I’m sure we’ve all had one of those games where you’re comfortably ahead in the game and then someone makes a stupid mistake.. As the well rounded players that we all are we don’t think about it too much, as everyone makes mistakes, but it’s moments like this that I dread in some games.

That’s right Cloth5 readers, it’s an article about shutting the F up and winning the game.

Keeping your opinion to yourself

You don’t have to be Diamond or Challenger player to realise that keeping your opinion to yourself is a skill that can get you far in life. You don’t need to tell the guy you just met that his hair looks stupid just as you don’t need to tell the Twitch who just died that he’s awful at the game.

If your team is ahead then don’t rock the boat.

Why would you want the 4/1/1 Marksmen, who’s going to have insane damage in teamfights, wasting his time typing and thinking up creative insults when he could be guided into a teamfight and blowing up the enemy team? Communication is a great skill, but many of us who play just haven’t mastered it.

There is a HUGE difference between “WTF, why get caught 3v1 noob!” and “Unlucky Twitch, we’ll get some more wards up so we can see them coming”. The immediate difference there is keeping the attitude positive. The Twitch knows he died, if he’s anything like me he’ll be kicking himself for getting in a stupid position. At no point does he need berating for a relatively minor mistake.

Riot has already stated that players who are repeat offenders and visitors to the Tribunal, if and when its up, lose more games. You are costing yourself LP every time you flame someone and given the amount of people complaining about promotion games there are plenty of us who could do with a few more wins.

Not taking the bait

I’m not talking about walking towards Baron when your team has no vision. I’m talking about not escalating a fight when someone makes a negative comment. I honestly cannot stress this enough. If someone starts to show even a small amount of negativity or flame then use the mute function that Riot has thoughtfully provided you with.

That guy is going to have nothing constructive to say during this game if he thinks that flaming his own team is going to help him win. In fact he’s actively chosen to make the game harder for himself, and you by proxy, because he thinks that pointing out other people’s mistakes and making them feel small is more important than winning.

Mute him.

Positive Communication

It’s a little thing but it turns out not being a cretin makes the overall experience of the game more fun for everyone involved. I’m fairly certain no-one cares that you should be diamond, the moment you start picking on someone on my team then you’ve lost my respect.

I’d rather spend my days playing with pleasant team-mates who might even be worse than someone who flames and rages (statistically they probably are worse because ragers are losing games and dropping down in ELO to come play with me) but they don’t ruin my game experience.

Threats

This is honestly a pet peeve of mine. If you threaten to AFK or feed because someone ‘stole’ your buff or because someone is flaming you, then you are as bad as them.

Riot has given you the tools to ignore those who use the chat system as their own personal therapy couch (Look, the mute function has come up again, what a surprise) but if you’re getting frustrated over the game not going your way, then making threats generally doesn’t solve anything.

You might feel better when players like me try to appeal to your human side and ask you “please don’t leave Mr Super Middle-Laner”. You might get a kick out of the fact that I begged you to come back but much like the flamers from above, I honestly cannot stand you. I’m just laughing about it with my duo-q buddy on Skype because I know I’m going to win the game whilst you free-fall through the divisions.

Conclusion

Threats, flaming and getting frustrated get you nowhere in League of Legends and ruin the overall game experience for both yourself and those around you.

If you’re finding you’re playing with ‘n00bs’ it might be your attitude holding you back. If you find yourself seeing red then yell at your computer screen or tell your mates on Skype your opinion because they will laugh about it but be able to move on.

Let’s not ruin this game.