; they don't actually know how powerful it will be initially.

The reason for this is in the automated banning system. Some players are able to control their emotions during a game but Riot are aware that most of their playerbase are of a younger demographic that have not learnt to do that yet, its the reason why so many younger people are so politically active and then tend to lose interest as they get older.

Do you have evidence that the playerbase is younger? What do you consider younger also?

To the people that can control their emotions... Good for you! but to the people that get angry when they die unfairly or because of intentionally poor design choices... you will get angry and go toxic. Then the system will happily ban your high level account and force you to make a new one so that you need to spend more money rebuying the same skins again and because you've already invested, you are pretty much not going to abandon the game.

Weird thing is, you don't need to spend a penny on this game to get stuff. Also would have to go through the entire system to lose my account. Seeing how after a warning (back when those existed) I changed my behavior, I don't think it is an issue. Because I actually care about my investment.

Having multiple "warnings" do not really affect this either as the game is still built around the core concept of frustrating as many players as possible and provoking them into toxic behaviour.

Again, it is built around the concept of being a game. Sometimes you get frustrated, sometimes you don't. The design isn't to frustrate you.

It is not a conspiracy theory, its just a manipulative business stance and most business models these days are built around manipulating their customer base, rather then making them happy. You only have to look at Hollywood for more examples of this kind of phenomenon.

*disclaimer may actually be a conspiracy theory.

Once you accept that everything is deliberately designed in this game to enrage and frustrate you. You can play this game with that in mind and not fall into the trap that Riot has set that some people are unwilling to break out of.

Or I can play the game and realize that I will both win and lose matches. What a strange concept that I might lose a match.

I am sure that people will comment saying "I've had this account since... so and so..." but it does not really disprove that some people are indeed stuck in this cycle and therefore sustaining Riot. Its a very manipulative business model which is far too common today due to insufficient business regulation in both the US and Europe as well as Asian markets.

If you are gonna blame Riot, blame the entire game market then.

Don't fall for the trap...

Don't worry Admiral Ackbar, there isn't actually a trap here. Maybe Sneaky, but not getting into how he can confuse me with good cosplay.

Jhins Girlfriend6/1/2019, 4:50:33 PM3 votes

Riot's got a lot of problems, I think we can all agree there. But the idea that they purposely want to make you mad is, well. Really silly. That's not how you convince people to play your game, that's counterproductive. Overwatch has allchat as well.

ModWulf Helhammer6/1/2019, 5:16:00 PM3 votes

Imperial Panda has already adequately addressed your other points, but this one I will reply to directly.

{quoted}

Then the system will happily ban your high level account and force you to make a new one so that you need to spend more money (...)

If your account has been banned, Riot is saying in the most direct way they possibly can: #They do not want you playing their game. They do not want your money, they do not want you making another account, they do not want anything to do with you. They want you to leave.

However, they cannot force this. The game is free to play, as are email addresses. Things like IP bans and the like don't work, and can frequently harm those just caught on the same network (households with multiple players, PC cafes, the like). But just because you can make a new account, it doesn't mean Riot wants you to.

Toxic players cause Riot to lose more business then they would gain by forcing them to buy all their stuff again. If one person is being toxic, then that's at least 4 other people (sometimes up to 9) that are not having fun playing. Ask yourself this: would you want to spend money on something that you aren't having fun with? It's a cost-benefit analysis:

Player A is causing others to not spend money on the game Keeping player A ensures their revenue stream, but loses out on up 9 others per match A plays Banning Player A removes their revenue stream, but opens up hundreds more.

If you were looking at those options as a business owner, which seems like the better choice?

Jennifer4206/1/2019, 2:16:44 PM1 votes

hey youre from euw, just like me. we call it LEC now. this is the first namechange riot made that is good. cause we are finally not "eu lcs" anymore, we are the LEC.

Pika Fox6/1/2019, 5:20:15 PM1 votes

No company in the world is stupid enough to think this is a good idea, outside of law enforcement for private prisons where it doesnt matter because they carry the authority of the government.

FederationFurry6/5/2019, 4:41:12 PM1 votes

Look at the shill downvotes...

Telephone Booth6/6/2019, 2:11:16 AM1 votes

I beg to differ.. its made to be satisfying. Its satisfying to emote your opponent in a taunting manner. its satisfying to be able to banter with your opponent. Its satisfying to compliment your opponent's plays. Its satisfying to report some asshat telling people to kill themselves. Its satisfying to get a penta with Master Yi late game. Im sure its satisfying to delete people with assassins (something i havent felt as i suck with assassins). Its satisfying to open chests and sell shards for BE and fill your champ pool. Or just make shards permanent. Of course, its a two way street. When youre on the recieving end of a loss it isnt so fun, but when youre the one winning, its pretty damn satisfying. Seems natural.

The only reason I dont play this game much anymore, is because of the players themselves... not anything built into the game. Its the personalities of this younger demographic that make it unenjoyable for me. Though ofc adults can be just as unenjoyable to play with. But thats just personality shit. Me being an older player, I dont appreciate cringey meme trends and shit. The way people spell and the newer slang annoys me.

I will say invisibility enrages me. But its probably very satisfying to fuck people up with shaco. Ive seen plenty of pinkward (is that the fat shaco player?) videos and it looks fun as hell. Evelynn though, yikes... most anti-fun jungler to play against. Just oh you will NEVER see her coming unless you have a vis ward up in the right spot?