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

Cookeyjar·4/25/2015, 4:49:47 AM·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

redniwediS4/25/2015, 3:56:12 PM8 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 Nami4/25/2015, 5:03:03 AM5 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.

Angry Monster4/25/2015, 4:55:17 AM4 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.

KevGatz4/25/2015, 8:03:39 AM4 votes

this may help you a little.

https://youtu.be/ssUKlkgzMBU

LegendaryLemur4/25/2015, 5:23:19 AM3 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.

LegendaryLemur4/26/2015, 1:05:31 AM2 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!

Taryn4/25/2015, 6:44:10 PM2 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! ~

Cookeyjar4/25/2015, 11:09:10 PM2 votes

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

Jungle Lux God4/26/2015, 5:48:11 AM2 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.

Syndrarella6/20/2015, 2:37:13 AM1 votes

[deleted]

BLU Medic4/27/2015, 8:52:18 AM1 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.

Trylobyte4/28/2015, 3:35:58 PM1 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 Prideful6/20/2015, 2:21:00 AM1 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.

Rhlax4/26/2015, 1:32:09 AM1 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.