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Hi there, I’m CarlTheLlama, one of the top support mains who you may have seen on some of the popular streams, in tournaments, etc., captain of Beyond Reason which in its heyday placed 3rd/4th in NA.
Have you ever thought “why do I get the worst players in the world so often?” “Solo Queue is toxic and stupid,” “MOBA communities are the worst in the world and I hate playing with them,” “Why do I have to have another Murky/Nova/Gazlowe on my team?” or “I just can’t carry these noobs hard enough.” Well, that’s okay, everyone thinks those things from time to time. However, letting them be an important part of how you view Solo Queue and the people it places you with (1) makes you play worse, (2) negatively impacts your enjoyment of the game, and (3) contributes to the problem, creating a vicious cycle.
(http://www.livememe.com/9n5qkn5)
And that’s just the internal effects of these thought patterns, not to mention how bad things get if you start typing to your team.
I’ve struggled with this myself, particularly in League of Legends, which I stopped playing a couple months before I got HotS access, due to (at least in large part) the overwhelming toxicity in the game. I simply ignored it and kept trudging on, thinking there was nothing that could really be done to fix the problem, but a little cancer from each game stayed with me, and even with taking some time after each game to “de-tox,” plus taking a day off every couple weeks to clear out the pent up frustration, I eventually got to the point where I just couldn’t deal with it anymore- the experience was so miserable I couldn’t maintain a decent standard of play no matter what I tried. Thus died my League of Legends career.
The Foundation
I’m naturally an aggressive player, which means I choose to be proactive in searching for solutions to problems, so when I got access to HotS, I decided I needed to come in with a new approach, a fresh mindset- one that let me interact with problematic/frustrating teammates in positive ways, rather than just ignore them. And that’s the real catch, bringing the fresh air of positivity into a negative environment, that everybody knows and expects to be toxic is an uphill battle. We’ve all seen too many toxic games, and maybe we’ve tried to turn things around only to have it blow up in our face. Whatever our individual stories, we’re not surprised anymore when things start going bad- we’re surprised when we get a nice, positive, friendly and forgiving team.
Those expectations we bring to the game are the first problem. If you don’t believe you can make a difference, you’re not going to commit yourself fully to making a difference. It's like going into a game knowing you're going to lose: if you already know you're going to lose, you're going to conserve your efforts since they don't matter anyways. I had (and I think you have to) the luxury of a fresh, new game, that has some tumors, but they are benign in comparison to LoL. Even if that’s not as true as we want it to be, it’s better to make the decision to start with a fresh slate and say “this game can be different.” It lets us avoid the trap of being defeated before we start, and so avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You can take the pessimistic approach, and say that everything up to this point was a waste of words and won’t have a tangible effect because you “are just one person,” “would if you could,” “tried it before,” etc. Let me remind you that if you change the outcome of a mere 1/10 games from a win to a loss, you will have a 60% win rate, and your elo will rise. And that extra winning helps you feel better-misery isn’t the only thing that snowballs. Little things make big impacts, and at the very least, I promise you it relieves stress.
Now, if you can get yourself to believe that you can change the outcome of your team’s mood, here’s what I found worked for me. And by “worked” I mean I went from hating every second of Solo Queue, to loving it and finding more success as a result.
The Walls
The first thing that helped me was the idea that in order to give someone any sort of advice, you have to have a relationship with them. If there’s not a relationship built on trust, then they have no reason to listen to you. So how do you build trust with people you’ve never met, in no time at all? Simple, you let them know that you’re on their side (figuratively, obviously you already are literally), and that you want to see them succeed. Be outgoingly friendly, and try to have some fun with them. Think about it, are you more or less likely to listen to someone who’s nice to you? To be honest, not everyone has the charisma to do that, and to be more honest, I never did much smalltalk before a game myself. That’s okay, simply typing “gj” or “ty” in at the right times lets them know that you’re rooting for them. If you’re dead but a teamfight is still going, type in “GO TEAM KILL YES GO” or things of that nature also get the message across. If somebody screws up, instead of saying “don’t die so much valla” say something less blocky and more feely like “nuuuu valla  .“ It gets just as much of the message across, and in a deliberately obviously non-aggressive manner. And that’s really the crux of the matter. You need to deliberately take measures to avoid the stereotype of a toxic MOBA player. And you need to do it every game, because they’re always new people. Anyways, the point I wanted to make with all of this, is that you have to set up the trust beforehand- you have to throw out a few gjs and “niceeee”s before you get to tell them to position closer to the healer, or not dive so deep, or be more aggressive with their engages, or get to objectives quicker.
You might say “I don’t really want people to listen to me, I just want them to not suck.” well, then do the same stuff and don’t make any calls. You’d be surprised how much less people suck when they aren’t spending any mental effort on defending their image, or attacking someone else’s. Teams that wouldn’t come back when a crucial mistake is made by the ones dominating them will if the right mood has been established. Again, most people don’t type their thoughts and feelings out for you to see, it’s not just the vocal ones that are wasting APMs on drama, or the ones that reply to your positivity that will play better as a result of it.
While most people can recognise the effects of negative social factors on gameplay, few people stop to realize that the opposite is true. The fact is, people perform better when they know that you believe in them.
And that’s more or less the rest of the problem- without a face and a voice next to us, it’s easy to forget that the players on our team are in fact people that are more or less just like us. Without having the time to get to know their names and their story- the things they’re good at and the storms they’ve been through- we often forget to sympathize with them as fellow human beings. What I mean by that is we forget to treat them with common decency and a little bit of effort put into being polite- treating them as we would like to be treated ourselves. Don’t try to excuse yourself, we’re all guilty of it sometimes, and every time you excuse it in yourself, you’re contributing to the cycle you yourself hate so much.
The Roof
People I’m paired with in SoloQ are my team. That means we need to back each other up, cover each other’s backs, help each other out, cheer each other up, and generally be bros for 20 minutes, because we all share the same fate: victory or defeat. We all have a vested interest in the outcome of the game, and the atmosphere we create is more or less taken in the same by everyone. The relationship is symbiotic, and attacking each other is like a severe allergic reaction- the body just attacks itself for no reason; the response to the perceived impurity is what really causes harm.
Here’s the driving philosophy that helped me enjoy HotS so much as I was getting into it: “It is better to trust and regret than to doubt and regret.” Of course, not all SoloQ teammates are great, but you’d be surprised how many are if you give them the benefit of the doubt, even when your first and maybe second impression makes it easy to stereotype them. The benefit of the doubt is something we all want, and automatically give ourselves thinking that others should just know that we’re right and have good intentions, isn’t it only fair to give them the same? That’s where things kinda come full circle to my first point: to really give others that trust you have to believe that it’s going to be worth it, even if things start off in a way that makes it difficult to do so.
There will still be regrets no matter whether you choose to trust your teammates or doubt them, so don’t think everything will be sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows if you change your mindset- especially at first while you’re still getting used to it. But take it from someone who’s walked both paths- this one is better in every way. Toxicity is a big issue, and I don’t expect it to go away soon or ever, but if one person is able to grasp this stuff then my time was well spent.
TL;DR Low expectations for your team contribute to low outcomes. The people who flame are often in the same pain you are. Not working to create a positive environment works to create a negative one. Creating a positive environment is a new challenge every game. People perform better when they know you believe in them. It is better to trust and regret than to doubt and regret. But really, I think this i worth your time to read.
Thanks for your time, I know you could have been pwning noobs with it instead  I’ve been streaming a bit more regularly, though still not on anything resembling a schedule, if you’re interested you can stop by at the link below . Whenever I stream or make content I post it on my facebook and twitter.
twitch.tv/carlthellamahots
facebook.com/bluenreindeer?ref=hl
twitter.com/EnochWarnke
But, if you’re not about that life, I keep a list of content (that is kept up to date) in this doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xMVWGzmv-bAEJYf6noFfmZfioIAnO3pRkRfAJzpTbwM/edit?usp=sharing
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Germany25657 Posts
You write many smart things, please continue!
I appreciate the google doc at the end, because I am not about that life
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no support for your local eSports makers QQ
well I guess technically its content creation, not esports anymore... close enough?
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Thanks for the content! Keep it up, this is the kind of stuff we need more of on TL!
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Uhhh....so I've played with you a bunch in solo q and as far as I can tell you practice what you preach. What I am wondering...is....lets say an individual is intelligent enough to understand that everything in your OP is true, and that they agree with it. Now, let us also say this same individual has 4k MMR, and wants to continue to climb but often times loses games for his team due to genuinely not wanting retarded players he is playing with to win.
This is me. I do this probably every 3 games...so a win rate that should be around 70% ends up being in the 60% range (We still manage to win some of these that I just stop caring about).
Okay, so hear me out. As a 4k MMR player, when I solo q (Which is often, I rarely duo) I typically get paired with 4 players at 3k MMR vs 5 players all around 3200-3300 MMR. So with the exception of me, my team is significantly worse. I am expected to carry the team every single game. Literally all of the players with higher MMR than me (With the exception of around 4-5) only play in the SEL....so I never see them in HL.
Anyway, I try to help my team win the draft phase because I play on a team in tournaments and watch all the pro teams and have a pretty good understanding of what works well on which map etc. as well as a very good understanding of specific hero win rates taken from hotslogs data.
After that, I will play smart and do things that aren't stupid because...well hey I am a 4k MMR player and I am playing vs players much lower than me so this isn't really difficult for me to accomplish. In addition to this I will also try to help my team not be stupid by giving quality advice in a pretty friendly manner IE "Hey, lets not shove any lanes on tombs cause kerrigan/muradin/tyrande will be roaming for easy picks" which of course the god awful KT ignores (repeatedly) and proceeds to feed and feed and feed.
Eventually, the stupidity of the players around me make me genuinely not care. I can see things they cannot. I understand just how awful they are. Even listening to some of the things they say in chat make me wonder how I can be matched with them...and in the end it makes me rather tell my teammate that they are fucking awful and lose than just stfu, keep carrying them, and win.
How do you keep your mouth shut every game? I always reason with myself that I will win the next one without issue so I can just tell this guy hes awful and lose on purpose.
When I play in TL and someone on my team does something dumb....I never have this problem. Even if I don't know the guy who sucks....so why can't I keep a lid on it in solo q (or duo q when I do it since I act the same way).
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you dont have to keep your mouth shut as moba experience you can trashtalk all you want as long as you make good calls and thats the best way to win games as solo.
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CarlTheLlama > another great article, thank you for all your work. There're a few things I'll try. I especially liked the “GO TEAM KILL YES GO” when you're dead and the fight is happening.
I have a few habbits myself because I solo queue a lot.
Already, I try to use smileys to alleviate the drama: ^^  and it works really well. Also I'll immediately ask a player who insults the others to not be mean (i know it sounds kinda childish, it's on purpose).
One other thing is the "never give up" mentallity. You'd be surprised how many people start to play well again after 2 team wipes and for losses when I just say "guys it's not over" "we can come back" or other things like that.
Say sorry when you die, like "sry I was greedy", or explain "sry I had to delay them" even if it's kinda bad.
I also always congratulate even the smallest things saying "gj" a lot.
Also, in draft, thanking the guy who goes for healing or the guy who just prepicks last and goes for the right hero is a good thing to do.
One other big thing is to ask the teammates not to fight in chat because typing is losing.
I don't care about my image at all, I sometimes beg the toxic/feeding player but sometimes it works.
All of this resulted in a very good Dragon Shire game yesterday where every time people died they said "sry", everyone tried their best, being nice and all, and even with 2 lost teamfights late game we won easily because the team was nice. Good mood. We were all 8-10 rankers, and the other team was the same. Pretty sure the mood wasn't so good there. ^^
sertas > trashtalk leads to typing (=losing) and to people caring less about winning. They just don't make the extra effort.
Perseverance > very interesting read. Why do you keep playing solo queue if you outperform the other 9 players all the time ? (to be clear it's a real question, not a disguised insult)
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On September 21 2015 19:26 Leolio wrote:CarlTheLlama > another great article, thank you for all your work. There're a few things I'll try. I especially liked the “GO TEAM KILL YES GO” when you're dead and the fight is happening. I have a few habbits myself because I solo queue a lot. Already, I try to use smileys to alleviate the drama: ^^ and it works really well. Also I'll immediately ask a player who insults the others to not be mean (i know it sounds kinda childish, it's on purpose). One other thing is the "never give up" mentallity. You'd be surprised how many people start to play well again after 2 team wipes and for losses when I just say "guys it's not over" "we can come back" or other things like that. Say sorry when you die, like "sry I was greedy", or explain "sry I had to delay them" even if it's kinda bad. I also always congratulate even the smallest things saying "gj" a lot. Also, in draft, thanking the guy who goes for healing or the guy who just prepicks last and goes for the right hero is a good thing to do. One other big thing is to ask the teammates not to fight in chat because typing is losing. I don't care about my image at all, I sometimes beg the toxic/feeding player but sometimes it works. All of this resulted in a very good Dragon Shire game yesterday where every time people died they said "sry", everyone tried their best, being nice and all, and even with 2 lost teamfights late game we won easily because the team was nice. Good mood. We were all 8-10 rankers, and the other team was the same. Pretty sure the mood wasn't so good there. ^^ sertas > trashtalk leads to typing (=losing) and to people caring less about winning. They just don't make the extra effort. Perseverance > very interesting read. Why do you keep playing solo queue if you outperform the other 9 players all the time ? (to be clear it's a real question, not a disguised insult)
Well I had honestly stopped but now blizzard has their top 100 MMR list and a prerequisite for inclusion is at least 50 games in HL per month. So I've just been grinding games.
The main issue, for me and anyone else at or above 4k MMR im sure is the fact that we don't get matched with evenly skilled players. I've yet to have a game where 2 or more people on my team were at or above my MMR. They are always lower, because almost everyone above me plays almost entirely in the SEL.
This creates a toxic environment as I am consistently more knowledgeable on both the draft as well as the inner workings of the game than my teammates. They do stupid shit...even after I warn them about not doing X because Y will happen. Then, they do it again, and again, and again. Every time they are retarded it just adds a little more salt. Especially considering I am generally polite and helpful at the start of all lobby/games.
To put it into perspective....My MMR is closer to c9Fans than it is to my teammates. With that being said, If I played with him I'm sure he would see a thousand stupid things that I did wrong and I bet he wouldn't really enjoy himself. The only difference here is if I was in a game with Fan I would actually do everything he said regardless if I agreed with him or not because I know hes a better/smarter player than me.
This game needs something that can broadcast your MMR/winrate/ability to shot call FROM THE LOBBY so that players can identify right off the bat who is most likely the highest skilled player that should take the lead in the game and help the team win with quality calls.
Either that or give higher tiered players the ability to "Opt out" of the fast match making games with much lower MMR teammates. I know a lot of quality players that would rather wait 10-12 minutes for a good game than 6 minutes for a shitty awful one. I tweeted this to browder but I don't even think he understands what I am saying because he is so focused on the casual players experience that he likely doesn't bother looking at top tiered data.
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How do you keep your mouth shut every game? I always reason with myself that I will win the next one without issue so I can just tell this guy hes awful and lose on purpose.
There are a lot of things, not least of the which is that I have like 16k games of MOBA experience since I started playing them a little over 3 years ago. The fact that they've become somewhat routine makes the drama of them much less likely to evoke emotion. You may not have as many games under your belt (or maybe you do), but if you can get the idea in your head that this isn't unusual, the lack of "surprise" (for lack of a better word) will make you react a little more rationally, and a little less emotionally. That's something strictly internal to keep yourself calm though- don't project a toxic stereotype on teammates (like it says in the post).
Also, I had a really, really, really utterly miserable experience in LoL (which is where half of that game count comes from)- it's made me calloused to things going wrong because they're just simply not as bad here. It's a better game and a better community. You have to have your worst game of your life and the most nasty people of your life some game. A toddler bawling because his milk is spilt seems ridiculous to us because we've been through worse, but that's literally the worst thing he's experienced in his life. Look at things from the big picture- either you've been through worse and survived and so this isn't that bad, or this is the worst and if this is as bad as it is you've got cause to celebrate because it'll all be over in 20 minutes.
I also used to work as a writing tutor at my university, and while I don't mean to be snobbish, in real life I spend a hefty amount of time with people who can't articulate themselves very well compared to me. I have lots of personal memories and experiences to draw on to know that it's a skill to say what you mean and not create confusion and misdirection in the process. That skill is something I haven't always had, and it's not something it's fair to judge most people on because the world needs people to specialize in other things to keep functioning the way we like it to. That's where giving the benefit of the doubt comes in. No training required, you just do it (well it does take some getting used to I suppose, but don't let yourself use that as an excuse).
You also can't think of yourself as a superman invincible to toxicity- if a game is getting to you just take a break before you start self-destructing.
I frame everything as a competition or a challenge that I have to win. So when I go into diplomacy mode, I almost (not quite) assign myself points for saying the right thing: that extra shot of happiness motivates me to have the right follow up. Learning how to put everything in a perspective that helps you, and seeing things in terms that WILL motivate you to want to win is the trick. Hopefully I've given you an idea or two. Also, never be afraid to do something ridiculous like assigning yourself imaginary points in an imaginary mental battle of wits that's mostly in your head, as part of a fantastic game being played by NEETs that you can't see. Especially since no one can see inside your head to do so. The very ridiculousness of it will help you have fun and relax, and even if you do talk about it, you can frame it in a context (like I just have) where people realize that ridiculousness doesn't define you, and the practicality of it actually makes you look pretty smart. Not taking yourself too seriously is the moral of the story there, which is also a big tip.
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I try to play by these rules, the thing I need to get better at is the "detoxing" after games. I'll be in a frustrating game and hit the queue button the second Im out of it, never leads to anything good.
I do get more positive games than I thought I would when I decided to change my attitude towards my team mates, I always greet them in draft chat and try to throw in positive comments early on. I like to believe that I contribute towards that 1/3 of the games that would've been toxic aren't.
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I like to believe that I contribute towards that 1/3 of the games that would've been toxic aren't.
I think you're right. cause and effect is mostly impossible to connect in these cases, but the difference you can feel tells you something is going right. Getting first impressions right makes everything so much easier.
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My main problem in draft is that the heroes I'm really good with are the ones everyone hates so it's hard to just put a nice mood when people say outright:
- No NOVA!!
- BW is weak
- No illidan noob
- NOT MURKYYYYY again god I had a 3 games losing streak
It's tough when everyone hates you. ^^
Perseverance > oh I didn't know at all it worked that way. Must be frustrating for sure. So when you're rank 1 your value is your MMR. Thanks for the informations.
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On September 22 2015 21:35 Leolio wrote:
My main problem in draft is that the heroes I'm really good with are the ones everyone hates so it's hard to just put a nice mood when people say outright:
- No NOVA!!
- BW is weak
- No illidan noob
- NOT MURKYYYYY again god I had a 3 games losing streak
It's tough when everyone hates you. ^^
Perseverance > oh I didn't know at all it worked that way. Must be frustrating for sure. So when you're rank 1 your value is your MMR. Thanks for the informations.
Another thing I think is silly is...rank 1 takes roughly 3k MMR to get. Yet, at 4k MMR if I lose 5-6 in a row and drop down to 3900MMR I also lose rank 1....so why is a 3k MMR player rank 1, when a 3.9k player is rank 2? I tend to automatically respect the game devs @ blizzard because they have had so many awesome ideas over the years but I wonder if this is working as intended or if they are, in all actuality, retarded.
Anyway, back on topic...
I know my problem is that I've always really disliked stupid people, or even people who probably aren't stupid...but just do really stupid things. I have yet to understand how fully functioning intelligent individuals cannot apply their intellect to something so simple as a video game. It makes me sad that something so simple is so difficult for some people, and because of blizzard screwing the match making system up and making almost all the top players leave the que...I am stuck playing with these types of people.
Because of this inherent dislike of people doing dumb things in a competitive setting...and the fact that I understand the company I have supported with probably a few thousand dollars (possibly more than a few) over the last 2 decades is responsible in its entirety for me being grouped with said players...I just start every game as a toxic shit head.
It sucks because on the rare occasion that I do play with/against someone very good like CarlTheLlama or a c9/Tempo Storm player I do enjoy the game again...I mean, the rest of the players in the game are still awful and run around doing stupid shit for the majority of the game, but at least I have someone to share my misery with...and misery loves company.
I guess the bottom line is, for me, I will continue to be the problem until Blizzard steps up and fixes their mistake. Can't win em' all I suppose.
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United States4883 Posts
On September 22 2015 21:35 Leolio wrote:
My main problem in draft is that the heroes I'm really good with are the ones everyone hates so it's hard to just put a nice mood when people say outright:
- No NOVA!!
- BW is weak
- No illidan noob
- NOT MURKYYYYY again god I had a 3 games losing streak
It's tough when everyone hates you. ^^
Perseverance > oh I didn't know at all it worked that way. Must be frustrating for sure. So when you're rank 1 your value is your MMR. Thanks for the informations.
Play Sonya, she's the new Illidan ^^.
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On September 23 2015 01:22 Perseverance wrote:
Because of this inherent dislike of people doing dumb things in a competitive setting...and the fact that I understand the company I have supported with probably a few thousand dollars (possibly more than a few) over the last 2 decades is responsible in its entirety for me being grouped with said players...I just start every game as a toxic shit head.
On the other hand, you don't seem to think that telling people how to play will change the way they play. So if you intellectually recognize that fact, yet you continue to do it, that is kind of the same issue that makes you mad.
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On September 23 2015 01:49 MotherFox wrote:Show nested quote +On September 23 2015 01:22 Perseverance wrote:
Because of this inherent dislike of people doing dumb things in a competitive setting...and the fact that I understand the company I have supported with probably a few thousand dollars (possibly more than a few) over the last 2 decades is responsible in its entirety for me being grouped with said players...I just start every game as a toxic shit head.
On the other hand, you don't seem to think that telling people how to play will change the way they play. So if you intellectually recognize that fact, yet you continue to do it, that is kind of the same issue that makes you mad.
You are somewhat correct. Most of the time telling people the smart thing to do doesn't do anything. Sometimes though you get people who press tab, see my mega huge stats in every category, and decide to listen to me. These are typically the same people that try to add me as a friend afterwards. I still win over 60% of my games, it's just that it would be a lot higher if there was something in-game to indicate my level of achievement within HotS...which would hopefully help people make the decision to follow my calls in games.
I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I knew the other team would have players at X camp and all I had to do was convince my team to go there in time to gank them, kill them, and take that camp (Often game changing). Or even how to split to grab seeds on the garden terror map.
Honestly, there is just a huge difference in level of game-intellect from 3k to 4k MMR. It also probably doesn't help that I am not even all that mechanically proficient...meaning that a lot of my MMR comes from my ability to win drafts and out think my opponents in game : /
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So I used this trick in Starcraft random partner 2v2 to help me have better games. I would queue for the 1 minute, then cancel the queue. One minute because that was the average game search time, so if the average is 3 minutes, you should queue for 3 minutes then cancel. Then you queue again and try to find a match.
I did this because I noticed as I got higher and higher ranks, my random partners were of very different skill levels. Sometimes you would get players that were actually silver or gold when the rank was master or diamond. Theoretically this is fine because supposedly Masters + Silver = Average 2 Platinum players. Now normally this is okay (even if they coordinate better) because you just harass the Silver player to death, and 2v1 the masters player. But when your ally is Silver as well, (like he is high silver, opponent is low silver) things get really tough because you can't depend on him to do anything while the masters player is coordinating. So how do we avoid this situation?
What I noticed is that most of these games happened to me when I had queued about 2-3 minutes or more, basically way above average. This makes sense because the higher rank you are, the less players you can play (especially since 2v2 is relatively unpopular). So instead the match maker tries to prioritize you playing a game rather than a fair/balanced game. And if you think about it, where will there be more players? All the lower rank players have plenty of players to fight, so they will fight each other, while you are forced to fight higher ranked players (since they need people to fight). So as you stay longer and longer in the queue, you will be less likely to play a balanced game.
So, when you cancel the queue, it will reset you to as if you had just started searching for a match. This way the matchmaker will always be "picky" about who you get matched with, and you will find more even games. Of course, this is assuming there is no "memory" for how long you've been searching for a game and the matchmaker works as expected. And I can't guarantee the HotS matchmaker is the same way. But it is something you can try and experiment, to see if it maybe helps. I certainly felt like it helped me find better games in 2v2. Although it does have the side effect of making your queues longer, but if you want better games....
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Wow this article is great, I'm usually here for SC2 but have the recent 2 months gotten into heroes, I'm far and away from going ranked but this article stays true regardless of game-mode.
I've played a lot of league previously (never anymore) and I've noticied that I sometimes takes bad habits from that game and bring it into heroes (which I feel is very embarassing, especially since I have noticed that this kind of behavior is very rare in heroes). I'll concede that the only time I've heard someone tell someone to report someone have been when it came from me(once), which I recognise is a problem with me and not the others, the community or the game.
This post really screws my head on straight and I will put in a lot of effort in tryíng to: instead of being toxic 1/20 games I will instead try to lift a sinking atmosphere 1/10 games.
Tbh I already feel heroes is 20x (no exaggeration) better than league when it comes to toxicity but I'm loath to feel like I'm the one bringing in the bad air into a game and a community that has surprised me greatly with its positivity.
I will "grab my mental"
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This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it.
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On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it.
CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS
is there some kind of potion you bought online?
link pls
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On September 24 2015 05:48 Perseverance wrote:Show nested quote +On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it. CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS is there some kind of potion you bought online? link pls
Generally it's an intelligent thing to not instigate when you have nothing to gain by doing so, so those two things go hand in hand.
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On September 24 2015 05:48 Perseverance wrote:Show nested quote +On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it. CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS is there some kind of potion you bought online? link pls
Empathy helps a lot. Realizing that everyone was bad at everything at some point in their lives, and to not let feelings of frustration at the situation you're in turn into actual hatred of these individuals.
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On September 24 2015 05:55 MotherFox wrote:Show nested quote +On September 24 2015 05:48 Perseverance wrote:On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it. CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS is there some kind of potion you bought online? link pls Generally it's an intelligent thing to not instigate when you have nothing to gain by doing so, so those two things go hand in hand.
Basically this^
As outlined in the original post being positive and trying "earn trust" is the inteligent route to take. Both for the match, the game and the community.
Sounds to me like you are having a slight superiority complex. Believing other less skilled players are not "deservant" of getting more wins(and therefore you wont carry them) and your connection with having radically less mmr than you= retard seems to indicate this.
What you need to accept is that those players were you before, the only thing that seperates those "retards" from you is your understanding of the game, your game sense(which comes with playtime). Players that ignore what more experienced players say usually are not as experienced and need to play and experiment in order to evolve and develop their game-sense. They are not your equal in hots atm but some will be and others will probably even out skill you with time.
For me the only thing that rubs me the wrong way is players that are outright toxic and flame others, for people like that I used to explode right back but now I'm trying to offsett them with positivity and so far it has worked well.
In case it needs mentioning again, im a total scrub so I know nothing of how it is in the high rankings.
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This topic is something that really isn't emphasized enough. Most people just think about drafts, in-game decisions and actions, but mentality is perhaps more important than all of those. This article is such an excellent read.
Thanks Carl! I really enjoy your articles, I'll be waiting for future ones to come!
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On September 24 2015 05:48 Perseverance wrote:Show nested quote +On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it. CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS is there some kind of potion you bought online? link pls
Hahaha, my sentiments exactly.
And for the record, most players who are performing badly in a game aren't open to constructive criticism and advice.
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I don't feel like quoting a bunch of times
from hindsight, yes, it's the intelligent thing to do. However, following through on things you know to do is different than knowing to do them. Not to mention the fact that theory and actual results are different things. I think those are points worth valueing so you can be more patient with toxic people- they're not necessarily bad, it's more like uninformed/haven't been able to see the good in that is possible.
As for why I individually am strong (though not perfect) in this area, it largely comes down to life experiences- notable among which is having to live with/deal a lot with people who are very toxic irl. From that, I get the "worst its ever been in my life" stuff that I talked about earlier in the thread. I've had to deal with worse in real life, so the daggers that get thrown at me online don't hurt me as much as someone else. Since I'm not as hurt, I'm able to respond more rationally and less emotionally.
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On September 24 2015 05:55 MotherFox wrote:Show nested quote +On September 24 2015 05:48 Perseverance wrote:On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it. CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS is there some kind of potion you bought online? link pls Generally it's an intelligent thing to not instigate when you have nothing to gain by doing so, so those two things go hand in hand.
I understand what you are saying. What you seem to be missing is that I actually gain a lot from telling a teammate that is awful that they are, in fact, awful.
you see, when I play with someone who is unintelligent (aka, they suck at this game) I don't see it as anything different than when I play any other game or even participate in any activity. If I play a pick-up game of basketball and I have a shitty teammate...I say something. Same thing goes for football...same thing goes for a friendly game of spades at work (back when I was in the military). You know what effect this type of behavior typically had on people I would berate? Well, because these games were things that I was personally pretty good at...they took my opinion to heart, and they either A. stopped playing or B. got better. Hell, some ended up as good as or better than me.
The only problem with the internet is people have the option of sticking their head in the sand. Well...the vast majority of them do. You see, there was a time when I too was not very good at hots (or mobas in general) and when someone said I was bad I would either argue with them or if possible, I would look up their 'standing' (mmr) and see who was saying I was bad. If they were leaps and bounds ahead of me (Which was frequent in LoL since it was my first moba) I would honestly PM them and ask them what I could do better...or if that proved to not be constructive (Some players have no time for noobs) then I would do more research on whatever champ/role I was using and figure it out myself.
This attitude alone got me from my initial Silver 4 placement in LoL all the way to mid diamond after only 6 months of playing (two of which I spent leveling up to 30). So really, when I tell someone they are god awful or their build is horrid or their pick is horrid (Like the guy who picked murky into uther today) then I am not only venting my frustration on an awful player, but I am actually providing some form of constructive criticism...and all they have to do is look at the situation objectively, which if they are worthy of improving then they will do without issue.
Whether or not they actually pay attention to my criticisms or not is irrelevant though, because it really is relaxing for me to tell someone who really sucks and is ruining an otherwise enjoyable game for me that they are god awful.
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On September 24 2015 06:54 Ryzel wrote:Show nested quote +On September 24 2015 05:48 Perseverance wrote:On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it. CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS is there some kind of potion you bought online? link pls Empathy helps a lot. Realizing that everyone was bad at everything at some point in their lives, and to not let feelings of frustration at the situation you're in turn into actual hatred of these individuals.
I really don't hate the shitters. Really, I don't care how awful they are and honestly if Blizzard hadn't screwed up matchmaking so bad to the point that all the good players left for the SEL or custom scrims only I wouldn't have to deal with them.
So I guess, the only entity I hate here is Blizzard...and in a small way I do take it out on the noobs that end up in my games...because honestly, Blizzards blunders screw up the game for not only me, but them as well.
It wouldn't be hard for them to add some cool new features for say, the top 250 MMR players or something...to keep them active and playing so we can also enjoy the game. Hell, add a top 500 leaderboards and give the top 250 double XP/gold or something. Anything to keep them playing. Maybe give a free skin of choice (non legendary) to the top 100 every 3 months with a minimum number of games @ something easily doable like 150.
Or hell, make it exclusive skin tints or something...anything to keep the top players active so we don't have awful games and drag the rest of our teams with us due to our misery.
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On September 24 2015 08:44 xDaunt wrote:Show nested quote +On September 24 2015 05:48 Perseverance wrote:On September 24 2015 04:34 CarlTheLlama wrote:
This response is the best thing I could hope to read as a response. <3 glad you liked it. CARL HOW ARE YOU BOTH INTELLIGENT AND NOT AN ASSHOLE TO RETARDS is there some kind of potion you bought online? link pls Hahaha, my sentiments exactly. And for the record, most players who are performing badly in a game aren't open to constructive criticism and advice.
This guy hits the nail on the head.
I had a friend from league who was plat 2 (When I first started playing and met him in an unranked game) and he had been playing for 4+ years. Anyway, needless to say he knew pretty much everything about the game and the champions. Could literally play all 130 at the same level and knew what countered what in every matchup by heart. Well, I was a noob so I listened to everything he said. When i thought something was one way and he said something different I tended to trust that he was right and I must be incorrect....even when I eventually passed him in rank I still trusted his judgement because there was still a lot I didn't know about the game.
Fast forward to him playing hots when I had already played for a good 8 months and he was extremely difficult and anytime he fucked something up and I called him out he would ignore me or disagree with me etc.
It got to the point where I can't stand playing with him because any time he screwed up.....trying to help him improve just made him shut down.
It is the same with random players in HL...the guys constantly screwing up are likely the ones who got good win streaks starting out and are on the decline (MMR-wise) and are probably tilting as well cause its the 7th game in a row of them feeding. There isn't really even a way to approach giving this guy advice, regardless of MMR.
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Been playing with a potato (My GF) and we win around half our games....which isn't so bad since a loss doesn't subtract 20 MMR while a win only gives 4-5.
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EPT
