'League of Legends' is one of my favorite games. It also has one of the most toxic communities I've ever played with. Matches without anyone berating you for your lack of skills or your aptitude for feeding kills to the enemy team are hard to find. Generally though, the saltiest people are the ones that are the worst at the game.
Of course, there's a certain amount of trash talk to be expected in any kind of gaming. I've played games of 'Uno' that came with some pretty heated conversations, let alone games such as 'Monopoly' or 'Call of Duty.' Trash talk, no matter how intense it might seem, is acceptable among friends. Friends understand "trash talk" is part of the game and relationships must remain unaffected. People who don't recognize that don't tend to last very long in gaming circles.
There are some important distinctions necessary in that kind of talk. It cannot actually have meaning behind it and it has to be among friends. Another great way to wind up excluded from a gaming group is speaking with a little too much reality during a gaming session. You can call me names all night, but when they start connecting with real thoughts and feelings, it stops being okay. Of course, that can be a problem in a game like 'League of Legends' when I play with my friends, but it tends not to be too much of an issue for the groups I play with. Even if it is, we are all adult enough to recognize when we screw up.
Which brings us to the real problem of games like 'League of Legends,' the people who are both not my friends and not adults. I'm sure many of those people are over the age of 18, but they haven't quite grasped the principle of acting their age just yet. As I said before, there is a measure of trash talk that I expect in games, even from people I don't know. The problem comes when people far exceed what is reasonable. Joshing me for missteps and mistakes is not only expected, it's good strategy. That kind of talk can push me to make mistakes I might not otherwise. On the other hand, suggesting that I should kill myself because my play is so bad is more than a bit excessive.
Adults often can disregard negative comments as nothing more than the ravings of frustrated people who, much like myself, have sunk far too much time into a silly online game. Even so, that behavior reflects poorly on gamers and the gaming culture as a whole. We shouldn't have to be known as the community of belligerent 13-year-olds with nothing better to do than scream at strangers on the internet. I don't think trash talk needs to stop, but I do think that it should be less toxic than the current radioactive disaster that defines online gaming.
