The most common toxic commentary in LoL starts with the rhetorical "Why?"

DarnedDragoon·Jul 26, 2017·4 votes·1,221 views

"Why?" An innocent question when asking someone for advice, but in League players tend to use it in the rhetorical sense in order to publicly shame another player.

It comes in many forms: "?" "Why?" "WHY?" "OMG WHY?" "Why did you. . ." flash/ult/back/go in "Why didn't you. . ." go in/back/buy that certain item Spamming of the "missing in action" ping over someones' character.

If you want to help lessen toxic behavior avoid the rhetorical "why?" questions in all its' variations. It's just a passive aggressive form of verbal abuse.

33 Comments

TrulyBlandJul 26, 20177 votes

Honestly, the best way to react to other peoples' mistakes is to apologize for them. Yes. Apologize for other people's mistakes.

"Sry, couldn't go in, my health was too low." "Sry, was omw but too slow." "Sry, I saw that coming, should've pinged you back."

Advantage #1: It essentially prevents them from blaming somebody else for their mistakes and starting a flame war (since you already admitted it was your mistake). Advantage #2: Knowing in their heart you took a fall for their stupidity kinda guilt-trips them into being more careful in the future.

Worst case it doesn't work... but it still has better odds than typing "WHY????"

For the advanced: When somebody already has blamed somebody else for their own mistakes, convince them it was really your fault. At worst it will confuse the hell out of everybody.

DarnedDragoonJul 26, 20171 votes

Haha that's really clever I might try that.

HalcyonDwellerJul 26, 20174 votes

My cousin does this in CS-GO, it's hilarious. People will get pissed at other people for picking up the gun they wanted and he will go, "oh, my bad dude. I'm sorry, I took it and I should have left it."

And they go, "bbbut no you didn't it was that other guy!"

And he just says, "Nope, it was me. I'm super sorry dude. Won't happen again."

And they just give up because they don't know how to react. XD

KVbqbFsC8eJul 26, 20176 votes

Thats quite ridiculous.

I wonder what the next random word that the community tries to be offended by will be.

Mizuki ZahraJul 26, 20173 votes

sigh

...

oh my favorite - welp

MrFeelg00dJul 26, 20173 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Big Piece,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=vl2vqjn4,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2017-07-26T19:52:13.630+0000)

Thats quite ridiculous.

I wonder what the next random word that the community tries to be offended by will be.

Lmao, right?

Like damn man, they're already trying to make League a 'safe space' for kids...online...which I'm convinced %100 is not even possible rofl

Beas7ieJul 26, 20173 votes

Sorry, but if I'm pinging to get back cause 2 of them are coming up, with 3 more somewhere in the jungle, and a teammate still foolishly gets caught and murdered, I reserve the right to ask them "Why?"

Because I really DO want to know WHY they suddenly abandoned all forms of awareness and common sense to go off into certain death and screwing over their team, forever keeping them in bronze just on a whim. What was so important over there that they had to do all that?

On top of that the answer must be at least 200 words long with ideas on how to prevent such situations in the future.

I think this is very reasonable.

DarnedDragoonJul 26, 20171 votes

If that is true, that you really want to know why then it is not rhetorical, but they cannot possibly know that you are asking a legitimate question.

Either way it's passive aggressive and expect to get some salt back at you.

Beas7ieJul 27, 20172 votes

{quoted}

If that is true, that you really want to know why then it is not rhetorical, but they cannot possibly know that you are asking a legitimate question.

Either way it's passive aggressive and expect to get some salt back at you.

Oh, they can send salt back if thats what it tanks for them to vent. I'll take the salt. Salt can be very valuable. In fact the word Salary comes from Salt and Salt was one of the main ways Roman Soldiers were paid back during the glory days of Rome.

The important thing is that they LEARN to have basic things like map awareness, and paying attention to what the team is doing. I'm sorry if someone feels bad for this, but if someone fails so bad to the point they did exactly what I said above, then I am going to ask them "Why?" and also give them a TskTskTsk as their foolishness just hurt the entire team.

DarnedDragoonAug 2, 20171 votes

Well apologizing when they take offense and then letting them vent might be more constructive. Otherwise it's likely they'll just keep going until they can no longer talk to you. Even if you don't mind it other players might.

What often happens is players start taking up sides which obviously just exacerbates the situation. Plus it fills up the chat logs and distracts players from playing the game. Ironically it's counterproductive in helping them "LEARN" map awareness.

Also by your statements in your second post ("The important thing is that they LEARN to have basic things like map awareness. . ." and ". . . then I am going to ask them "Why?" . . .") I suspect that your question was a rhetorical one despite what you claim. Humiliating someone by pointing out their faults through a rhetorical question for all to see doesn't help them "LEARN".

Beas7ieAug 2, 20173 votes

{quoted}

Well apologizing when they take offense and then letting them vent might be more constructive. Otherwise it's likely they'll just keep going until they can no longer talk to you. Even if you don't mind it other players might.

What often happens is players start taking up sides which obviously just exacerbates the situation. Plus it fills up the chat logs and distracts players from playing the game. Ironically it's counterproductive in helping them "LEARN" map awareness.

Also by your statements in your second post ("The important thing is that they LEARN to have basic things like map awareness. . ." and ". . . then I am going to ask them "Why?" . . .") I suspect that your question was a rhetorical one despite what you claim. Humiliating someone by pointing out their faults through a rhetorical question for all to see doesn't help them "LEARN".

No, when I ask "Why?" it's NOT rhetorical. I really want to know their thought process and help them if I can. I'm gonna give constructive criticism if a teammate fucks up. I'll try not to be an ass about it and just blindly rage, but if a teammate keeps blindly going into the enemy jungle, getting caught, and feeding, then I want to know what they're thinking, and hopefully break them of that. It's my Elo on the line and it's challenging enough to climb if your team is half decent. I don't need my team to be making bad plays and throws left and right.

Likewise, if someone sees me fuck up, then I would like them to help me improve. So long as they're not an ass about it.

DarnedDragoonAug 2, 20171 votes

You don't need to know what they were thinking. Obviously what they are doing is not working, but it's not constructive criticism if, for reasons stated above, you're publically asking them a "why" question during the middle of the match. How about you just make tactful suggestions and leave out the unnecessary "why?".

Beas7ieAug 2, 20172 votes

{quoted}

You don't need to know what they were thinking. Obviously what they are doing is not working, but it's not constructive criticism if, for reasons stated above, you're publically asking them a "why" question during the middle of the match. How about you just make tactful suggestions and leave out the unnecessary "why?".

Because my improvement advice is tailor made based on their thought processes, and to get the best chance for maximum improvement then I MUST know "why?". "Why did you dive when you had 30% and your teammates were all OOM or pinging danger?" "Were you hoping they would follow you?" "Were you trying to get the kill on your own while everyone else just gave moral support?(moral support/nakama power can be very useful)" "Were you trying to just bait them so they would come out and try and get you so the rest of us could jump on them, but that plan got countered because of a well played Shen ult/taunt combo right next to the turret?" This stuff is important for me to know due to my teaching style to help get MAXIMUM IMPROVEMENT! So I can help my teammates Go Beyond! PLUS ULTRA!

So, now good sir, I must respectfully ask you not to knock my teaching styles that I have had good results with just because they don't line up with YOUR styles.

DarnedDragoonAug 2, 20171 votes

You would do all of that in the middle of a game?

Also we're having a discussion so don't expect to let your "teaching styles" go without scrutiny.

Based on many years of playing LoL loaded questions like this: "Why did you dive when you had 30% and your teammates were all OOM or pinging danger?" rarely works to help someone improve. It certainly wouldn't help me. I would ask you to stop and if you don't I would report you for "verbal abuse". For others it's more than likely start a flame war.

Beas7ieAug 2, 20172 votes

{quoted}

You would do all of that in the middle of a game?

Also we're having a discussion so don't expect to let your "teaching styles" go without scrutiny.

Based on many years of playing LoL loaded questions like this: "Why did you dive when you had 30% and your teammates were all OOM or pinging danger?" rarely works to help someone improve. It certainly wouldn't help me. I would ask you to stop and if you don't I would report you for "verbal abuse". For others it's more than likely start a flame war.

Yes, I would, cause I'm in this to win and if my my temmates keep making the same mistakes over and over then the chance of my winning goes down drastically. You may scrutinize my teaching styles all you want. You may report me if you see me in game(I don't flame or outright insult anyone so those reports will come to nothing if the system is truly working as intended), but damn it my methods can be very effective!

60% of the time, my teaching works EVERY TIME!

DarnedDragoonAug 2, 20171 votes

Tilting your teammates doesn't help you win games. Also 67.566666% of all percentages are made up on the spot. It's easy to claim something that cannot be disproven, but even if it was 60% of the time that's a pretty low percentage of success. That means 40% of the time you're flaming/tilting someone and have nothing to show for it. Just to win a game that means nothing IRL. Are you trying to go pro? Have you never had a bad game yourself to which no amount of questions would have changed the outcome? If you haven't then you must be better than the pros, because even they have bad games.

Beas7ieAug 2, 20173 votes

{quoted}

Tilting your teammates doesn't help you win games. Also 67.566666% of all percentages are made up on the spot. It's easy to claim something that cannot be disproven, but even if it was 60% of the time that's a pretty low percentage of success. That means 40% of the time you're flaming/tilting someone and have nothing to show for it. Just to win a game that means nothing IRL. Are you trying to go pro? Have you never had a bad game yourself to which no amount of questions would have changed the outcome? If you haven't then you must be better than the pros, because even they have bad games.

Where did I say I was tilting anyone? I don't do that. If people fuck up and fail to see it I WILL point it out and give some helpful tips to improve. It's up to them whether to accept that advice or not.

And since you're asking.

YES! I AM trying to go Pro. My goal is to out enough advice to climb to Bronze 1 and create a team of all Bronze players called Team Bronzie. We will then show the world that even Bronzies can be uber pro LC$ material.

Thus there IS a lot on the line and these games mean a LOT irl. Now you can you let your teammates screw up left and right and be all like "there there, it's ok. It's only a game" and then if/when you have kids you can sign them up to those "Fun leagues" for sports that don't even keep score and everyone get's a trophy because "Everyone is a winner" and I'll send my kids to the REAL leagues where they DO keep score and learn things like competition and how winning feels good and losing feels bad and that there ARE winners in losers not only in sports, but irl as well and if they want to go to a good college they will have to compete and be the winners and after they graduate in order to get a good job to pay bills in order to not homeless living under freeway underpasses then THEY will HAVE to be winners, because last time I checked companies don't hand out "participation jobs" or pay "you tried paychecks".

No sireee sir mcsirsir I am in this to WIN and I want my teammates to want to win and learn from their mistakes and win some more as well or else we will have more people living under highway underpasses(and a few overpasses).

Also your statistics are incorrect. It's 68.56666666% of percentages that are made up on the spot.

So now I must ask you

Why? Why did you pull that percentage card without even properly researching your percentages? I ask this not to tilt or belittle, but to understand your thought process to design a custom course to help you truly improve and get better.

DarnedDragoonAug 3, 20171 votes

Well good luck with your winning strategy.

blackid101Aug 2, 20172 votes

Bro you must like losing based on what you say

DarnedDragoonAug 3, 20171 votes

Well I certainly don't get worked up about it. Of course not being toxic to your teammates doesn't mean you lose more. lol

blackid101Aug 3, 20171 votes

Because you enjoy losing,people with this mentality will go 0-10 and simply not give a fuck

DarnedDragoonAug 3, 20171 votes

No I just don't get worked up about it. Everyone loses, but if you have to flame someone every time you do then you shouldn't be playing the game.

HalcyonDwellerJul 26, 20172 votes

It's usually best to just focus on future stuff anyway. talking about the past is almost never going to be seen as anything except blaming.

easier to say, "Lets ward around Dragon next time before we start it so that we can see them coming." Just an example.

DarnedDragoonJul 26, 20171 votes

Yep, that's a perfect way to handle mistakes.

Mizuki ZahraJul 26, 20172 votes

I got 4 man ping spammed "?" for flashing randomly because my cat ran across my keyboard, they flamed me and threatened to report me for trolling....how is that trolling tho lol

DarnedDragoonAug 2, 20171 votes

Because all logic goes out the window when it comes to toxic LoL players.

Imperial PandaaJul 27, 20172 votes

There will be oversensitive people as well as desensitized people in the community.

Had a game the other day as Rammus jg and near the end of the game I pulled up the scoreboard and saw I had almost as much farm as the adc. I state my observation of the fact (didn't mean any harm and was new to the modified Rammus. Wasn't sure if normal) The Vayne immediately asked if I was flaming them. Simply said no just making an observation.

Some may claim I was being passive aggressive while I'll stand by the fact I was just stating an observation.

DarnedDragoonAug 2, 20171 votes

When everyone can see your CS and theirs then you're just stating the obvious. It was passive aggressive and unnecessary. Just like the rhetorical "why" is passive aggressive and unnecessary.

When you pointed out your own CS in comparison to theirs you were pointing out a fault in their gameplay in the most tactless of ways. Even if you meant no harm it just looks like you're rubbing it in their face. So naturally they got defensive.

You also have to think to yourself "is their gameplay a result of their inexperience or is it just that they are having a bad game?" That Rammus player might have had really good CS two games ago or he/she could be completely new to the champ. You also might of missed something while you were focused on your own play (which happens all of the time) that caused Rammus to be behind on CS. When you're playing the game it's very easy to miss the small details.

It's best not to criticize (even constructively) random players. As with the rhetorical "why" any kind of criticism is likely to start off a flame war. Keep the constructive criticisms for your friends or those who ask for your advice. Otherwise players might go looking for every little thing you do wrong and start stating their observations for the sheer intent of tilting you.

AdeBugAug 3, 20172 votes

Because it's not rhetorical, I really want to know why. If I wanna shame, trust me there are many ways. Maybe they saw something I didn't, maybe they had a plan and someone else failed to follow up. Maybe they lagged. Maybe cat jumped on their mouse. Maybe their mom screamed at them. Maybe their brain farted. I really, truly, desperately want to know. Cus if there's NO excuse then they were trolling/feeding. For the rest of the game I can stay away cus they will only bait me into bad fights. And I can report at the end of the game.

If you get tilted from a why, then that's your problem, and most likely anything tilts you and you should stay away from this game.

DarnedDragoonAug 3, 20171 votes

If they are trolling and feeding it's fairly obvious there's no need to ask "why?" questions. Asking "why" and them not answering is not a bases for claiming that someone is trolling. "[R]eally, truly, desperately" wanting to know is not the same as needing to know, which means the question doesn't need to be asked.

Those type of questions are just a distraction from gameplay. Trying to find out the reasons why someone died doesn't help with the gameplay and it often tends to tilt people. Besides, when someone dies a notification pops up in everyone's faces that says how they died. Knowing if the death was caused by the cat, mom, a brain fart, or just inexperience doesn't change the fact that person is dead.

People can simply lie about the reason they died. So an explanation is simply worthless except, of course, for the enemy team who can get ahead while the player is busy typing a lengthy defense. It happens all of the time.

If anything tilted me then I couldn't play this game. I don't get tilted from people asking loaded/rhetorical why questions I just tell them to stop and if they don't I report them. It's verbal abuse plain and simple as it doesn't contribute at all to gameplay while also highlighting a person's mistake. If you're not asking loaded or rhetorical questions you're one of the few, but in any case your "why" question will not contribute to the gameplay.

AdeBugAug 6, 20171 votes

a troll has to start somewhere, and i dont wanna wait for him to die 10 times to find out.

DarnedDragoonAug 9, 20171 votes

If a person is trolling you can't stop them. So there's no need to jump the gun and tilt someone who is legitimately having a bad game. Trolls get off on people responding to them, just ignore them and report them.

AdeBugAug 9, 20171 votes

did not get my point, sadly