League of Legends – The State of SoloQ

League has had a toxicity problem for a while. As much as we might want to deny it, it's a fact. 

The game became notorious in the minds of the players of other Esports titles because of just how bad it was. This is all talking about a few years back; in the current day, the issue is much worse. 

The League community at large has hit an all-time peak of toxic player count. Every other SoloQ game you play, you end up running into a griever, or just some random character that doesn't care and is only there to make everybody's time playing the game miserable. 

This sucks the fun out of playing and encourages even more people to take part in the misery, spreading the irritation throughout the player base, which breads even more toxicity. 

What's the Solution?

Dealing with a "toxic player base" is no easy task. We've seen Blizzard make a mess of it with Overwatch, although that was over-policing and turning the competitive scene into a PG friendly nursery. Ubisoft has done a bit of a better job with Rainbow, although again, that is policing toxicity in the form of the chat. 

The only other game that has ever had this specific kind of toxic problem on a large scale is CSGO, although not nearly to the extent of League. The solution that Valve came up with was Overwatch, which is a system that lets reputable players watch reported players play games for any proof of hacking or grieving.

The system isn't perfect, and with CS going to free play, it's in a world of trouble on its own, but it does make things better. 

Seeing a solution like this implemented into League would be welcome at the very least, although you have to think that Riot needs to come up with a more aggressive plan to deal with the problems. 

Mass Requests

Generally, when you want something changed in a competitive game, you need to get together in mass and demand it. Game developers are stubborn. Ex-pro and League veteran Voyboy seems to echo that sentiment. They made a nine-minute video discussing the issue on YouTube that has blown up in the gaming community, and has been responded to with praise and agreement. 

Voyboy effectively calls out Riot for seemingly ignoring the growing parasite that is killing the game and puts the pressure on them to come up with a solution. 

Regardless of where you land on the issue, it's hard to deny that Leauge is going to go on the decline if Riot doesn't do something.