An Alternative to Solo queue: How ranked 5v5 can help with motivation and competition

The Ladder
League of Legends is in its core, a competitive game but it is also just a game; we are meant to have fun playing it. One of the most fun aspect of League of Legends is being able to play with your friends, remove that and you have a game which is missing one of its most fun elements. Some of our ranked game experiences can be frustrating and stressful due to outside forces we cannot control. We may get queued up with a player:

- Who does not have the intention of working with their teammates and wants to make the game unpleasant for everyone else
- Who bans a champion we had an intention of playing
- Who doesn’t work well with the team

Due to the nature of ranked games, many of us feel that we must win and we try our hardest to do so. This can create stress and tension when things do not go smoothly. In contrast to normal games, the mentality can be a bit apathetic; if we win we win, if we lose, we lose. This contrast can conflict with our intentions when we play a ranked game, we want to win but we also want to have fun and sometimes victory comes at a cost as we or our teammates can be uncooperative, negative, or offensive. 

Gaining experience
There is a lot that can be learned from playing team ranked games as you can use it as an environment for friendly criticism. Often times in normal games you and your friends will not comment on the others person play style or how they play the game, in a more competitive environment open to criticism, you or your teammates can contribute to what they think they other can do better.

A team has five members and all five members of your team will play certain roles and champions better than others. This allows for your teammates to define their role and champion pools. In a more relaxed environment, players can pick and choose whatever they want to play, regardless of how confident they are in that role or champion. In team ranked games there is a benefit of knowing who will play what role and what their champions are. This allows each player to define their place on the team and their role in the game. Being able to identify where you are most comfortable and what kind of role you enjoy the most is a valuable thing to learn as it can help propel your skill and knowledge once you have discovered it.

Champion pools are be further solidified as ranked team games promote learning champions that are almost always good or solid picks. Champions such as Orianna, Lee Sin, and Thresh are what can be considered solid picks as they have been played through all their stages of balance changes and metas.

Motivation
Ranked team games also help to cultivate motivation to be a better player. During some point in our time as League of Legends players we may lose motivation to get better, simply being satisfied or apathetic about where we are as players and how well we play the game. Being in a ranked team environment encourages players to get better while being amongst their teammates, this can allow for a more positive environment for growth as you are more likely to be praised for playing well rather than criticized for playing less than the level you expected to play at.

Motivation may even stem into playing ranked solo queue games during the time in which you are unable to assemble all your teammates. In ranked solo queue games you can take what you’ve learned in your ranked team games and put your skills on a pedestal, apply what you’ve learned both as a player and as a teammate, and learn to play with players who have differing playstyles.

Mentality
While team ranked games form a more competitive atmosphere we should look to keep tension low and enjoy the game with our teammates. Riot distributes rewards based on the number of games won and not the rank in which your team achieves. Teams should look to have fun and progress towards being the type of teammate they want to be.