I mean, you are definitionally correct. League players are the type of people to play League.
There are great ways to enjoy League without having to interact with League players. For one, there is the PVE digital card game Legends of Runeterra, which has a really satisfying RPG roguelike mode with long term progression. I have likely put over a hundred hours into this and spent zero dollars.
There’s also a new single player feature for Wild Rift which lets you fight AI opponents trained on player matches. You can edit the ranked skill level of the AI and pick/make them play any champion. There are dozens of hours of good times here alone. Again, completely funded by cosmetic purchases of other players and free to enjoy.
Personally, I think turning off chat and teaming up with players you got along with is more than enough to compensate for the “type of people” issue. Playing with pure randoms in any online game is not great for sanity. But lots of folks are looking to make friends and are good co-op partners if you’re willing to DM them.
The matchmaking dynamic has ruined a lot of games and LoL is no exception. I do think folks play up the bad vibes on LoL relative to everything from Overwatch to Valorant to fucking Roblox. If you’re not going into these games with a group of local friends, you’re either going to have a bad time or you’re going to be the bad time other people experience.
LoL has a peak daily player count north of 13M. Its one of the most played games in the world. There’s clearly a tolerance for intolerence in the setting - even an adoption of it, as younger players internalize the slurs as appropriate behavior. That’s why you see it everywhere. People with foul mouths aren’t attracted to LoL. The existing base (which was trained to be shit when they joined) degrades the newest members in turn.
You see the same in games like Roblox and Call of Duty. Without any meaningful admin or internal censorship, the bad actors run rampant and the new players are trained to accept (and then imitate) the miserable attitudes.
There’s definitely selection bias (LoL loses some number of players on its deplorable culture). But overall, they’ve been growing their userbase year over year. That’s a big reason they don’t seem to give a shit about their reputation. It doesn’t seem to cost them much.
Lots of social media and big market gaming has this problem of 4chan-ification. Costs way more to police than you can earn from policing, unless there’s state regulation (akin to the FCC) on what you’re distributing.
Roblox aside as I’ve never played it, I wouldn’t call any of these games ruined. These are all popular games with growing player bases and lots of folks enjoy them immensely.
It might just be my personal experience and social group, but I believe toxicity is lessening as more people become self-aware and intolerant towards it. The fact that there are more ways to block, silence, mute, and report now than in the 2010 era of gaming helps a lot too. I also notice that toxic people end up playing with other toxic people, and the rest of the game sorts around them to variable degrees of success. This is what the “honor” system mixed with player reports does in PC league for example.
In Wild Rift I encounter an inter or someone who lashes out in the pre-game lobby with a troll pick maybe 1/8 of my games on average? Can’t speak for the enemy team as all chat no longer exists. So if I have 5 members on my team, that’s 1/40 people who are jerks? That’s manageable imo, especially as the matchmaking system refunds you half the loss if throwing/leaving was detected, and you still have a good chance of winning despite them.
It’s also easier to organize a group of friends both in-client and through 3rd party sources like Discord and Steam than it was on Skype and Teamspeak back in the day.
you’re either going to have a bad time or you’re going to be the bad time other people experience.
To be fair this can be applied to any multiplayer vs game. Once youve removed your own bad time from the equation it’s a pretty fun competitive experience.
I mean, you are definitionally correct. League players are the type of people to play League.
There are great ways to enjoy League without having to interact with League players. For one, there is the PVE digital card game Legends of Runeterra, which has a really satisfying RPG roguelike mode with long term progression. I have likely put over a hundred hours into this and spent zero dollars.
There’s also a new single player feature for Wild Rift which lets you fight AI opponents trained on player matches. You can edit the ranked skill level of the AI and pick/make them play any champion. There are dozens of hours of good times here alone. Again, completely funded by cosmetic purchases of other players and free to enjoy.
Personally, I think turning off chat and teaming up with players you got along with is more than enough to compensate for the “type of people” issue. Playing with pure randoms in any online game is not great for sanity. But lots of folks are looking to make friends and are good co-op partners if you’re willing to DM them.
The matchmaking dynamic has ruined a lot of games and LoL is no exception. I do think folks play up the bad vibes on LoL relative to everything from Overwatch to Valorant to fucking Roblox. If you’re not going into these games with a group of local friends, you’re either going to have a bad time or you’re going to be the bad time other people experience.
Meh it’s not 2003, folks aren’t accepting of being called slurs for not winning a match, especially while ranked as a beginner.
LoL has a peak daily player count north of 13M. Its one of the most played games in the world. There’s clearly a tolerance for intolerence in the setting - even an adoption of it, as younger players internalize the slurs as appropriate behavior. That’s why you see it everywhere. People with foul mouths aren’t attracted to LoL. The existing base (which was trained to be shit when they joined) degrades the newest members in turn.
You see the same in games like Roblox and Call of Duty. Without any meaningful admin or internal censorship, the bad actors run rampant and the new players are trained to accept (and then imitate) the miserable attitudes.
Fairly put, but I was mostly addressing the “play up” line. It’s common, and those you.see complaining about it leave. I may have addressed it poorly.
There’s definitely selection bias (LoL loses some number of players on its deplorable culture). But overall, they’ve been growing their userbase year over year. That’s a big reason they don’t seem to give a shit about their reputation. It doesn’t seem to cost them much.
Lots of social media and big market gaming has this problem of 4chan-ification. Costs way more to police than you can earn from policing, unless there’s state regulation (akin to the FCC) on what you’re distributing.
Roblox aside as I’ve never played it, I wouldn’t call any of these games ruined. These are all popular games with growing player bases and lots of folks enjoy them immensely.
It might just be my personal experience and social group, but I believe toxicity is lessening as more people become self-aware and intolerant towards it. The fact that there are more ways to block, silence, mute, and report now than in the 2010 era of gaming helps a lot too. I also notice that toxic people end up playing with other toxic people, and the rest of the game sorts around them to variable degrees of success. This is what the “honor” system mixed with player reports does in PC league for example.
In Wild Rift I encounter an inter or someone who lashes out in the pre-game lobby with a troll pick maybe 1/8 of my games on average? Can’t speak for the enemy team as all chat no longer exists. So if I have 5 members on my team, that’s 1/40 people who are jerks? That’s manageable imo, especially as the matchmaking system refunds you half the loss if throwing/leaving was detected, and you still have a good chance of winning despite them.
It’s also easier to organize a group of friends both in-client and through 3rd party sources like Discord and Steam than it was on Skype and Teamspeak back in the day.
To be fair this can be applied to any multiplayer vs game. Once youve removed your own bad time from the equation it’s a pretty fun competitive experience.