Since the dawn of time, toxic behavior has been common in online games, and just as other games, the League of Legends community is no exception to this. Having a toxic community in each of their games is something Riot Games has struggled with, besides the League of Legends toxic community, other games such as Valorant have a toxic community of its own. In this section we’re going to analize what causes this bad behavior when playing League of Legends and how it ended up being the toxic community it is nowadays.
What makes League of Legends so toxic?
The answer to this question relies on multiple factors, the first being the fact that this is an online game where you have to face an enemy team, therefore, it has a highly competitive factor whose popularity has grown worldwide, as other games have as well. This online game is filled with toxic players who, are aware of this problem, and who ironically are still part of it, which is why you might often hear people who play League of Legends say things like: “This is the most toxic game”, “It has the most toxic community”, or “It’s filled with toxic players”.
Highly competitive games can result in a toxic community
When you and your teammates face an enemy team that’s better than you are in an online game, it’s easy to get mad, hopeless, and frustrated. These are the ingredients with which a game creates a toxic player. Now, to this recipe, add ranked games, a system to classify and determine who is the best of the best, who isn’t, and there you have it, you have the potential to become the most toxic community.
Ranked Games in League of Legends are a huge deal, because it puts to test players skills, but because this is a team game, you can’t only rely on your skills to win, but in your teammates as well, and if the enemy team is more coordinated, have voice chat communication, etc, you might end up losing unless your a genius playing League.
Trolls, the spark to any toxic behavior
You can win normal games or ranked games if you play with friends, but what if a teammate is there to actually make you lose? Trolls are another reason for League to have a toxic community. It is understandable for a player to develop a toxic behavior due to trolls in an important match, such as playing ranked, but it should never be an excuse for still having a toxic behavior during ranked games or any type of games.
Of course it is unfair and painful to watch the enemy team get fed during ranked games just because you have a troll among your teammates. It is also worth mentioning that for League of Legends players, “trolling” is a form of toxicity, and these toxic people are everywhere and in every online game.
Not knowing when to stop when you’re “tilted”
It might be the most toxic community, but this is only because the player base don’t know when to stop once they’re tilted, in this state anyone will be caught playing badly, and not recognizing their own mistakes against the enemy team. Being tilted and not knowing when to stop can be your ruin if you play ranked like this, since your skill level might drop under this state.
Often, knowing when to stop it’s one of the things that differentiate a professional League of Legends player from the rest of the toxic community. The League of Legends community of toxic people is known to make players feel bad, throw hate and toxicity, when sometimes they might be the ones playing badly.
Bad matching system from Riot Games?
Riot Games has a matching system that can affect players from the whole world, which can result in you encountering “bad players” or “better players” in a match according to your rank. In a team game like this, you can find someone of way lower rank, maybe it is the enemy jungler, or your couple champions in the bot lane.
The matching system from Riot Games is sometimes why toxic people start flaming other players in solo queue, even before the game starts. In these occasions it’s unfair to throw hate and toxicity to new players and other players in general for their own “mistakes”.
How to avoid toxicity in League of Legends?
If you’re someone who loves League of Legends, are aware of the toxicity stemming in the LoL community, and want to avoid hate from other players, or the other team in general when playing, then the most simple solution is to mute the toxic player or players.
If the enemy jungler is writing nasty things, or your bot lane is being extra aggressive, then feel free to mute them to play this team game undisturbed. Also when trying a couple of champions that are new to you might encounter a toxic player who will try to make you feel bad, if you make mistakes with that new champion, in a moment during a match like this most people would answer any toxic player with more toxicity, but the idea is to understand this is game and not let people do you wrong.
Does League of Legends have the most toxic community in the world?
Although it may seem hard to believe, League of Legends does not have the most toxic community in the world. There are several other games whose player base is worse than League of Legends in toxicity, the other contestants for the title of the most toxic community in the world rely also on team game factor. Most people in these games make new players feel bad for just learning how to play the game, something that’s wrong on so many levels. Some of the games with the most toxic communities in 2021 were the following.
- Valorant
- Call of Duty
- DOTA 2
- CS2 (CSGO)
What is Riot Games doing to solve this toxicity issue?
After one game you can report players or a couple of champions who trolled during the match, but Riot Games just doesn’t pay attention to these reports, lately they decided to turn the chat off League of Legends to avoid toxicity between new players and old ones, but all the work turned out wrong for them, since the community came hard for them after implementing this. Right now, it’s all about hoping one day they will actually do something about it.
When it comes to League of Legends, for those who truly want to enjoy the game, it all comes down to developing the right mindset to understand that it’s just a game, and that there’s nothing much to do when you have a troll in your team, or you were paired with people who aren’t just as skillful as you are, just don’t become a toxic player.