League of Legends: Social Tips for New Players

League of Legends on the Personal computer has seen more gameplay time than anything I have played in recent years. I love the game but that doesn't mean that I love the community as a whole. After playing this game for about over a year and a half, the community is still riddled with a lot of nasty, nasty individuals. Though Riot Games is taking some efforts into cleaning up the community with the early introduction of the Summoner's Code and then the recently implemented Tribunal system to discourage the bad player behaviors (not to be confused with someone playing the game badly but more of players who have no manners), it is impossible to control this problem completely especially the fact that it is a free game and everyone can always make new accounts to play the game. If you are a person of decent morality, interacting with a lot of the players in this game will shock you, that is if you never played a Defense of the Ancient clones before. When I said that these people are nasty, I meant they are really, really rude: they will do whatever they can to ridicule you and make you feel like you should no longer be alive on this earth. How bad can they get? Well, it can go from the usual "let's make fun of your mom" to racist/nationalist remarks, and all the way to death threats to you or your loved ones. I have experienced these personally and/or seen them in the reported Tribunal cases. So here is a guide to help you survive these initial encounters with the very colorful - no wait, let's not even mask that up - the very spiteful, evil people who you will definitely encounter while playing this game. Hopefully, this well help you get through the rough early impression so that you can discover the exciting gameplay deep within this masterpiece of a game.

Things may get less inviting than the login screen once you started playing the game

but there are ways for you to prepare for the darker side of the LoL community and prevail in the end.

1) Familiarize yourself with the Summoner's Code. It is your friend because it becomes a good standard on how you should interpret the behaviors of other players in the game and of course, how you yourself should behave.

2) If you are able to, it would be best to find real life friends you can play the game with. This will save you the pain of having to play with the rotten individuals just waiting for you in matchmaking.

3) Never, and I mean NEVER reply to any rude comments made towards you whether in retaliation or to defend your position. These individuals will never, ever see the errors of their ways. To them, they are always right and there is absolutely nothing you can say nor do that could change that. By participating in a debate with them, you are nourishing them with the very sustenance that they crave for: attention. Also, the conversation will bleed over to the rest of the players in the match, creating a persistent negative atmosphere in the game.

4) When you encounter rude individuals, just use the ignore feature in game so that you won't see anymore of their messages in the chat screen. Hit the tab key and the team roster will pop up. At the very right, you will see chat bubbles in conjunction to the players' names. Click on it and just enjoy the match.

5) Use the report feature at the end of the match every single time you are treated with disrespect by clicking on the exclamation icon next to the name of the player in question on the post-game screen. The impact of this is not immediate but the report will go through the Tribunal system to be judged by other players who choose to participate in that process.

6) Participate in the Tribunal itself once you have reached level 30 by logging into the Tribunal page daily and pass judgments over the reported cases. The more people are involved in this process, the better the community will become. Not only that, you will also be rewarded with Influence Points when your judgments are in sync with the majority of the community.

7) Befriend the polite players whenever you meet one. Focus on improving your skills as you keep playing the game while ignoring the ragers, griefers, and trolls. Keep doing this and you will find yourself in pure LoL heaven!

If you have been avoiding LoL before because of the things you have heard about the community, believe me, you can still find a lot to enjoy from this magnificent game. I am able to have fun playing the game daily and so can you! Ready to join the better fraction of the community? Click here to open up your free summoner account!