The Terrors of Solo Queue

Loading Up the Game Client

It happens to all of us, we turn the PC on, wait for it to load, and then double click the League of Legends Client. After all the patches and the logging has gone through, we try out a Solo Queue. Sadly, not all the player base has a 24-hour available friend(s) that we can easily relly on in this adventure. Therefore, we have no other choice but to go out in the wild and try to win by “ourselves.” If Ranked is your favorite place to be, you already got the two roles that you feel comfortable playing. After the matchmaker finds your opponents (and most importantly, your temporal teammates), you’re good to go, and the game loads the Champion Selection Screen.

solo queue
Here We go Again

At the moment, you may find some “bad signs” when you finally see some written words over the chat log. Probably one of your teammates can only play one lane, but without luck, he appears in another role. No worries though, things like this happen all the time. Furthermore, even probably you have had this time of inconveniences, but you want to learn more about this game and continue. In contrast to your constructive thoughts, other people refuse to think that way.

As a result, they may try to bargain with other players to chance roles right there on the spot; if nothing goes in their way, they may leave the game without picking a Champion. Still, though, things may go worse than this.

In this article, we’ll discuss those “incongruent” players that want to see the Worl burn, and what you can do about it.

Playing for Fun

Always remember that League of Legends ins a video game, which is meant to give you some fun for a couple of hours. Therefore, it can be a great tool to reduce all the stress from work or school by giving you some good laughs in the middle of the match. Indeed, when you Solo Queue, you expect to continue practicing those amazing Champions that you own in your precious collection. Later on, in the middle of the match, you exchange some damaging skills with your enemies and try to show supremacy in your preferred lane, always hoping for the best. In the early game, you may lose some fights, but with a positive mentality; when you respawn, you go and try again.

Options
Who wouldn’t?

Later on, scores go high; gold turns into useful items that try to improve your Champion’s performance. Most noteworthy, objectives complete by killing huge monsters and destroying essential buildings. Above all, in around 30 minutes the flow of the match as already been set, you either belong to the winning team or the people that are struggling to survive. Whatever it is, you keep fighting until the one of the two Nexus finally blows up into pieces, and you receive the final announcement.

No matter the outcome, in the last match, you acquire more experience in the game and some conversations with new people near your Region. In the “all chat,” you congratulate everyone for their fantastic performance, leave the lobby, and you go Solo Queue all over again.

League of Legends is a Team Game

The last “ideal” scenario may look almost like a fantasy in League of Legends, especially in a previous couple of years. Sadly, this “darker” version of the game may still feel like this until it’s last remaining months. First of all, one of the main problems that seem to linger in every random match is due to the mixture between two different “player bases.” Indeed, due to the game’s longevity, you either are a real veteran player with a couple (or more) of years behind your shoulders; or a new player that still doesn’t know all the names of the Champions or their abilities.

team
Champions! Assemble!

Since the matchmaking algorithm does not that the players experience severely, instead relies more upon the Ranking number; sometimes things may look over complicated. As a result, you may see some players struggling in the first 10 minutes, dying all the time and without taking different approaches. Furthermore, by being a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), the performance of your teammates always affects you, indirectly. Indeed, if a player “feeds,” they will lack experience and gold to build items; while the “fed” enemy will have more levels than usual and almost a complete item set.

Things will go out of hand in the next couple of hours. Above all, your team will have to decide to continue and overcome the struggle or concede and move on to the next match.

Normal or Ranked

Depending on your type of Solo Queue that can either be a standard or ranked match, things may become more complicated than usual. First of all, with the Normal games, you play with your team as usual, but the lanes are always random, and you cannot see what the enemy picks. Therefore, there is a probability that both groups may have the same line-up, with the same Champions and Roles. In this possible “Mirror match” the best team (usually, not the best player), gets to destroy a Nexus, and earn a victory. Afterward, the winning/lose Result only is essential for quests, nothing else.

teammates
The Usual

On the other hand, losing in a Ranked Match is a lot more impactful. Therefore, every loss is always unfavorable for every player that wants to reach a higher rank placement. Furthermore, some players try to take League of Legends more seriously, which means that they’ll “Tryhard” as much as possible. Usually, these players tend to dominate only one role and a low Champion’s pool. As a result, they’ll continue doing the same things over and over again. Indeed, when their best champions become banned or “nerfed,” they’ll struggle in keeping the same performance level.

Most noteworthy, every player that you find in this Solo Queue may behave a little different than the rest of the player base. Rather than being patient and understanding, they’ll hunt you for every mistake and complain about all the “wrong” things that may affect the end of the match.

Prepare Your Mind

After taking all that in consideration, if you want to Solo Queue for a random Ranked Match, you may need to prepare a little before you start the game. No worries though, this does not require anything like meditation or something similar. Still, though, you have to understand the other player’s mind before getting into any conclusions. Furthermore, if you end up mimicking their behavior, things may go out of hand in a matter of seconds, and the “fun” factor will no longer be present. Above all, that is the crucial part when you’re taking your time in playing video games. In contrast, if you end up being more stressed and emotionally tired, you may be looking for other options elsewhere.

Meditation
Count to 100

Most noteworthy, if things continue this way, you may start to get some troubles in your work/school or your sleeping cycles. Hence, making your overall day not worth going through, just because some random players over the Internet seem to have no boundaries. Still, to counter-attack their troublesome behavior, first, you need to categorize their type of “toxicity” and act accordingly. With this in mind, you will have almost no impact from their erroneous behavior and continue with your fun activities in League of Legends.

Toxic Players

We have seen them more than once in a gaming session, with their “constructive” comments and massive “tolerance” to their teammate’s mistakes. Furthermore, they shine with their gracious critiques in the middle of a match, when things go sour. Maybe it is even worse, and they shine with their blessings when the team picks their roles or champions. As a result, the group begins to act poorly, (more than before the toxic player became known) or they type non-sense as well leaving their champions “idle.” Also, if you try to be rational or share the blame with them, you instantly become their targets. Consequently, they’ll try to insult your intelligence, your gameplay, your family, or even your pets. Hence, when everything is over, and the final score becomes registered, you either leave the lobby as fast as possible or share more meaningful comments with this unwanted player.

Warning
How Many they Can Get?

To give you a clear idea about their constant behavior that these players are well known for, here are some categories that every Toxic Player does more than once:

Raging

These types of players known that some mistakes always come on their part, but is not their fault at all. Therefore they try to blame everything else that is outside of their control. First of all, they may blame Riot for their lack of “good” work, the “nerfs” that their champion recently had in an update. Additionally, they also blame their “slow” computer, “Lag” over the Internet connection, or their old mouse as well. Last but not least, they’ll blame the region that they usually play, the lack of “understanding” players, and the community overall.

Cursing
!@##%#$!#!

Flaming

The fantastic “teammates” reside in this category. Even though they make mistakes regularly, they’ll only blame the team for losing the game. Usually, they attack the counterpart role. For example, if the flaming player is a support, they criticize the gameplay of their cores, the lack of items and kills. On the other hand, you have those cores that blame the support because there’s no vision, also for the lack of supporting equipment, or their lack of rotations over the map. As the term implies, when all the party blames every single member of the team, the fire spreads everywhere.

AFKing (Away from Keyboard)

AFK
Need more Doritos

Sometimes people leave their computer when everything goes sour. Usually, they leave for a couple of minutes, then return and go back to their lane, die quickly, and repeat all the progress. Furthermore, if you try to have a conversation with them, is practically worthless. Since they leave their monitors for long periods, they may never see anything written on the chat. Suddenly, when the fifteen minutes arrive in the match, they’ll be the once to ask for surrender. Most noteworthy, if the vote did not pass, they’ll leave again without even caring about the performance of their team. As a result, by practically doing nothing, they create stress for their teammates and give many advantages to the enemy’s side.

Quitters

It seems like their only answer to all of these player’s problems is to leave the game as soon as possible and move on to the next match. First of all, when they do not get their preferred Role or Champion, they’ll respond by leaving the game. Sometimes they give the team a little chance and ask for a trade, but if nothing goes their way, bye-bye. Additionally, in the early stage of the match, if one of their teammates gives the “first blood” to their adversaries, or a core “feeds” with more than two kills, they vanish from the server. As a result, their teammates to avoid any complications on their accounts, sometimes they’ll have to endure for a couple of minutes until they are officially permitted to leave.

Bullying

The worse of, the worse belong to this group. First of all, they’ll behave by using two or more of the techniques that every other Toxic Player usually does. Therefore, they’ll flame for a long while and quit when they run out of words. Another example is present when Bullies go AFK for random moments and insult their team because they’re losing the game.

Additionally, besides the usual insults to their peers, they’ll try to insult every aspect from their lives outside the game. Most noteworthy, these people tend to use some of the worst words that every language haves in their repertoire. As a result, they’ll try to insult every race on the planet besides theirs, the type of intelligence, and even your family.

How to Respond?

Mute
Talk to the Hand

Since League of Legends recommends team coordination, you always need to have any conversation with your teammates. Still, though, if you see behaviors from those Toxic Players, at first, you may want to calm things up. Later on, if things seem to continue on that awful path, the other option you have is to mute the bad seed. As a result, with its hurtful comments out of the way, you can concentrate more on the game and try to overcome the enemy’s advantages.

If you mimic their behavior and low down to their level, things will never get pretty afterward. Both of you will lose so much type using the keyboard in unnecessary typing comments, instead of using your Champion rightfully. Above all, the enemy teal will have an easy win by practically doing nothing much in the rest of the game.

After all, your main goal is to have a little fun while playing a game that you enjoy passing sometime. Therefore, if you find some of these troublesome players over the Internet, you better block their negativity before it affects you. After all, is just another game over hundreds of other matches, which means that you can easily overcome that loss with a couple of other games.

Report Only When It’s Due

Reporting
Reports for Days

We get it; sometimes you want to Report those players that play badly, lose their Lane by a large margin, or play their own game without caring for their team. Indeed, by reporting their accounts, you hope that you won’t be able to see them ever again in your matches for the rest of your life. Still, though, things do not work that way in Riot’s servers. Therefore, even with a report, you have the chance to appear in Solo Queue with the same guy/girl again in the future. Additionally, you’ll be using that system badly by wasting some reports on accounts that do not deserve that kind of treatment.

Hence it is advisable that you report only those Toxic Players that try to make the overall environment, rough and unfun for everyone. As a result, when you’re using the reports accordingly, you’re helping in building a better community for all its players. Most noteworthy, these bad-tempered players will learn to use the chat in a constructive matter or find another game that maybe tolerates their temperament.

Who knows, maybe shortly, we will be able to see players that understand each other and fight for the same goal, instead of themselves.

Do Not Give Up!

Persistence
Almost Out of Silver!

Always keep it cool and focus more on your performance when you get stuck with Toxic Players in your team. Logically, when you’re in Solo Queue, you always have more chances to pair yourself with people like these. Still though, now that you know more about their methods, there’s no need to take thing personally when they start to write unnecessary comments. Furthermore, due to their disrespectful behavior, you may remember them more than the usual player that also want to play League of Legends. Above all, there are more players out there that only write when it’s necessary and in a respectful way.

Most noteworthy, you always have the choice to add some elements to your friend list to all those players that you feel worth as your teammate. Suddenly, that Solo Queue becomes a Party where every player wants to have fun in this incredible game for a couple of hours.

Learn from Your Mistakes

We all want to be at least a decent player in League of Legends, with a favorable Champion’s roster and a good Rank in our accounts. Sadly, we get to see some Toxic Players in Solo Queue more than often. As you can already tell, they’ll criticize your gameplay and judge you without your consent. Furthermore, they try to use harsh words to get your attention and leave you out of track for a moment. As a result, you shouldn’t listen to them at all. Ignore their insults, but most importantly, never believe what they say about your overall gameplay.

Analytics
More Kills, Less Feed

When you’re playing ranked, you already have a clear idea about how you can contribute to your team after you chose the Role and the Champion. If for some reason, things aren’t going your way, don’t worry, after the match, you can take a little time to think about what went wrong in the game. Probably you have a counter pick that made everything a lot harder or were pray for upcoming Ganks from the enemy’s Jungler. Besides those two examples, there’re a lot more factors that game you some disadvantages, and you end up losing the game.

Whenever you win or lose a match, always take the outcome as experience. Later on, you’ll learn from your mistakes, and suddenly you’ll become a better player.

Conclusion

Salt
Never Enough

We all hope that we were able to find a way to play in Solo Queue without worrying about those players that want to use the chat on inappropriate ways. At the moment, you’ll never know how many negative people you’ll meet in a session. Still, though, now you know how to categorize them and act accordingly. Never give them fuel to continue with these despicable commentaries and only focus on dealing an excellent performance in your matches. It won’t be long when you suddenly have higher Rank placement, and they’ll probably stick in the same place for a long time. Most noteworthy, you can see the example in professional matches, where the players only talk when needed and always want to keep everything under control, even when they’re loosing.

You’ll probably won’t get the chance to have another match with people such as these Toxic Players. Therefore, there’s no need to give them some acknowledge by answering their insults with other insults. Hence, focus only on your performance, see those parts that need improvement, and keep the hopes running. Most importantly, remember always to look to play this game for fun. If someone ruins your gaming session and you feel somehow stressed, leave the game for a bit a disconnect for a while. Afterward, when you achieve more peace in your mind, go back and try again.

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