Some online games have a very lovable community, one you can snuggle up with at night and feel great about being a part of. Others do not. League of Legends falls on the negative side of the spectrum. Overall, the League community is terrible. Sometimes the League community feels like a prison; one wrong move, no matter how small, and you’re going to get it.
Toxic Players
If you’ve never had a game of League of Legends where people aren’t tearing you apart for everything little thing you’ve done wrong, then you’re a lucky person. League players tend to be jerks, for lack of not being able to use a stronger term.
If you are not up to their standards, they will let you know, and they will not do it nicely. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to the game or not. League players are notorious for not offering constructive criticism.
Average players don’t praise you for anything you’ve done well. Even if it is their fault, they will blame it on you. They will make you feel terrible about yourself and turn you off from the game.
If every single game was a competitive game with money or a reward centered around it, then I would understand being upset if someone wasn’t playing as well as they could be. However, most matches are not up to that level. They’re casual matches. Even in a ranked match, though, you have to question the legitimacy of yelling at another player because they’re not doing very well.
If you do well in that match you have a chance at being moved out of Bronze, or Silver, or whatever rank you happen to be situated in, but it’s still just a game. Besides some crappy in-game rewards, you’re not getting anything. There’s no money involved. There’s no trophy involved. You are not gaining anything from winning that match other than a better status in an online game.
Plus, I can guarantee you that yelling at that one player is not going to make him/her better and is not going to help you win. Too bad most of the League community doesn’t grasp this. Even a few angry players just suck the fun out of the game for everyone else, but there are more than a few. At the end of the day, it is a game, and it is meant to be fun.
In fact, the toxic community of League of Legends is so bad, there’s a rap about it. No, I’m not joking. Though I can’t include the video of the rap itself, or a video demonstrating just how toxic the players can be because of the amount of cursing involved – if you’re interested in finding out for yourself, just play a game of League on your own, or type in “toxic players league of legends” on YouTube.
Losing Friends
I’ve seen a lot of friends play League, and they get into fights over everything and anything. If you don’t have a correct build, they will let you know. If you don’t use an attack at the right time or dodge at the right time, they will yell at you. If you’re not good enough at being a Support, they will yell at you. It’s the toxicity of the normal players, but with people who you are supposed to like.
I had a friend one time who was so serious about League of Legends, that when he tried to get a new friend of his into it, he would complain about every little thing this kid did wrong.
They weren’t playing in ranked. The match wasn’t based around money or any set of reward. My friend wasn’t even offering any constructive criticism.
He was just yelling and making the new kid feel horrible about himself. It’s safe to say their friendship didn’t last very long. This is not a one-time occurrence either. Someone on the League of Legends forum posted a similar experience. It’s a little heartbreaking.
Gaming is meant to bring people together, to encourage people to be friends and be social. I’ve made a decent number of friends through gaming and some people even meet their significant others in gaming. Gaming is not supposed to be people hating each other for every little thing; it’s meant to bring people closer together.
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Final thoughts
Admittedly, League of Legends has a neat concept and many redeeming qualities. If it weren’t for these glaringly obvious faults, I would definitely play it every once and a while. I just don’t want to waste my time with mostly horrible people who think they’re always right. I want a game I can have fun with, with people who are supporting.
Keep in mind that this is my opinion and is based off my experience with League of Legends. You could have played 100 games and not have had anyone say a single bad thing to you the entire time. I just didn’t have that experience, and many other people haven’t had such a lucky experience either.
