PSA : BUILDING A BETTER COMMUNITY

PSA : BUILDING A BETTER COMMUNITY

Introduction

Greetings Summoners, Rioters, ladies and gentlemen, parents and children, pro gamers and avid League enthusiasts. I hope you are all in good health and spirits. I have put together this thread as a way to inspire you, the community to work together to build a better community. A community aimed at building each other up instead of tearing each other down.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Our community, especially of late. Is surrounded or to put it in a better term, infested with a group of individuals who I call the Toxies. These Toxies include the trolls, the afks, the bms and just the poor mannered players in general. These are the players that bring down the image of League of Legends and eSports. These are the players that are giving a bad name for the good players. These are the players who bring down the overall League of Legends community. Therefore, I am writing this thread to remind the League of Legends community, as a whole that everyone here is an individual and everyone here just wants to have a good time. So let’s get into it.

You’re playing with other people

I think one of the biggest downfalls to the internet and League of Legends is the anonymity that comes with it. I’m sure a lot of these players who treat the rest of the community like trash would never in their right mind dare to act in the same manner if they were face to face in the flesh. Every individual, including myself feels a level of power and a level of security knowing they’re behind a computer screen and keyboard.

I remind you that in every game you play real people are sitting behind the other 9 champions. Real people who can also see and read everything you right. Real people with real feelings that don’t need abuse from someone behind a computer. We all have enough stress in our lives without the need for some immature person taking the mickey out of them all because they’re playing bad or because you simply are in a bad mood. We don’t need it. It’s unnecessary and uncalled for.

Everyone has a bad game

This is something I feel needs to be pointed out a lot more. Everybody, and I mean everybody has a bad game. Or hey, even a bad day. A friend of mine who is also a Rioter on the Oceanic server recently tilted very hard and dropped from Diamond to Platinum. But instead of raging at everybody around him and beating the shit out of his computer he assessed all of his gameplay and wrote a thread with comments about every game that lead to his fall to Plat. Instead of saying, oh shit, everyone around me is garbage, he instead turned on himself and looked for areas in which he was doing poorly and looked for areas where he could improve or work on to get back into Diamond.

No one is perfect. That’s what makes us human. We can’t all go 20/0 in every single game. This is also why you should never use a previous game as leverage for having a certain position or champion in the next game. The results of your previous game will have absolutely no impact on your next game. So if you go 20/0 on Udyr last game, that doesn’t mean you’re going to do the same this game. So don’t use your last game as leverage for this game. This also goes the other way. Players who look up summoners match history during the lobby should stop. Like above, the game before has no impact on the game now. If a player has a really bad score in their last game, it does not mean they will play just as bad this game. Everybody has a bad game. Maybe that was it.

Constructive Criticism

When someone makes a mistake in game. Don’t be all “fk you, you’re shit, wish you had cancer”. This isn’t going to help them and it certainly isn’t going to help you. In fact, it’s probably just going to make matters worse. Instead of being negative about every mistake I suggest giving constructive criticism. Give them advice. Say something like “don’t worry about it. Just avoid doing it again” and from here give them some advice as to how to avoid doing it again. Help a player out. Help a human being out. This is a team game. Work as a team not as a group of individuals who got stuck on a group assignment and doesn’t want to talk to anyone.

I now bring you back to something I said earlier, “wish you had cancer”. Let’s not throw around insults that use real life circumstances that are extremely serious. No one should be joking about cancer or any other illness. No one should be insulting anyone else’s parents or siblings. No one should be insulting each other in general. It’s an unnecessary part of the game that has become very regular and I say it needs to stop.

Praise

When someone makes a good play, commend them for it. As silly as this may sound. Praising another player when they do something good serves as positive motivation. When praising a player on something good they’ve done, it will motivate them to continue playing well if not better. On the other hand using negative motivation such as the previous insults mentioned will have a reverse effect. No ones going to play any better if you threaten their mother. Chances are they’ll just play worse or even AFK because they’re sick of the way you’re treating them.

Take ownership of mistakes

If you make a mistake don’t blame it on something like lag or the enemy has a cheap champion. First. They have every right to pick their champion the same as you have the right to pick yours. Secondly. Everyone needs to just take ownership of their mistakes. I often just say “my bad” or “mb”. In the ideal situation your teammates will accept that you made a mistake and that you will try your best to make up for it and avoid doing it in the future. Similar to above. They may even give you advice to improve.

Don’t retaliate

When someone does begin trolling, bad mouthing and feeding do not respond in any kind. Even if you’re simply saying “stop” don’t. If someone is trolling they’re usually after a response by you as it gives them a rush. Trolling you to them is like a thief stealing a bottle of Vodka. They get a rush out of accomplishing their goal. In this case their goal is to annoy you. So if you even respond with stop they’ll no it annoys you and will only encourage them to continue if not raise their level of trolling.

If you do find yourself with a troll in game. Don’t respond and simply ignore them all together. Focus on your own gameplay. You won’t play any better if you’re attention is taken up by someone not positively contributing to your game. Focus on yourself and the players that are actually trying to win. Focus on the positives not the negatives.

Aim to have a good game

Legitimately aim to have a good game. I’m sure you all know what I mean. Those players that say “have a good game” simply for the sake of saying it. Actually try having a good game. This means putting your all, not necessarily 100% serious but 100% enjoyment into the game. Enjoyment by playing well. This includes praising players for good plays, even if it’s the enemy. My favourite games are the games where everyone is giving it their all and even though it’s taken up to an hour to finish. The game was really close and could have gone either way.

TLDR : Just be nice and be supportive

If you don’t feel like reading everything above then just read this. Don’t be rude to one another. There’s 9 other people behind those champions. Be nice. Be encouraging. Be supportive. Help each other to help yourself.

I wish you all the best of luck. I hope you will all take in this thread and work together to build a better community. A community that supports one another.