An unpleasant experience on League of Legends
An entrant to the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), League of Legends, shares their disheartening experience of facing toxic behaviour within the first few games in the blind pick mode.
The Rising Tide of Toxicity
The Riot-developed game, despite having been around for more than a decade, has started witnessing a surge in toxicity amongst its player base in recent years. Given that the players have molded their understanding and expectations over the course of 14 years, things not proceeding as per their understanding tends to irritate them, thereby making the gaming environment somewhat unfriendly. Rising expectations of fellow players along with increased competitiveness encouraged by Riot, further escalates this toxic environment.
Impact on Newbies
As a result, many newbies find the terrain hard to navigate and the toxic community becomes a significant deterrent for them. A recent case in point is a novice who shared their negative experience of learning the MOBA game. The new player faced a surge of toxicity as they were picking up the game in the non-ranked blind pick mode.
A Personal Story
A novice League player identifies as 'Kasiskas', who hardly played four blind pick games before jumping into the main arena, shares her unfortunate experience. During their third blind pick game, they were unaware of the rules about assisting their jungler with the first buff and accidentally ended up killing the buff. This unintended act of theirs, although led to victory, did annoy their jungler. The aftereffects of this misunderstanding resulted in this player doubting her ability to continue the game and she felt that League may not be the right game for her.
She shared her feelings saying, 'I don’t think League is for me, which makes me so sad but I’m just too sensitive and I’m terrified of making mistakes. I really loved playing with my boyfriend in Wild Rift while I didn’t have proper League, and seeing him so happy that he can share his interest with me. But after every time someone flames me, I end up crying after the game. League is mean; it wasn’t even ranked'.
Community Support
Following her sad encounter, users from the community poured in helpful advice and tools for the troubled player to improve her gaming experience. Suggestions like being part of friendly gaming communities, muting toxic players and treating the whole experience like a game with bots were offered.
Efforts to Reduce Toxicity
Riot has been making efforts to reduce toxicity in League, however, this incident makes it evident that there still exists room for improvement in creating a friendly gaming environment for all.