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Lvl. 30 still playing with bots....Is this normal?/Irrational fear?

Cookeyjar··12 votes·5,431 views

I am probably going to get a lot of troll answers and comments but....Heck, worth a shot!

I am a level 30, love this game (Although, haven't touched it for a good 5~9 weeks) and most of my games up until now have been Co-op Vs. AI. Now, before I get a swarm of comments telling me to go die, I gotta ask: Is this normal? Back when I started this game, I used to play bots a lot until I got to lvl. 30 and then I jumped into PvP, lost and won games and having fun. But, during this past weeks, I kinda developed a strange and crippling fear of playing PvP. And it is not because of the usual: "Bad Teammates" or "Toxic chat", (I developed immunity, took a looong time) but due to the fear of irrational self-incompetence? (or the My-team-is-going-to-lose-because-of-me syndrome???) Every time I quene up for up for a normal game, I start to tense up and my hands and feet goes cold and starts shaking and then I get extremely negative calling myself an idiot in chat over a mistake I make or develop thoughts that are completely irrational and start thinking that my teammate is going to lose because of me. I tried many ways to combat this and I even gave myself a long break from the game! And this is me coming back after many absence. So, I returned to my roots, currently playing bots. It's when I look at the word: "PvP" is making me nauseous. Trust me, the desire to play with others and have fun is still there, but I just can't bring myself to play PvP......I am trying to ask you guys for help....So.....Help?

I am still getting cold-footed even after I wrote this....Oh Jeez.

80 Comments

redniwediS8 votes

The biggest thing for you to realize is this:

League of Legends is a game.

Games are designed to be fun, either through creativity, cooperation, competition, or something else. If you play and have fun that is all that matters.

If you want to try the other, more competitive queues League has to offer try doing so with a group of people you enjoy talking to. Personally I never play anything but ARAM if I don't have a few friends on to queue with. Having others to talk to and laugh about bad plays with is the literal best thing you can do on any multiplayer game.

The biggest thing I can say here is don't let a game get you stressed. Unlike real life issues you can just walk away from a video game. You don't have to power through it with an iron will when the only thing on the line is a bit of entertainment. If you don't enjoy doing something on here just don't do it.

Deep Terror Nami5 votes

Play with friends, especially in modes that losing isn't a big deal such as ARAM or Dominion, and ease back into Normals through team builder before going into the considerably more stressful Ranked.

Cookeyjar1 votes

Still experiencing nervousness even with team builder, friends avoid this game like the plague. Yeah....I need some help

Deep Terror Nami2 votes

Send friend invites to people you enjoy a game with, or find some through the Team Recruitment board.

Cookeyjar1 votes

Thank you very much, I'll take that into consideration.

Jungle Lux God1 votes

I personally also found playing the other modes really good at easing someone into more PVP. For a while I played a lot of ARAM before I really started to play a lot of PVP Summoner's Rift, and since these games are more about fun and less about winning I'd say that their value in easing a player into playing more PVP is really great.

Angry Monster4 votes

sounds like you need help and a lot of it. You either have stress, anxiety or self confidence issues that you either need meds or help with.

Deep Terror Nami8 votes

You would have him seek help or meds because playing in a toxic and highly competitive environment is stressful? No. Just no. This is just performance anxiety, not some mental disorder.

Angry Monster3 votes

If he is freaking out in match making, yes.

He is not even in a game and having problems. I think he should look to a professional.

Deep Terror Nami5 votes

Uh, no again. It's perfectly normal to get anxiety before you even have to perform.

Angry Monster2 votes

not if its so bad you do not want to play in normal

Deep Terror Nami1 votes

[deleted]

Angry Monster2 votes

actually i dont. But i have a few family members that do suffer from stress that do have to take them. the first systom for my brother was that he could not sit down and down multi player games anymore. It was to over whelming. he literally started to hyperventilate from logging in, he was that worked up.

If the OP has a real medical problem, he should look for medical help. Maybe he only needs to talk through some problems cause something else in his life is happening and effecting is relaxing time. I do not know him or his situation. I will say his behavior does not sound normal at all.

I bet you also think stress, anxiety and depression are made up problems.

Deep Terror Nami5 votes

No I don't. I think too many people like you think everyone who is sad or angry needs pills and a shrink when they only need some friends and to take it easy. You are even so offended you feel you have to report, it's pathetic and proof that you are the one with an issue here.

You should try making friends with people instead of suggesting they go on pills and psychiatric help right off the bat. It's plain stupid.

Oh just want to point out

If the OP has a real medical problem, he should look for medical help

Obviously. Nobody is disagreeing with that. The problem is that you automatically assume that is the problem and are jumping the gun and suggesting something extreme that doesn't even make sense to do with the info given.

Angry Monster2 votes

He is asking random people advice on the forum. Not sure he is asking for friendship. I would even say this is an issue, asking random non qualified people something like this.

Also like you know the person, and are saying eh their is no problem. At least i am taking the high road here and saying check with a doc. All your saying is you will be fine dont worry about it.

Deep Terror Nami4 votes

Did not say he has no problem

Angry Monster2 votes

lol then why are you against advice saying to look into getting real help.

I am not telling him to do random drugs i am saying get a professional to talk to .

Deep Terror Nami4 votes

You either have stress, anxiety or self confidence issues that you either need meds

The first thing you said suggested he has a serious issue that needs meds or help. No hesitation, you immediately suggest it and declare he has a problem. Your advice is dangerous if he is susceptible to your suggestions yet doesn't have a real problem that warrants it. You are disgusting for trying to convince him of it.

Angry Monster2 votes

I did not say go pick up random pill or take X drug. Also you left out the rest of it where i said "or help"

In real life when people say you need help what do they mean? Answer is they mean from the correct person.

Deep Terror Nami5 votes

Don't care, you suggested seeking meds to a stranger with no medical insight which is potentially dangerous. You should be banned from the forums if you have a habit of this.

I left out the end because it in no way negated the rest of what you said...If someone said "go kill yourself and have a nice day", does the second part make the first better? No, it's irrelevant.

KevGatz4 votes

this may help you a little.

https://youtu.be/ssUKlkgzMBU

LegendaryLemur3 votes

There are a lot of people who just play bots. Some people will give you flack about it, but you should do what you enjoy.

I, like you, played mostly bots while leveling up, and struggled with pvp when i started. At some point i switched back to just playing bots. Eventually i got bored with bots and moved to aram and am just now (i started in season two) starting to play mostly team builder.

People are different. Don't feel bad about getting nervous, its a part of what makes you who you are. If you're like me you get nervous because you don't want to let people down, and that's a good thing. Eventually you'll proabably feel comfortable enough to move to pvp. If not that's okay too. Do what you feel like doing. That's my advice.

Cookeyjar1 votes

That's true, but I kinda miss the competitive aspect of the game if I play bots for too long.....But, I 100% understand what you are saying.

Cookeyjar1 votes

I am just writing this to say that I am re-adding you to my friend list, Must have accidentally erased it

Taryn2 votes

Hey dudes (or dudette) I totally understand where you're coming from! Story time from your good buddy Rose incoming;

So back in like 2012 when I first started playing, I was absolutely horrified of playing PvP (in any game, not just League). I was also scared that I would mess up, or just not be good enough and losses would always be blamed on me. So I only did bot games until I got to lvl 30. I was obviously still too anxious to try PvP (even more so now that I would be against other lvl 30s) so I just stuck with bot games until I had bought myself three full rune pages and basically had played an obscene amount of bot games. Eventually I ended up meeting some people through those bot games that ended up inviting me to normals, and I accepted. For a while I was still real nervous, after all facing real people is a totally different environment, but the friends I had made were really cool about it and it didn't take long for me to just get used to doing pvp.

Sure, it's still an intimidating environment sometimes, but it won't take long and you'll just forget that you're doing PvP and instead you'll just be playing a game. Especially if you're playing with friends.

I mean, I'm Bronze so I'm pretty much terrible, but I'm constantly playing games with my friends that are Golds and Diamonds and it's a blast. So find some friends and just enjoy yourself, I promise it'll get easier.

You got this! ~

Cookeyjar1 votes

Sorry for the late reply, thank you very much for the encouragement.

Taryn1 votes

Not a problem, PvP centric games are always intimidating so it's totally understandable. And if you ever want someone to play with (bot games or normals) don't be a stranger! I'll tag along if I'm free and we'll have a great time. :D

Cookeyjar1 votes

I sent a friend request,if you don't mind

Taryn1 votes

I believe I accepted it last night. I tend to only get online in the late evenings. :)

Cookeyjar2 votes

Thank you very much for the positive feedback! I'd like to befriend all of ya.

LegendaryLemur1 votes

I sent you a friend request. I was gonna see if you wanted to play a bot game. I just got out of teambuilder and my team kept harping on me cuz i couldn't land a hook as blitz and our bot lane was losing. They constantly bitching and moaning (okay i'm doing the same thing now, sorry). Fortunately we won the surrender vote (two of them) 2 to 3 and came back later to win the game. Then they all said they were gonna report me, lmao. Oh well. So yeah i'm gonna play some bots to cool off.

Sorry for the rant.

-LL

LegendaryLemur2 votes

Hey just thought i'd chime in again. I took a peek at your match history on your profile and i see all 10 games are with Ahri. I know one thing that really helped me improve my confidence was once i had a few games under my belt with every champ (except Yorick because he's never free).

One of my worst early pvp experiences was against malzahar who i had never seen in a game before. Needless to say he wrecked me because i just had no idea what to expect.

I don't know your situation but if you don't already i'd recommend playing a lot of different champions, it may help you gain confidence like it did for me.

Good luck!

Cookeyjar1 votes

Yeah....Ahri is the only champ (And Ziggs, but Ahri feels more comfortable to me) that I know how to play somewhat Adequately. I have other Champs I bought as well....Regrettably, they don't fit my playstyle well. (Due to lack of practice and the feel of the champ overall). I wish I could sell the champs I bought.

Jungle Lux God2 votes

I can also relate to this: I personally didn't really start to play normals until I was around level 22-23. Even worse was that I was literally just playing against the beginner bots, so I literally wasn't doing myself any favors myself. Like you, I also had a fear of self-incompetence before I started playing normals a lot more.

I then started to play more normals, but then I found that I would simply play way too carelessly and worrisome. Every time I tried to do something, I was thinking, "Can I actually do this?", and I wouldn't do anything because I wasn't sure it would work. I wasn't playing well at all, and I was considering going back to bot games too.

Then I played this one game on Master Yi. In this game I remember I called top lane, and our Shen didn't want to jungle, so I ended up going duo top with Shen against the enemy Yorick.

In this game, I was doing a lot of stuff I wasn't really doing before. I wasn't second-guessing myself. I wasn't asking if I should do something. I was just doing it. I was doing so much better by virtue of playing confidently in my abilities as a player instead of doubting myself and having second thoughts about everything I was doing.

I believe my team did lose that game, but I felt a lot better that I was doing better in this game by playing confidently instead of being overly cautious in my play, and it created a huge gap in my skill and enjoyment in the game.

The best thing I can say to you is to not focus on winning the game, as winning only matters when money is on the line. Have fun, and don't be afraid of doing something you aren't sure you can do. Don't be afraid that you are going to cause your team to lose, as the fear of losing isn't worth not having fun.

Rhlax1 votes

I'm level 30 with over 1k bots games. I find bots games more fun.

Every time I quene up for up for a normal game, I start to tense up and my hands and feet goes cold and starts shaking and then I get extremely negative calling myself an idiot in chat over a mistake I make or develop thoughts that are completely irrational and start thinking that my teammate is going to lose because of me.

I get the same thing sometimes when I play against people. Don't worry, its normal. It's the adrenaline rush.

You are probably a really nice person in real life, and cares about what others think.

Cookeyjar3 votes

Not to sound arrogant or anything, I am indeed that person. Albeit with a minor or mild case of performance anxiety

Rhlax1 votes

I am as well, haha.

Channel your inner Doublelift can help with your performance anxiety. ;)

Cookeyjar1 votes

I also sent a friend request if you don't mind.

Rhlax1 votes

Thanks. I will definitely add you when I play the game again.

BLU Medic1 votes

I've just been playing bots. I'm an awful player and many concepts of the game still elude me (last-hitting, jungling, where to ward, when to tower-dive, etc.) so I understand. Unfortunately, I still haven't entered PvP, apart from the occasional ARAM or featured game mode.

I just don't want to let my team down with my awfulness, which is impossible in Coop VS AI.

Cookeyjar1 votes

I sent a friend request if you don't mind

Trylobyte1 votes

Not entirely unusual - I'm a bit like that myself. I know a number of people who only play co-op (myself among them) simply because they want to play League without having to deal with the crap that comes with PvP. Either they don't want to deal with the anxiety and 'pressure' of PvP or they just hate the toxic PvP community and prefer the calmer, more serene co-op games where almost nobody rages because come on, it's bots. So sure, if you want to stick to bots, by all means. Most of us aren't going to judge you for it, and the ones that do are the reason some of us don't PvP anyway. :P

Pre-emptively: You can send a friend request if you like, I don't mind.

Truly Prideful1 votes

I know some people like that. Best thing you can do is team up with even just one friend in Skype or something. It gives you something else to focus on while you play rather than worrying about what a bunch of people think about your play. The best thing you can do is play some games of PvP, maybe ARAM or something where the setting is less serious. It'll get better over time. I had this problem a bit early on, you just have to power through. Finding a person or two to queue with would definitely make it MUCH easier for you.

Syndrarella1 votes

[deleted]

Cookeyjar1 votes

I am not being harassed, more like I can't bring myself to be positive and tell myself that it is just a game. This happens every time I play PvP and it is the only reason I stopped playing PvP because of my inability to carry out/perform my role as any laner. (Mostly mid) I always feel pressured to do better when I am playing a team based game because every seems to do so good at their roles and I feel like I am the odd one in my team. Whenever I lose a game or die a lot, I put a lot of blame onto myself and I always feel it's my fault when my team loses when in actuality, it's not actually my fault that they lost, it's just that the enemy team was better in terms of strategy and focusing on objectives.

But, then the anxiety swims around in my head and I keep blaming myself for losses. I ain't gonna say anything anymore.

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