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Why are players toxic in League of Legends? EXPLAINED.

Mute Button X 4·2/9/2016, 11:24:25 AM·10 votes·2,101 views

The common question, and reason Riot feels they must hire Psychologists to help define, explain and attempt to find solutions for the common issue; why are League players toxic?

The reason is simple. Anyone with a brain that thinks and simple social skills can understand this. I will list 3 different types of physical responses players give when exhibiting toxic behavior.

But first, it has been beaten like a dead horse, but i will explain why people become toxic(for the sake of anyone who doesn't already know). It is this; YOU didn't do what I wanted you to do, and now i risk losing LP for it. Now i am justified to treat you like an insect for 45 minutes, because face it, i don't know you and i'll never meet you in real life. You are lesser to me than an insect, because an insect bite can itch for an hour - i only have to endure your suffering for 45 minutes before i forget about it and move on with life. People do not understand they are playing with real people, because they do not appeal to the senses - you can't see your allies, you cannot hear them, to you, they are just like playing with bots that don't always do what you want them to.

I can get over this, because i have a mute button.

But even when muted, there are still things to worry about.

Toxic player A is the passive-toxic player. Shen calls you a homosexual for missing creeps, he tell you that your mother is a whore because you went BT instead of BotRK on a specific AD carry... Whatever the reason, he spams chat. However, if i'm in a sticky situation, he still puts Final Stand on me, Taunts in and helps me get the kill when i need him. You can mute this player and tell no difference whatsoever inside the physical game itself. A beautiful thing. However; Toxic person A can very quickly turn into Toxic person B.

Toxic player B shows physical hatred inside the playstyle itself. Shen may ult you in a unforgiving situation, but will not Taunt in on the enemies in hopes you will turn also and get the kill. He will not put faith in you. Honestly, you don't understand simple mechanics like last hitting or item builds, why would he put his life on the line for you? The problem is he will tend more to assist other allies than you - and while that honestly may be the best option, it is good to keep an open mindset and understand you're trying your best.

Toxic player B is the worst, i would not call it rare. But slightly uncommon (i've played anywhere from Bronze to Gold, so i'm referring to this elo. Diamond and Plat, i cannot speak for). They begin a personal hatred and spends more time typing than actually playing the game. When you need him most, the Shen watches you die, spams laugh and says in chat 'Didn't feel like wasting my ult'. In a situation where you easily could have been saved by his aid. At this point the players are separated, and no longer are a team but are fighting their own enemies. Kind of like real life, where we pretend we are all here to help eachother and work as a team, but whenever you get off work, everyone is gossiping about you. Usually you only see Toxic player B's when you rage back at them. If your Jungler tells you, 'AD carry plz stop feeding'. And you repond, 'Why? You don't know how to gank a lane' - then why would the situation possibly get any better?

My advice to anyone who is struggling with toxic players - it sucks to have to mute people. But that is the solution. Think of this - how often have you said something in chat, or someone else said something, that was helpful - knowledge you would not have otherwise learned from Google or Youtube? Everything there is to learn about the game is on the web. I would say 95-99% of the time when a player makes a comment in-game, it's either a form of 'gj' awarding a player, a 'we got this' trying to boost player moral, or 'plz stop feeding', 'gank plz', why did you build 'insert item name here', 'why did you feed 'insert champion name here'. My point is, the nature of the game does not require typing. Pings are an amazing form of communication, and any information that could be given to an ally in chat could be given in a ping. MIA's, ganks, when to drag/baron, who is priority targets - they are all given with the help of pings.

The people that like to sit there and have off-topic conversations about music, movies, social media, i will not discuss. That is a ridiculous thing to talk about in the middle of a game of League. That is all.

The answer? Is your response to the behavior. Focus on the game. Not the forsaken chatbox.

20 Comments

The Whamboozler2/9/2016, 11:49:40 AM5 votes

You forgot Toxic player C... who decides he's going to make a point somehow by sitting in base for 10 minutes or by walking down mid and feeding because you told him to shut up when he flamed you for the first 10 minutes of the game. He doesn't just not help you... he helps the ENEMY.

HoukagoFapTime2/9/2016, 11:47:35 AM4 votes

League matches take time and not all of us have a lot of free time like most LoL players since they're still in school or they simply do nothing in their life.

And i don't want to waste 30 or 40 minutes of my life just because some random guy decides to troll, to leave, or has no freaking idea of what the hell he's doing. That's where i start to get really annoyed, because i play 1 or 2 matches per day and i don't want them ruined.

CerebralKnight2/10/2016, 6:43:00 PM3 votes

I agree with this so much! Another thing to add to it though it is self perpetuating too, a person comes in to a game excited to play, gets trolled ignores it moves on plays another gets trolled again. I don't man feeders or players having a bad game I man people rage quitting, intent feeding players lanes they are upset with for some random reason. This leads the trolled person to likely tilt and cause a loss to another team next game because he is tilted. This goes back to what you said as well.

l MinimumWage l2/9/2016, 12:04:15 PM2 votes

In my plat games, people hardly speak. No 'gj' because it's understood when we do something good. No flame because it's understood mistakes happen and something you tried didn't work. There is just game, focus on it and get better. Be preoccupied with chat and lose.

I've now kept all-chat disabled because that gets rid of half the problem right off the bat since there's no reason to chat with the other team. Mute the person acting like a douche, and the game becomes a lot less frustrating this way.

If you have a troll/feeder, there's nothing you can say or do that's going to change them. Focus on your lane, how you faired and where you can make adjustments and improvements, cause the next game you'll play with people who are also looking to get better.

MidoriBlade202/9/2016, 12:19:42 PM2 votes

What about toxic players with superiority / God complex? You know the kind I'm talking about. When you try to help that person who's having trouble controlling the lane. You try to gank the enemy but you get counted / outplayed and then that person be like " Never. Come. Into. My. Lane. Again. EVER!" Then you feel like dirt because all you just wanted to do was to help that person because if you didn't, chances are the champ that was having trouble controlling the lane would burn you for not ganking. Those are worst kinds summoner I get stuck with in uncommon occasions. And they always act like they know more than you. Sometimes that could be the case, but you don't need to damn the person who has good intentions and / or just trying to help out.

Edit: So many typos, so little time. :P

Mastadon2/10/2016, 5:37:34 AM2 votes

I like your take on toxicity. I posted last night suggesting a new system to try to get this toxicity out of ranked matches. It's titled "Thoughts on New Ranked System."