Toxicity

toxic (adj.) - extremely harsh, malicious, or harmful

What does it say about the human race when you put a large sample of us behind a screen and in an intensely competitive environment, that it results in the League of Legends community. Personally, I think it speaks to our limitless flaws and a deep resistance to all things kindness. Well, maybe I'm confusing the latter with the time I tried to get girls. Either way, without being too cynical and grim, the world inside Summoner's Rift can be a nasty one full of racism, excessive forms of mockery and much more. The thing I care about however is why.

I'm pretty sure we've all been insecure at one point or another. Had a few bad breaks that lead us to lashing out at those we might not otherwise have lashed out at. Well this doesn't come close to explaining the culture that is in our little chat box in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. I get it, you've worked really hard to improve your mechanics on Vi. You spent countless nights in normal games trying to perfect your flash q in order to surprise a squishy. Finally, the night arrives where you feel ready to take her into your promos and carry your team to victory. But what happens? A mixture of nerves and adrenaline course through your veins ruining your one opportunity to kill the opposing team's fed Vayne. And to make matters worse, your Teemo has been on a long losing streak which, to his infinitesimally small ego, could never be his own fault. So he decides now is as good a time as ever, not to bring you up, but to kick you while you're down. 

"Thanks Vi, way to lose us the game." "GG, better jg wins." 

Being the responsible role model you are, you decide not to fight back but instead use logic and reasoning to explain why Teemo is wrong.

"Your mom."

And here you have it, the very definition of a toxic community. But don't take my word for it, hop into a game of League of Legends and try to go three whole games without being scrutinized for "the worst play anyone has ever made." Everyday. 365 days a year. Welcome to our community. 

I'm not gonna pretend like I'm above it. In fact, I believe there was a moment in high school (realize I'm not even THAT young at the time) where I was chat banned for over two months. I literally had to go 60 days without being able to say so much as good luck, have fun to my teammates at the beginning of the game. And you know what? I deserved every second of it. But I have since served my time, growing up (at least a little bit) to the extent where I'm able to recognize how angrily yelling at my teammates through a keyboard won't make me feel better and more importantly, won't help my team win. So how in the face of logic and sound rationale, do human beings still let their emotions get the best of them? Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers would argue it is deeply entrenched in a southern culture of Scotland, where those who succeeded were the same herders who killed anyone that tried to steal their livestock. In fact, this held up in a 1990s study conducted at a university, testing college students and their reactions to being bumped in a small corridor.  Students from southern states reacted to the insult with more aggression, hostility and anger then did those from northern states. 

So I guess the conclusion is... everyone who plays League of Legends is from the south? Of course not. Sure, I think Outliers explains some situations and at the end of the day its all a mix of many different factors (all of which we can't possibly ever fully understand in each unique situation). But if you ask me, I'd just tell you it is part of human nature to want to do the wrong thing. Its the same reason we like to eat food even though we're full or talk badly about someone who isn't even around to defend themselves. Its not funny or fun to tell someone they're having a rough go at it but that they will turn it around soon. Yet, you know what? It's downright rewarding. And when you come back from an open nexus to win your penultimate promotion game into gold, there's very little that can touch that feeling. Anyways, here's to a species wide character shift in the next year. 

🍻

As always see you later,

Billy Von Arx

UPDATE: I HIT PLAT 😅

more to come...