The Rage of Legends

There comes a point in most online gamers' lives where any semblance of being a normal, sane human being tends to fall apart and die at their feet when presented with a perfect storm of worst case scenarios. Generally, you're losing so hard and fast that your feeble attempts at making coordinated decisions and actions are like throwing a dry sponge at the giant rampaging bull currently destroying your bathroom.

Worst of all is that each repeated failure takes a toll on your personal psyche as the realization that you are the worst gamer to ever participate in any sort of “competitive gaming” environment. I think most players (at least, those without ego issues) can mentally realize they suck at this thing that is supposed to give them pleasure. Games tend to bite the hands that feed them, but we put up with it for the love of the game. For the hope of improving, and the potential to actual get better and feel that sense of accomplishment.

And then there is that small percentage of every game's population who, through some means likely dealing with experimental brain surgery or gamma radiation, have come to the conclusion that they are literally the Gaming God's gift to all mankind. There is no wrong that can be committed by these upstanding individuals, and any act perceived as a misplay by their teammates was, in fact, an uncontrollable act from the universe which was entirely not their fault. Their missed abilities were merely coincidental technical problems never before seen and never seen again (read: lag), their deaths simply an act of chance the Gaming God cast against them (read: luck), and their losing streaks caused by scum not worthy to be in their presence (read: noobs).

For humility, a skill the rest of us normal, hideous chuds are cursed with, is not an option for these gaming messiahs. While their “occasional” slip up is due to happenstance and fate, the average player's every move is somehow a slight against them and their master race. And instead of silently judging the rest of the world, it is up to these masters of the keyboard-and-mouse to spew out the most vile, poorly-written hatred possible.

The assumed form of these mythical beasts.

Okay, so that was all a bit over-dramatic, but for good reason. They have cracked me; I've entered broken-camel-back territory here, and it's got me a bit uppity. I have to compare the common drudgey trolls of online gaming to some sort fantastical creature due to their illogical effect on my, and countless other's, enjoyment of playing games (specifically League of Legends) with other human beings. To think that some greasy fat slime of a person, lightly covered in a uniform layer of Dorito dust and sustaining themselves with an IV of Mountain Dew, has evolved into something that actually pisses me off to point of actually responding to them.

For it was never this bad before. While the self loathing for personal failure generally has stuck with me, people rarely instigated a serious response. PC Gaming has always been full of people with nothing better to do than ruin fun and start problems. It's scientific fact that every Counter Strike server around 2004 had some guy raging about anything brought to his attention and constantly claiming to be in CAL-I (that's Cyber Athletic League for you youngin's). You had a laugh at their expense and kept playing, because at the end of the day, playing on a public server didn't hinge on anything actually related to a game.

Recent games have escalated the problem of aggression between players as they have actively escalated the stakes involved with every single game a person plays. To use the Counter Strike example, the most recent version (Counter Strike: Global Offensive) has a ranked matchmaking service similar to League of Legends. It essentially means nothing besides an arbitrary rating, yet the sudden escalation in risks and “rewards” creates an increased tension between players than generally ends in cries of “noob” and other expletives that Dignitas likely doesn't want me posting here.

While this mode is completely optional in Counter Strike, League of Legends is designed in a way that every single game, be it Challenger Rating Ranked or a simple Co-Op vs AI game, matters on some level to a player's overall future experience with the game. Some of these are the most minor elements of the game's design, yet a series of continual losses can take tolls on even the most level headed players.

The baseline contributor to a League of Legend's player anger levels is time. Taking advice from my robot pal, Cliche-o-Tron 5000, time is of the essence; no one wants to feel like they are wasting time. Unfortunately, League of Legends is designed so that games preoccupy a decent amount of time. The average Summoner's Rift game is around half an hour, with certain match-ups potentially lasting twice that amount. Losing a hard fought, hour long game is frustrating, and while some can appreciate a close match, this single loss can be enough to trigger aggression from certain players (and generally shows itself during the actual game).

If time is the first rung of the rage totem pole, money, or perceived currency, is the second. Cliché-o-Tron 5000 is reminding me to put “time is money” here; and while overstated, League of Legends actively works on this concept. Influence Points are the main currency of every player; most people don't have the kind of spare change to purchase every single champion and extra rune pages with actual money. Thus, they grind their way through hundreds of games to afford them. While it's nice that Riot Games allows players to purchase these champions essentially for free, Influence Points are designed to promote winning.

Sure, it sounds silly to criticize that. Why try if you're getting the reward for free? The issue is that the more time spent in a game, the greater the difference in reward between the winner and loser (not including the potential for missing a First Win of the Day bonus.) Frustration starts with the perception of wasted time, and then added to with the perception of missed opportunity. Since IP allows people to buy more champions and experience more of the game, losing out on IP adds the burden of more time spent and more perceived currency needed, which ultimately causes anger in the player.

Granted, this generally isn't enough to cause active aggression. The final ingredient for rage soup is pride. In League of Legends, part of this can be associated with losing and gaining Match-Making Rating, or MMR. This unseen number is the deciding factor on who you get queue'd with when entering the matchmaking system, and winning and losing silently affects your rating. While it's hard to actively be involved with how this rating actually works, even players unaware of it assume that matchmaking is part of the reason they are losing. Essentially, the question is “Why am I always matched with noobs/trolls/AFKs”, and the assumption that a random number generator has wicked intentions seems to be a common theme with the LoL community.

A player's pride is the biggest issue when dealing with the “burden of knowledge.” Employees at Riot Games generally use this term when describing a game mechanic which would harm a player that would naturally create an incorrect response from a player (IE a Teemo skin that makes him look like Heimerdinger). I feel that, in terms of talking about the general player base, that “burden of knowledge” more appropriately describes the fact that MOBA games in general offer an over-abundance of information to the players playing them.

Essentially, a MOBA player needs to actively learn the various skills, champions, items, positions, and strategies to be effective at playing the game. This player, by learning this information and gaining experience through gameplay, gains a fundamental knowledge of how the game works from different perspectives (IE how a Jungler works versus an AD Carry). In-game, the MOBA then constantly presents information, not only regarding the player, but every single other person currently playing. At any time, you know exactly how your teammates are playing, what items they are building, their position, etc. All of this information is presented to you in the same manner that you are currently participating in; basically, the way a teammate's champion looks and moves in game is instantly recognizable to you because it's mimicking both how you are currently playing and your knowledge of how the game works.

What this means is that any mistake a player makes is instantaneously apparent to everyone currently playing the game. It's not like a FPS, where a teammate missing a shot isn't as recognizable; since our perspectives vary, mistakes don't register in a similar manner. Mistakes thus become a bigger point of contention in MOBAs because any witnessed mistake can trigger a response, essentially “I know how I could have done that better.” A mistake attacks a players pride, because the “burden of knowledge” lets us know that, had we complete control, any mistakes could be avoided. Since success relies on the coordination of the entire team, a weak member instantly becomes a point of frustration.

Any of this is possible in the simplest of normals games, let alone ranked. The concept of competitive ranked play adds another layer potential problems, which is why aggression is much more common in those queues. Unlike Counter Strike, where the ranked queue is essentially there for bragging rights, League of Legend's ranked queues have various expectations surrounding them. Things like end of season exclusive rewards and the horror stories of being stuck in “ELO Hell” have always driven players to go to emotional extremes when participating in ranked games.

While the discussion of ELO versus “Leagues” is something requiring another post entirely, the League System seems to have created a misplaced emphasis on Promotion Series games, while regular ladder games feel less important. This is even more frustrating for players with high LP gains and low LP losses (for example, I was gaining 30 and losing 10 at one point), as one win into a new division would make up for two losses afterwards, which, in the current system, would cause a failure to move up the ladder. This further builds onto a player's sense of wasting time and their jaded ego, and, in my experience, seems to be doing more harm than good.

And as all of this weighs on the backs of every single player playing League of Legends, it slowly builds up over time. A little bit of rage here and there over time can turn into a huge chip on someone's shoulder, and all it takes is one person to break the camel's back, a single catalyst to set off the raging nuclear warhead of pent up aggression.

For this is always my catalyst in League of Legends. That one guy. That one, compassion free individual who instigates an argument after first blood, or a lost dragon, or an ace. As an aside, I've been surprised I haven't gotten a warning from Riot or the Tribunal yet. I make a point to never call people out, yet when someone doesn't pay me the same courtesy, the gloves come off. The fact that someone, 98% of the time a teammate, would take time to fling a hateful blame-filled response at me triggers a very angry side of me. And the angry side of me, with his burden of knowledge, tends to pay attention to every mistake the instigator has made, and proceeds to explain, in detail, why that person failed. It never gets anywhere, yet irrationally I keep doing it in the hope that I make a point that calling people out never gets anywhere.

And that's the issue: online gaming is never going to be rid of the instigator, the troll, and the rage master. While Riot can attempt to implement systems that try to lessen the amount of “toxic players” in their game, they are never going to make consistent progress if their game actively creates tension for the player base. By adjusting the game systems to be more lenient towards losers, players are less likely to respond to tense situations negatively and actively engage those who do. Simple ways to adjust this include offering better IP gains for losing longer matches (since 50+ minute matches are generally decided by a single fight), calibrating LP gains/losses outside of placement matches to better accommodate losing streaks, and even offering faster-paced ranked queues to alleviate the sense of wasting time (Solo queue ARAM/TT/Dominion).

If Riot works to create systems that don't actively cause aggressive behavior in their player base, they move closer to a system where toxicity is no longer expected and where anger isn't met with anger. If the implications of a troll's actions are easier to accept and deal with, the easier it becomes to create a community where aggression from the average player is uncommon, and truly toxic players are easier to weed out.

That's my hope, at least. That, eventually, the actions and words of the average player are not fueled by the weight of potential loss but by the state of current enjoyment; simply put, that people try to actually have some fun. Until then, it's best to just take a moment each game to remember it's never a good idea to feed the trolls and listen to the messiahs.