LoL is toxic. Everyone knows that, and those who start new learn that quickly. Colleague Philipp Hansen tried League of Legends for the first time only at the beginning of 2020 and found out: They really are as mean as everyone says.

Shortly before Phil started with LoL, I stopped (again) – so around mid 2019. I played only sporadically before that, but the break now was probably the longest so far.

I’m still used to it from the old days, that you were constantly being ticked off. It was never your own fault that you lost, insults were often … creative. I approached the game with exactly this mindset.

To my surprise, however, I was hardly, if at all, mobbed. No: “**** you, Noob!”, no: “Go die!”, not even a rather harmless: “git gud” came from my teammates. What happened to the LoL I met?

I myself have been playing League of Legends almost since its release in 2009, and have sunk more hours into the MOBA than I’m willing to admit. I even used to play semi-professionally with my team.

E-sports wasn’t established back then, though, so we mainly participated in community tournaments. We didn’t earn money until later, after we switched to Heroes of the Storm. But that’s just in passing.

2 years break and suddenly everyone is peaceful?

From before I am used to some nonsense being written in the chat even before the match. Today? Nothing. If at all, then a: “Hello” or players asking for a role swap.

In the game itself, I did not notice any overly toxic behavior either in chat or via pings. I was not insulted, not insulted and with my closer relatives were also not copulated, even in foreign languages.

To my shame, I must confess that I had completely disabled chat for the first few rounds. Of course, then it seemed more peaceful to me. But even after reactivation I was rarely snapped at.

It even happened that I was constructively pointed out something. And out of a trained instinct I immediately switched to “defense” and folded up my teammate who only wanted to explain something to me.

His teammate then explained that he was just trying to help me. Contrite, I apologized and we very confidently still won the round, even if it was close several times.

People howl more quietly

However, the bickering that has become quite typical for gamers has not completely disappeared. From time to time I still got into arguments with someone. Most of the time it was the jungler who complained that he didn’t deserve such bad team mates.

When I’m out in the woods myself, there’s still the sporadic insults of not ganking a lane often enough.

To explain: The “Jungle” connects the three “Lanes” of the game. The Jungler moves between these lanes and sees that the respective team members can kill their opponents there. This gives a gold and level advantage.

Beyond that, however, it was peaceful. And even when it got louder, it was usually after the game and not in the round. As if more players knew by now that toxic behavior only promotes the “tilt” and favors defeat.

But why is everyone suddenly being nice?

12 years of LoL – And slowly it gets better

Riot, the studio behind LoL, has gone to great lengths over the past few years to curb toxic behavior. One particularly serious cut was probably the disabling of general chat in the game.

For me, that was a reason why I liked Heroes of the Storm better even back then. Because without general chat, colleagues focused more on the game and didn’t verbally spar with opponents.

However, even before that, in June 2021, Riot introduced some changes with the “Behavioral System” to limit toxic behavior. Since then, there have been bans of several weeks for players who go AFK for too long and other penalties.

The whole thing goes back even further, though. In 2012, the “honor” system was introduced, and in 2017 it received an overhaul. With it, players can give awards to their comrades, which in turn leads to small rewards. And if you behave like an ass, you get nothing.

Better to reward the good than punish the bad

Riot has since followed a strategy of rewarding positive behavior rather than punishing negative behavior. The latter may lead to defiance rather than insight. Such was the finding of studies conducted by Riot himself (via spectrumlabsai.com).

In 2012 and 2013, Riot Games tried different methods in millions of games. In the course of the “Optimus Experiment”, for example, motivational messages in different colors were tested and the players’ reaction was evaluated.

The result of the experiment was crude: with the right incentive, players are less toxic. Here the incentive was to use messages to show that with toxic behavior you are more likely to lose. Or the other way around: with negative behavior you lose more often.

Even I noticed that at the time and moderated my behavior somewhat at that point. I don’t think I won much more often, but since then playing has become more pleasant. You can read more about the Optimus Experiment on GameStar.

Of course, all this didn’t happen from one moment to the next, but was a creeping process that slowly banished more and more toxicity from the game. With a hard cut of 2 years break, however, you notice it extremely well and directly.

Some fans even suggest that Fortnite’s success has led to a less toxic community. Supposedly, the Battle Royale has attracted all the “toxic kids” and led them away from LoL. Whether or not that’s true remains to be seen.

Toxic Behavior – A Gamer Tradition?

12 years ago, at the release of League of Legends, the Internet looked different. Black humor and unmoderated image boards, forums and chats were everywhere. Hardly anyone paid much attention to video games either, except for just a small mass of gamers.

From my own experience, I can say that many gamers at the time were primarily looking out for themselves. And some then developed an “everyone else is an idiot” mentality. This hardened at some point, incited each other and spread.

LoL as a free-to-play game with an enormously successful concept spread quickly and widely. Accordingly, many players were attracted – and among them toxic players. Those who didn’t feel like it just left again. It was just a game. But the toxic core stayed. It was “their” game.

On top of that, LoL is highly competitive by nature. Here, teams of 5 players each play against each other in long matches for victory. Of course you want to win, even if it’s for nothing – but especially in the rankings. This quickly leads to an adrenaline rush.

Also not helping was the fact that many role models behaved exactly how it shouldn’t be customary in a game or showed how bad things are in LoL:

Since then, however, a lot has happened socially as well. Gaming has been moving more into the center of society for years, and more and more eyes are turning to gamers. Naturally, this increases interest in the topic and also in making it more accessible.

Developers are interested in attracting not just the “tough skin gamers” anymore, but everyone. And that can only happen if toxic behavior no longer has a place in modern games.

What does “toxic” even mean? We speak of toxicity when enormously negative behavior is exhibited. This ranges from insults and harassment to sabotage of one’s own team to outright threats and death wishes. Yes, the Internet was – or is – a rough place.

A nicer environment for new players

Whether planned or not, the fact that right now LoL’s community is more pleasant than before doesn’t just benefit the game. Due to the new LoL series Arcane, a fresh hype has arisen around the MOBA.

Many new players are starting, many former ones are returning. For example, I and several other colleagues from the editorial office. The fact that you don’t have to be called a son of a bitch or worse in the first rune increases your motivation.

Apparently, the measures have done exactly what they were supposed to. LoL has become nicer and as a new or former player you feel comfortable again. Or at least more comfortable than before. The one or other nasty remark still exists.