Toxic Players: How I learned to stop being so mean and love others!

It's a household term among the LoL community, even Riot uses it (In fact, they brought it to light!). What does it mean you may ask? For some of us, a toxic player is everything that's wrong with LoL as we know it, but perhaps we're all too eager to be tossing the term around.

For one, it has to be realized that everyone has bad days and off games. That means everyone ever, sure some have them more so than others but by definition a toxic player is someone who is always mean and nasty. The phrase tends to be tossed at any player who is remotely negative regardless of any underlaying cicrumstances.

Diagnosis: Toxic?

Sometimes you just have to look and see what “ruined” that player. No one is toxic from the start. Well, a few are, but they tend to get weeded out of the game quite quickly. Many players seem to see criticism coming from someone else and immediately slap the “Toxic” label on their critic, either mentally or out loud in game even if the critic is trying to be constructive!

Now, none of this applies to those jerks out there who s definition of criticism is to hurl insults and profanity, no one likes them. But when you get upset with someone who's giving you constructive criticism and insult them, it just feeds into a more toxic atmosphere. The player you insulted may become more cynical, they may start acting out due to how they are treated. Granted it isn't just one players fault, but it's a scary trend among the community!

Opinioney bits!

A few good ways to help with the toxicity problem the way I see it. For starters, don't get so upset with legitimate constructive criticism. These players are trying to help you and don't deserve hate for that, make a mental note of what they're saying because sometimes an outside opinion is really quite helpful at improving your play!

When you encounter an actual toxic player, because oh boy do they exist, just mute 'em if you can't take it, or work on getting that thick skin that everyone on the internet should have. In the end, if you start insulting them back then you're just going to see yourself potentially turned into a monster. I've seen it before, hell I've had to stop playing with good friends because they get nasty. Don't let the league community fall to crap, take steps to keep our game clean!