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Possible to Retaliate without Punishment?

Arkain·7/21/2019, 7:57:08 PM·2 votes·4,625 views

Alright so I will get this out of the way so there is no misconception: I know I can be toxic and have been a toxic player before, however I have made great strides in improving and I believe i'm at a comfortable spot mentally in most games and have learned to use the mute option freely. What I'd like to know is, what are some ways to politely Retaliate to flame that will NOT flag the report system as toxic? I have some chat logs here from a previous ban I had and now i'm curious. I know the best answer will be to not respond, but often silence I've seen makes things worse because people will continuously flame you and even others will join in. The alternative is an ongoing argument - or the mute option. I've been trying to figure out "nice" middle ground responses for defending yourself that players normally react positively/neutrally to that could possibly improve gameplay rather than just muting and letting them have the run of it? For example, in this match I was being flamed for doing a bad job at adc. Looking back on it and watching the game/chat I believe I could have avoided this particular ban had I noted the issue quicker and been upfront/nice about it. My Nautilus kept roaming and I was getting dived on a bunch then flamed by allies for being bad. I believe had I asked for him to stay in lane nicely (earlier after the first dive) or if I just allowed our tower to fall without a fight, this could have been avoided? Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated!

Game 1 In-Game Arkain: gg kench gonna bench us Arkain: i died under tower Arkain: did you see where i was? Arkain: its a leona kaisa Arkain: you think they wont just dive me when you arent there and are roaming without mobis? Arkain: ... Arkain: hella troll support lmao Arkain: ... you backed IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT Arkain: nobody would think you'd actually do it. thats a baiting move Arkain: wtf Arkain: you didnt ping me away or anything Arkain: ? you're literally useless in lane Arkain: i might as well be 1v2 LOL Arkain: leona ults me and im dead Arkain: "adc gap" Arkain: kaisa getting hard carried by her leona and im stuck over here with this flaming toxic Arkain: welp idk about you guys but im hard reporting naut for the flame all game -.- Arkain: ? i didnt Arkain: he spammed pings on me when i died without him Arkain: Under tower btw Arkain: like idk what he wanted Arkain: i had no lane phase?? what lol Arkain: sigh Arkain: never said i was but its not entirely my fault Arkain: ?? i was sitting UNDER TOWER Arkain: what do you mean Arkain: OKAY i did!? Arkain: its almost like I DID lol Arkain: and thats why i have no cs Arkain: lmao ... lord im sooOO bad wow Arkain: love how its entirely my fault

(Again, I know that I was toxic and deserved this restriction (Calling him useless and a troll). Im just here for ALTERNATIVE ways to handle situations like this as they happen often.) Would these logs have been okay if I DIDNT attack him with those words?

6 Comments

Umbral Regent7/21/2019, 8:13:22 PM4 votes

In regards to the chat logs themselves, yeah - the insults and the like are certainly unnecessary, and things may have probably turned out better had you asked them to stick around in lane longer. There's not really much I can say on the logs, since you seem pretty readily aware of the problem and how you should approach similar-such events in the future.

That said; defending oneself without breaking the rules is generally pretty simple, and I'd say it can boil down to three different approaches.

  1. Deny the accusation and leave it. More often than not, the simplest and easiest way to deal with flaming and harassment is to simply say "no" and be done with it; whether it's someone trying to strongarm a role from you or accusing you of trolling/intentionally feeding/whatever else, sometimes the best way to deal with such behavior is to simply say "no", mute them, and continue playing as normal.

  2. Apologize - even if you may not really need to. It definitely sounds asinine, and a fair few people will probably never think to resort to something submissive, but ironically, carrying over this basic social trick from the animal kingdom can actually work. Meeting aggression with aggression will more often than not exacerbate the problem, but submitting to aggression and backing away from the fight (metaphorically speaking) is substantially more likely to turn out favorably; apologizing, even if you may not have actually made a mistake, can give the aggressor their false sense of dominance and give them reason to back off.

Sometimes, apologizing for something out of your control will work, too; you can't always account for what the enemy does, but you can certainly apologize for those blind spots to some effect.

  1. Redirect the aggression to a better end. This is definitely a tricky thing to pull off, but it is possible to turn a flamer's attention to a different target - particularly one on the enemy team. I've only really pulled it off maybe once, but getting your teammates to recognize a dangerous enemy player as a thorn in your side - and consequently, a thorn in everyone else's side - can divert the anger from you towards that enemy player, which may also well result in a tactical advantage from that player being focused in fights.

At the end of the day, though, these general methods are just tools, much like the mute feature - and, while each of them have the potential to work wonders, I'd still advocate for the use of the mute feature over them, since it's the most universally applicable way to deal with toxicity in the short-term.

GatekeeperTDS7/21/2019, 9:16:18 PM3 votes

Yes. Mute them.

It's the best retaliation for you and everyone else on your team who doesn't want to hear two people go at it. The best way to get back at an asshole is to ignore them. They crave attention. Don't give them attention!

Telephone Booth7/24/2019, 1:47:24 AM2 votes

Yeah if someone says youre bad just say "nah, im alright." (Youve successfully defended yourself by stating you are indeed not bad, but actually alrightat the game) Or "well we are in the same elo." (Implying thatif you are indeed bad, then the accuser is also bad). If they continue to flame you, just mute em and report em. Youve already stated your opinion counter to their's. No point of continuing if you both just disagree. You arent gonna change their minds with your words.

Sky Blue Bullet7/23/2019, 5:50:28 PM1 votes

I would argue that this isn't toxic behavior. It's really sad that this type of chat merits a restriction that requires months to undo. I wish they would put the entire chat in the logs if they give you a restriction for this. Argument is simple conversation and in a competitive setting is going to happen. Should be able to talk about the game without getting reported. Pathetic.