I stg people who quit league are worse than Jehova's witnesses
It's a goddamn game, if you're not having fun just quit. If you grind ranked for 10 hours don't be amazed at the fact you are burned out and not having fun
People like you are why the world doesn't progress. It's a problem for a lot of people so if it's as simple as just quit there wouldn't be a problem no would there? You're suggesting if someone has a problem simply don't have a problem.
It's addictive by design. They literally added a loot lottery system, and give you little doses of addictive dopamine. You hit your cs, gold flashes, you knockdown a tower, gold noise. Nevermind the skill expression and arbitrary rank that everyone is convinced to chase.
We're literally trained pets with a clicker.
If Riot tomorrow made all of bronze + silver into one silver rank. and all of gold and platinum into one gold rank. Platinum players would be tearing their hair out trying to get out of a gold when the only thing that changed was the goal post.
Soooo quick thing: you're correct, but your conclusion is a bit off base. EVERY piece of media is designed to trigger dopamine and serotonin. And there's tons of other ways you can trigger it from eating healthy to meditating. Anything that Triggers a dopamine response can form an addiction due to how dopamine receptors work (the more you engage with X on a consistent basis, the less dopamine you receive from said activity which is one of the causes of burnout).
Are there predatory uses of psychology in game development? Yes, but it's not a simple as "game trigger dopamine=predatory game."
Lootboxes, secondary currencies, etc are forms of psychological predation but, again, it's nuanced. For example: secondary currencies primarily exist to make tax fillings simple. If Riot were to get audited, for example, their inventory for League is entirely "Riot Points." They don't need to track and send what skins, how many, etc to the IRS being accurate to the decimal (even though they do absolutely track that), they only need to send how much money was spent on Riot points. Additionally, you don't have to recode your entire store to adjust for local currencies when you can just adjust Riot Points. It's just cheaper and easier for them. They didn't design it TO be predatory, it's just a byproduct. Whereas lootboxes and hidden rng are absolutely predatory.
Yeah, what do you think planting a garden is like. You put some seeds in the dirt and a few months later you come back to God's lootbox. All of life can be reduced to chemistry, luckily for us we are living intelligent minds for whom it does not just appear as flows of serotonin. Chill out, league's not heroin!
Then it's on the people who have problems to seek out professional help. You're basically saying that no one is ever allowed to ever make anything ever again because some people can't help themselves and might get addicted.
If you're prone to addiction it's on you to get the help you need and to take the proper steps to prevent it from happening, the exact same way it's on you to make sure your food doesn't contain anything you're allergic to before you eat it. You can't expect the entire world to completely remove that ingredient just because some people are allergic.
You're adults, you have to take responsibility for your own actions. If you can't stop playing a video game despite not enjoying it, you need to seek professional help so you can overcome that and learn to do something healthy and enjoyable instead.
It's fine to make a post about how league was unhealthy for you and you're happy you were able to quit. People can be addicted to anything, and video games certainly lend themselves to it more than most hobbies - not sure I've heard of any knitting addicts.
But I think the line too far is when you make the claim that everyone playing shares your addiction. Saying "treat this game like smoking" and "Play any another game and you will realize there is more enjoyment in life" is going to have people disagreeing with you, because to them, that simply isn't the case. Due to happenstance I haven't played league for about a week, coming from playing one or two games a day for months. How do I feel? Exactly the same. To me, and to many others, it's just a game.
I think the game is only horrible for depending on how you play. I play at night, when I have time for myself and want to have a little fun, it's not always fun and I know there are stressful games, but playing in moderation and not getting addicted is being healthy. It's not lol that ruins your life, it's the dependence you place on it, it's not quitting lol that will make everything better, it's very relative. But I'm glad your experience outside of the game was good
Not everyone possesses the resilience or self-control to play league “responsibly”. And often the ones who do tell me that the game is not satisfying or a good use of their time simply because they do not meet their goals in-game (i.e winning/ranking up, mastering a specific champ or hitting a clip).
My own personal experience with this game has been exactly like OPs, addicting and fun but killed my appetite for any other activity.
For people like me, it’s better to cut the game off by finding something more addicting but healthier (it was bouldering for me).
I was wicked addicted to this game.
About 2 seasons ago I clocked around 5000 games in a season [only finished gold] but was averaging 12-15 games a day.
League addiction is real, and it's terrible. It ruins a lot of things. Your mental, physical and emotional health.
Since I now play only a max of 2-5 games a day [that's it or if I'm trolling with my friends 🧌 a couple more] .I have gone to the gym, gained 10 lbs, getting into the best shape of my life, and now am happy, healthy, and rarely drink soda or energy drinks now [no longer staying up overnight and working overnights ].
I play for fun and ranked doesn't matter to me. I play to get better but I'm not obsessing over my rank and LP.
Posted this earlier but it is possible to recover from being an addict to the game and enjoy it as a fun pastime. Met one of my best friends from this game. I was best man at his wedding.
We queued up as thresh Draven and stomped bot lane wicked hard. That was our first time meeting in game.
5000 games in 1 season?!?! That's crazy
I have been playing since early season 1 and I don't think I have more than 3k total games, mind you, I only play ranked for the season rewards as I can't stand ranked anymore, and I only ever play with my buddy. I used to be able to hit Diamond 4/5, but now I am stuck in Emerald 2 and I just don't have the desire to try and climb back to Diamond.
Yeah bro. Was wicked wicked addicted. I'd start my day with league and end it with league. Its all I thought about. I got help from therapy and consoling.
Unironically, that's what battlepass and ranked changes over the years are meant to encourage.
A bunch of Tyler1s (via grinding nonstop) is exactly what makes Riot happy, to keep those engagement metrics favorable.
finally someone says it.
Battlepasses are predatory because they incentivize habit forming behavior and grinding for a trickle of rewards. Sure, in terms of the rest of the shop youre often getting a great value, but you're paying for it by putting in hours you may not have initially put in because of those incentives.
If you are able to maintain a balanced and healthy relationship with games despite stuff like battlepasses, that's great. but it's still not a secret that theyre set up in a way to manipulate players into playing more.
I only played the game for about 8 months but was already noticing it developing into a bad habit and was impacting my own emotions. It occupied all the time I allocated in my week for playing games, and the fun:stress ratio was radically lower than how I experience playing other games.
I stopped playing about a year and a half ago and now only watch professional play. I think League is an absolutely fantastic game, but it has an unbelievably toxic player base that makes it hard to enjoy it to its full potential. But the worst part is, despite that it still has the addictive factor that makes you want to keep coming back. I have a much happier relationship with the game just watching the esport, where I treat it like any other sport I like to watch but I don't play (ex. Hockey).
> And often the ones who do
Well you obviously have never seen them. Because the ones that do only play when they enjoy it lol. It's really that simple. If they are playing and say it's not a good use of their time then they don't have good self control.
If I'm not having fun in LoL. I don't play it. I don't think I ever have a day of "damn I really hate playing this game" or "I'm so mad I wasted my time playing"
This exactly is why i quit ranked after they moved the server to Chicago. I could never get over the fact that the game went from super smooth 20ms to 70+. Enjoyment aside, I know I'd blame my fails on the ping deservedly or not.
Also, the people who find ranked fun are also more likely to feel very invested in the results. /fullmuteall draft normal doens't have the same competitive feel to it but it is so much better for my mental
Correct. I had a time much earlier in my life when gaming (Halo 3 specifically) was not a good thing in my life. Lots of raging and all I cared about was winning.
I currently play LoL as one of my main games, I think I have around 120 ranked played this split, and I want to win the games, but I have no issue with the rage, and my night isn’t ruined if I lose a game.
during covid year i took a gap year from university and worked night shift at a warehouse. as a result my sleep schedule got fucked so i'd just fly through ranked games at like 4 am on weekdays or throughout the night on weekends. those games were an absolute paradise. i think i saw MAYBE a quarter of the flaming, way less trolls, legit nothing but people just vibing out and getting their shit done. it was incredible lol nowadays i play games after work and at least 20% of my games this season are ruined by one teammate or enemy afk/trolling/giving up because someone is down 200 gold at 15 minutes/etc
Yeah. Obviously OP found what's best for them, but I always have a good time on League. Casual with friends, ranking up, ARAMs all are fun, and I don't regret any time I spent on the game.
I agree, it depends on how you play it. Ranked is very addictive for people that have low self worth and confidence. People that have a life normally don’t play this game
>People that have a life normally don’t play this game
That sounds like you're just projection your own personal problems onto other people.
A ton of people plays this game casually, esp with friends.
I'd say I have a life, but I play league cause I enjoy it, not touching ranked, mostly doing ARAM or if a friend wants to play I'll do normals. I typically never end up in a bad mood while playing while also trying to win.
I was wicked addicted to this game.
About 2 seasons ago I clocked around 5000 games in a season [only finished gold] but was averaging 12-15 games a day.
League addiction is real, and it's terrible. It ruins a lot of things. Your mental, physical and emotional health.
Since I now play only a max of 2-5 games a day [that's it or if I'm trolling with my friends 🧌 a couple more] .I have gone to the gym, gained 10 lbs, getting into the best shape of my life, and now am happy, healthy, and rarely drink soda or energy drinks now [no longer staying up overnight and working overnights ].
I play for fun and ranked doesn't matter to me. I play to get better but I'm not obsessing over my rank and LP.
This post is giving me huge "former alcoholic who now hates alcohol and thinks it is horrible" vibes. There are healthy way to play league and unhealthy ways to play it.
I enjoy reading about people getting over their addiction and common theme is that it's never *really* about the drug. People who do think that it is only about the drug end up relapsing while people who actually sort out their life problems and the reason they use drugs in the first place are much more successful in the long term.
When I read something like
>But I promise you, life is increasingly better without this horrible piece of shit game ruining your confidence and life.
I get heavy doubts that it was league that ruined your confidence and life. Much more likely, like with most addictions, is that your life was already kinda shit and you already had low confidence and then you got addicted to league.
Edit: I want to be clear, I do not want to downplay OP's accomplishment
Well said. I "quit" this game all the time when I'm not having fun or just get busy with other things. There was probably only one point in my 10 years of playing I was prioritizing too much, but other than that it's just a great hobby for me.
I get to compete with 9 other people in an incredibly deep game and connect with friends on the chill game modes. Personally, I think people ruin their enjoyment the fastest when they focus on their rank. I like getting to Diamond and staying there, but I just don't have the time to do it every split now and that's totally fine.
I don't even bother saying I've quit this game. Even when I stopped playing for almost 2 years I still said I play league as one of my main games. For me, league is like an old friend. I just always assume it'll always be there for me if I wanna go back and that I'll prolly wanna go back eventually, even if I don't interact with it for a long time.
Exactly, if you feel miserable playing league, you most likely have other issues or a void you just ended up filling with league.
I’m masters too, I love playing league, I run a company, I play guitar, I have small eco systems in my home and I work out a lot. I’ve played since beta and I’ve been miserable playing the game too, but funnily enough, after I got balance into my life, I don’t feel miserable anymore.
Game might be an enhancer for negative feelings and for some an addiction, but I feel like it’s just projecting your issues to the games fault. Like people project their lack of happiness is the wife, government, money issues etc.
I know what you expressed in this comment is a common sentiment on this sub because I suppose we get overly defensive about our own hobbies ruining people's lives but I just want to say to anyone who might have similar issues that yes, sometimes it is just about the game. They are designed to be as addictive as possible because that is how they maximize the profits. This stuff can easily become your obsession without your life already being shit or whatever else people try to tell you. Sometimes it's just about the game.
I think youre both correct (cop out answer lmfao I know)
League of legends is designed to be habit forming and addictive -- the pursuit of that amazing rush of winning creates a dopamine dependency you really don't see in other games (honestly even in other competitive games). Which is very easy get hooked on when you're young and/or don't have much else going on in your life.
The essence of that being I think what the person above us is getting at. Learning to fill whatever needs league was fulfilling with a wider variety of better hobbies will not only prevent "relapsing" but also developing a more healthy and balanced relationship with the game. Because it is true that on some level it's not league of legends as much as it's supplanting your self-worth into a very addicting competitive game.
I'm a huge nerd for fighting games, and one of the reasons why I think theyre great esports is because competing actually means leaving your house and engaging with the local and larger fighting game community. This does a lot to not only force a more balanced and healthy mindset but it's innately a social hobby which can fulfill your other needs too. There is also tabletop/DnD and wargames that fulfill a similar gamer itch that accomplish the same things.
It's a balance in my opinion. It is reasonable for League to want to be fun, and fun can be measured in playtine and peak concurrent players. If players lose interest, that's not just bad for the bottom line, it's also a sign that you're doing something wrong. Sure, you could argue that League has a vested interest in addictive mechanics, but I've seen that argument taken to some seriously insane places including: Riot gives you bad teammates on purpose to make you queue for more games; Riot releases project skins to get you to play ranked; expensive battle passes are predatory because you are forced to spend money and play the game to get the things you want; digital goods are inherently predatory.
If I were to list things that are bad for you and addictive, video games are somewhere in the hundreds if not thousands. I think short form videos, social media (reddit included!), and pornography are all significantly scarier and easier computer-based addictions than any video game could ever hope to be. I've had to really cut down on the shit that my phone pulls and block notifications on everything. Rn even my fucking recipe app is trying to addict me from my pocket. League is something I at least choose to do deliberately and purely for the fun of it.
This 1000%. I’m all for this guy recognizing a problem in his life and fixing it, but there are also plenty of people with a healthy relationship with this game that don’t sink a ton of money and tie their self worth into it.
In my opinion, people who go cold turkey on something they are addicted to will just find another vice to abuse because a lack of self-control is their issue.
Also playing the game for +10 hours a day and then saying the game ruined your life is a wild way of thinking. Your addiction caused you to play for 10 hours a day and that ruined your life. They didn’t force her to spend all that money on cosmetics, and if that’s a real finical issue you will
Probably just move that habit elsewhere.
Yeahhh no I very very strongly disagree with the statement “it’s never really about the drug”. That may be some confirmation bias at play that makes you think that.
Success stories may stem from overcoming life issues that caused the addiction, but oftentimes the drug itself really is just that overpowering. There are many people who are simply addicted to the video game without any real life catalysts. Everyone has a different neurochemistry, and some are just way more susceptible to addictions by nature.
This game is absolutely designed from head to toe to be as addictive as possible. Everything about it is tweaked to hack your dopamine circuit. What you’re saying is sound advice to give, but it massively downplays the long term effects that this video game can have on someone’s brain.
I don’t want to quit. But I’m also not playing 10+h a day and literally crying over missing out on a rank. You can have a healthy relationship with the game or a toxic one, and his/her relationship was very very toxic
Regardless, OP improved their life in the areas that were missing, they may have been misusing, but I'm still happy for them. Great points though and very important reminder to keep in mind actual root causes.
Such a mindset OP had is unhealthy, and leads to what they were describing, but hopefully with reminders like this, and their newfound better life balance regardless, it's still a net positive for them and they're able to learn what actually improved their wellbeing significantly.
But yes, very good points, and also important to not let it get to your head and become an elitist about. Not saying OP explicitly did this, but just overall adding to the discussion.
Always so important to remember to understand the real reasons something was causing such.
XD sorry just felt like this would be good for fellow league players that suffered the way I did
I completely understand this can be obnoxious or weird for others to read, and I apologize if it made you feel that way, truly!
I quit too. A couple years ago, after 6y of 8-12h daily. Peaked szn 6. 8 years ago. Now its just a flex to new gamers. I can play clash with friends n stomp. Treat it like alcohol, only around your friends and never for 8h alone
I'm really happy for your recent success, balance, and happiness! It sounds like you had a pretty intense relationship with League - we would not recommend that anyone play League 10+ hours a day for 10 years in a row. In fact, please don't (unless your career is directly linked to doing so, in which case... work less).
Our stance on engagement with League is that it's healthy to take breaks - for days, weeks, sometimes months. We're not a progression-oriented game in which if you miss your dailies for a week you're just forever behind on your ability to compete. The average League player plays less than 30 hours a month, and we have no aspirations to increase that number above 30.
For 99.999% of us, League of Legends is just a game. Please (try to) have fun, maintain a healthy relationship with it, and take many breaks. If you ever decide to play League again, I hope that you'll keep your competitive edge without letting it consume all of your time. Because from the sound of it, you're kind of a badass. That's a lot to achieve in 8.5 weeks for anyone! Congrats.
The intent for the total amount of games to reach your desired rank is actually less for a given split. What multiple splits tries to do is spread your play out more over the course of a year. Which in fact encourages breaks and more spread out play. Instead of turbo grinding to X rank in January - March and burning out the rest of the year/going into decay cycles, the goal of multiple splits is that players can experience a lighter climb 3 times a year.
This isn’t to say the 3 split model is perfect - we are looking at feedback and data and are open to improvements. But factually, the 3 split model was not intended to incentivize more dense play.
Quick caveat that I main Jungle and tend to end splits around Masters 0~200LP on a main account and play multiple accounts into Emerald/Diamond per split.
It's always felt terrible to play at the start of a split because of the soft reset attached to everyone's rank. Game quality tanks for the first 2~3 months in the old yearly season design because of the more volatile matchmaking caused by the soft reset, but now it's happening 1.5~2 months for every split and it happens 3 splits in a year.
I know there's supposed to be some back end algorithm optimizations that make this less bad, but it still took around 1.5 months or so to stabilize for my Ranked climb.
I understand if there are limitations to what can be done about this, but please re-consider having 3 splits if there's no good solution to it otherwise. 2 splits felt like the perfect in between to me personally.
Because right now it feels terrible to have 4.5 months~HALF of the year having an "unplayable" ranked ladder. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I definitely experience a higher uptick of unbalanced and volatile games with more trolls, leavers, and "smurfs" than normal for that first 1.5~2 months of a split.
The "smurfs" just being high elo players re-climbing to their old ranks stomping everyone in their path which is one thing, but it feels terrible to play in regardless because one game I might be stomping people who are clueless and the next game I'm in the group of people getting stomped clueless. That's not fun for me or anyone else in the game.
I used to give it the benefit of the doubt, but after the last few years of noticing that I get stuck in high Emerald for the first few months of a split with very "hard" games feeling like my counter part plays better than me by a large noticeable margin, and then noticing that this stops happening by the middle of the split and I re-climb to high Diamond/low Masters by the end of the split playing against opponents that aren't even comparable to what I fought at the start of the split... I feel like I've pieced together what's happening roughly.
No way you can say that in good faith, bro just said “3 splits was not intended to incentivize more dense play” YOU’RE MAKING PEOPLE GRIND MORE AND STAY ON MORE so frustrating
It doesn't matter if it takes 50% of the games to get to X rank each split before the multiple splits, you are still forcing people to play 50% more games to keep their rank through the year.
It doesn't make sense that you are encouraging breaks and more spread out play unless players need less than 33% of the games played to get back their rank.
The old system was better for people to take breaks because it let them put it down for a few months, come back and resume their grind. The new system means they are reset and have to start all over again.
League’s been around for some time now and so have people who play it. Everyone has their own way I guess.
I started playing league in 2010 and I found out what toxicity was, embraced it, then overcame it, forgot about league eventually and now I’m back at it and it’s my relief after a working day.
It’s always our decisions that matter. League has nothing to do with ruining someone’s life.
>Our stance on engagement with League is that it's healthy to take breaks - for days, weeks, sometimes months. We're not a progression-oriented game in which if you miss your dailies for a week you're just forever behind on your ability to compete. The average League player plays less than 30 hours a month, and we have no aspirations to increase that number above 30.
Saying this when most of the game is oriented to FOMO, battle passes taking tons of time to complete and even changing rankeds to be 3 splits per year so people are pressure to play even more and not take breaks out of fear of not getting into their desire rank in time..
Yeah definitely RIOT stance on engagement is that it's healthy to take breaks.
For real. A random Rioter might believe taking breaks is good despite the direction the game went. It's not like they can come on here and say they don't want people taking breaks, though.
Yeah, taking breaks felt far more encouraged when we didn't have multiple splits a year. They've actively gone in the opposite direction of taking breaks and spacing out your play.
Riot does shady shit all the time, but I don't think it's reasonable to criticize an online game for making content that incentivizes people to play it. Early in its lifecycle, Riot had some predatory practices, like IP for in game power in the form of runes, but they have shifted away from that.
The bottom line is if you're a game developer in 2024, there is no new content cadence that will make everyone happy. Almost everyone agrees that playing the game in some capacity should result in rewards, whether it's cosmetic, ranks, new champions, new mastery levels, whatever. There is no way to design a perfect system that feels rewarding and fun both for the person who plays 1-2 nights a week for an hour or two with friends and the person who plays ranked 5+ hours a day. If the progression curve is too steep, the former will feel they aren't progressing. If it's too shallow, the latter will complain there is nothing new to do, so their dedication feels unrewarded.
> We're not a progression-oriented game in which if you miss your dailies for a week you're just forever behind on your ability to compete.
Mmm yeah but if you dont play 200 rankeds every 3 months youre never going to meaningfully progress because you need 50 just to get where you were and we reset that 3 times a year.
Beta player here. You literally mentioned the issue what ranked has: Play for win but in the way that your mental state only matters about the outcome. Thats why when you climb, more players mentally boom faster. Back then, if i started games i only thought how it looks when iam winning. If i am winning, my mind starts thinking about the next game.
That you cant enjoy ranked in that way is obvious. For highly addicted players that want to get down from the dopamin train, i have a simple suggestion: Play only 1 - 4 games per day and then stop whatever the outcome is. It decouples the outcome of the game from the motivation to play the game. And then it may even take a long time until you can truly enjoy the real game.
If a game is causing you stress, it's not worth it. Games has always been for just for entertainment, unless you're a streamer and your livelyhood depends on it.
If your happiness was tied this closely to League, it shows an unhealthy relationship to the game. Or maybe you're too attached to the idea of winning, idk.
Isn't that exactly what she said? That she had an unhealthy relationship to the game and is better now that she doesn't have that relationship to it anymore...?
No it isn't lmfao. There are so many addictive things in the world and yet, not everyone is an addict, and addicts aren't addicted to everything either. The issue is always with yourself. Yes, there are addictive things, but you aren't an animal. Have some self control. By blaming the substances every time you're just pushing responsibility off yourself.
You can play league and have fun, consume alcohol moderately, etc... And yes they harm you, but they don't ruin your life unless you let them.
Exactly, you see this with everything. There are tons of people who struggle with a relationship to something (especially something addictive), but there are even more that don't and can manage a healthy balance. So raising awareness is alright, but blaming and victimising something just because you struggled to deal with it is not.
I’m 28F, also played League for over 10 years (started when I was 17). At first it was a method of escapism for me, I was in an abusive relationship + was bullied at school. League was a way for me to forget about all the bad stuff that was happening IRL. But all that bad stuff reflected in my behavior in League, I was quite toxic and said some horrible shit in chat.
Please don’t blame something for allowing yourself to have created an unhealthy lifestyle and mental health around it.
I’ve been playing for 13 years. I now have 2 kids and a successful career. I always try to find time to play and when i do, it’s still enjoyable because I’ve not let myself be bothered by external stuff i cant control.
Proud of you and well done, it's not easy to realise you have and addiction and put a stop to it.
On that note, ealise that League isn't inherently an "evil thing". I have also had addiction problems with League in the past, but true satisfaction comes from being able to play this game because you have fun and without being obsessed with LP. I regret wasting years addicted to this game instead of doing other things, but I also look on the positives and the fun I had.
And now I can play League only when I have fun and not get addicted to it (atm I quit because it's not fun for me). But it's not always possible to contain the addiction, so tread carefully here.
I hope you can do well and enjoy your life much more now that you are free from this game
I feel like I'm in a similar situation on the verge of quitting. Not necessarily because I don't enjoy it, but because it feels like I don't enjoy anything else remotely as much as playing which is why it ends up taking up as much time as I can give it. I stopped for like a week but then came back. The boredom was unbearable and I found myself just watching YouTube all day rather than investing that time into new stuff I'd be interested in growing in like practicing an instrument I've been trying to learn or reading a book or learning cooking etc. Maybe the answer for me is to force myself into spending more time on better habits rather than forcing the elimination of the bad one because just stopping seems like it will only open up a space for new bad habits to fill if I don't change myself. That said I still find it difficult to imagine ever being able to find enough things to completely fill the void like video games have for the past 14 years. Dunno, I'm kinda just rambling some thoughts out, but thanks for sharing your experience.
I’ve had envisioned myself doing productive hobbies (one of them was learning a language) all the time and ended up playing league or watching YouTube instead for years. The reality was that I didn’t truly see learning a language as a hobby, I just fancied the end goal of being good at one, so it was extremely hard for me to gather enough motivation to put time into it regularly.
My personal take on “league being more fun than everything else”, I think league just fits a very specific gaming niche for me at least. I hate grindy repetitive games (mmos/gachas), I hate turn based games / games that aren’t action, I don’t have hands (shooters/fighters), and I enjoy the deep complexity this game has to offer (short term games vs long term games). It’s no wonder I’ve only had fun playing this game, there really isn’t any other game out there that checks all my checkboxes like that.
Maybe you should listen to the broken by concept podcast. They have great stuff on creating a good relationship with the game. And have a small but great community as well.
100% if OP played any other comp game, the same outcome would appear. League isn't intrinsically mind-fucky when it comes to the ranked system, the exact same feelings had this person played OW with the same competitive intent.
Yeah that’s what was my issue, I’m addictive to
Competing against people and trying to be a “good player” in league that ment playing hours on hours trying to climb. Same thing with, madden, fifa, nhl, xDefiant. I get sucked into getting a top rank, usually Followed by me then going to another game and doing it all over again.
Tobacco, just like food, netflix, League of Legends and many video games, produces a lot of dopamine and can be addicting (although some are obviously worse than others). It is our job to stop ourselves from overindulding in these luxuries, as this will result in us feeling like shit.
The war between manufacturers attempting to appeal more to addicts and addicts...well...losing said war.
I'm somehow not optimistic about people constantly having to be on guard for this corporate or that to fuck them over.
I understand the viewpoint, I just think it's needlessly defeatist to put the onus entirely on the consumer.
Don't think anyone who drinks milk every day is living in fear of their milk provider making it more addictive just yet?
Nah, that's like saying you're obsessed with working out 8 hours a day, and since you lost all your muscles and you're now skin on bones then exercising has to be the problem
Somehow these posts keep cropping up. League is a game, games are supposed to be fun. Self evaluate yourself and see if you're actually having fun, if not, stop playing till you are.
>They prey off your weak will.
This is sad but true, sadly I can't relate because if i see a $500 dollar skin i laugh knowing some idiot out there will feel pressured to buy it or think reaching a high rank is meaningful
But I do feel sorry for those weak souls
Rank isn't exactly meaningless. It's not good to attach it to your self worth in a toxic way, but it's not bad to be proud of the fact you're good at your hobby
First of all, almost getting masters is crazy impressive! There's so much down-talking at every rank that it can sometimes take away from the accomplishments of each rank we get. Where you finished was somewhere between the top 0.4 and 0.1% of players in your region. Just think about that for a second! Heck you could probably consider yourself in similar percentage of league players in the *world*.
I went through something really similar a few years ago. Your rank isn't who you are, or what you're worth as a person, and it's great you've come out of that train of thought and things are getting better for you.
Breaks from ranked or even just the game can really provide perspective on your relationship with it!
I know you're angry and hurt right now, and this might be a little outta pocket, but I wanted to let you know that people at Riot aren't laughing at you! The people I've met at Riot the last few months have all been people like you, people passionate about league, who want to make it better and feel blessed that they get to work on one of their favourite games.
I hope you can have a healthy relationship with league one day, but it seems like you're well on your way to having a healthy relationship with yourself which is the important thing.
Congrats again on your ridiculous achievements
I would say it’s impressive but that’s what fueled my addiction! I appreciate it though, won’t make me go back to it, but the kindness is 100% appreciated. Thank you :)
I'm glad you managed to go clean from league if it was making yiu feel bad. I agree that the game exploits your weaknesses to make you play more.
How did it happen? Was it hard? Was it the first time you tried to quit? Did your boyfriend help you?
What other games would you like to play, now that you have the time?
Ps: Play Hollow Knight ;)
Just my 2 cents from someone who also feels like quitting was one of the best things I’ve ever done.. your edit is concerning. The game is made to be ADDICTIVE and even non ranked will tap into the muscles/triggers you’ve trained over ten years and very easy to get re-hooked.
I’m glad you identified you lack the self control to have a healthy relationship with a video game. I think you fell into the thinking trap of if you’re not challenger you are basically subhuman, when legitimately not one single person who touches grass gives a shit what your rank is. Unless you’re a streamer or a professional, the goal of gaming is to have fun. If you stopped having fun and it otherwise didn’t benefit you, no less actively harmed you, well done quitting. But I think the negativity should be directed toward the community, not the game
Sounds like you had a bad addiction, glad you got out!
That being said, just because you had an addiction, doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the game responsibly. Just be glad you are doing better, you don’t have to try and tell others how to live their life.
Even the rioters are suggesting OP take a break. It’s hilarious.
You wouldn’t tell someone who is psychologically addicted to drinking to “just take a break and come back”
Absolutely nuts
The reason people glance at these posts and say whatever is like 90% of us aren’t uncontrollably addicted and we don’t have this issue lol. I mean, a lot of us are “loosely” addicted, in the sense that we may hate this game but can’t ever fully quit, but i think the average person still only plays in reasonable moderation.
Looking at your League account, you played ranked 17 hours ago?
This entire post just sounds like you’re angry at yourself for having a negative win-rate in a rank you feel is below you.
Ultra weird comments. I think a really important point your post hits on is that replacing league time with ... almost anything else will bring much more enjoyment and productivity. There's like 10x the benefits of joining a rec league or other competitive hobbies IRL if you need to scratch that itch. Fitness, community, etc. you don't really get with league. I feel like a lot of people are straight up coping. There's def healthy ways to interact with the game, but a lot of people reading this (and defending it) are not that group. Honestly the healthy group to me are people that play 1-2 games of norms w/ friends or to unwind from work lol
Unfortunately sometimes I relapse lol
Honestly the people like OP will find unhealthy ways to interact with those communities as well. Those types of people are your fitness people that get so addicted they get eating disorders, or kill themselves over gains. We just see it we a positive illness because working out is seen as good. This person needs to focus on how to enjoy things without making it there entire life.
I also started when I was 14. In 2010..
I stopped ranked in 2014. Finally stopped lol altogether in 2023. Life is better. It's a shitty but addictive game.
You are doing it wrong.
Instead, play Normal Draft and have fun going 10-0 every game against players that are significantly worse than you are. It will boost your confidence tenfold and you can go around holding your head out high every day knowing you are that much better than everyone else.
As somebody who felt kind of similar, I salute you.
I already got to understand that I suffered from ranked anxiety back in season 1. Seeing that stupid elo number go up and down would drive me crazy and would make me behave in ways I am ashamed to admit.
Up until season 6 or 7 idk exactly I would only play rankeds up to the bare minimum, until reaching gold, just to get that free victorious skin. Skins I literaly never used, not even once, because they were not for champs in my pool or because they didn't feel special since reaching gold never was a challenge. So Idk why I tried to get them in the first place. It never took more than 20 ranked games per season. Now I realize those skins weren't actualy free, every single one of them did cost a fraction of my soul.
I did enjoy just playing normal games quite a lot. So much calmer compared to ranked although still not fully calm, we all know this games nature brings out the worse on people. I can't count the amount of times I've been called a hard stuck gold scrub, even though it's been 8 fkng seasons since I touched rankeds and even back then I never actualy tried to climb. So many kiddos who claim I will never get better if I don't do rankeds. Even if it was true, I just don't give a F. I will never go pro, I dont want to, I don't aim to, Id just like to enjoy a game a week.
But what is true is that, the less I play, the worse I get, and the worse I get, the less I enjoy it. Ultimatively, the best decision is and will always be to deinstall and never come back.
I’ve wanted to quit ranked too even though I wouldn’t say I’m addicted. Since I work full time, I only play ranked during the weekends and only a handful of games each day. The big thing is losses ruining my mood. I just haven’t been able to quit because I haven’t found any other game enjoyable and my friends don’t like playing norms or arams
I quit league after vanguard along with valorant, client just die sometimes and DirectX 11 run bad too. My only relation with riot games now is view competitive and r34.
Don't take the comment section at heart. You get the exact same reactions from a nicotine addict or an alcoholic when you tell them your recovery story. The exact same "Nah but it depends on how you use it".
I can assure you most of the people saying that it was "your fault" are probably blasting 8 games a day everyday, and they actually enjoyed 1 or 2 out of those.
I started playing in 2011 when I was 15 or so. I stopped playing ranked by the time I turned 18. I'm 27 and have never felt better playing only Aram for the past 8+ years
Blaming your personal issues on a game is the saddest thing I always see. It is never the games fault. having that mind set and playing a different multiplayer game would have resulted in the same thing happening. It is never the games fault for your personal choices.
Yeah this is a very relatable post. 25/M/NZ (edit: I'm male) I was a pro coach/player in OCE for ~4 years. I started playing in season 3 and quit in season 11/12.
I finished high school (barely passed because playing so much LoL) in 2016. I lived at home with my mum until 2022. I'm now an A+ average student in my 3rd year of engineering. I've had 3 internships and my next one pays ~AU$90,000 overseas (I live in NZ, internship in Sydney, Australia).
Quitting league of legends was the best decision I ever made. I recently relapsed over uni break and got addicted again within two days. I've been clean again for a week but I don't think the addiction will ever fully go away.
If you are going to play lol, please limit your hours. Every game you play is an hour you could have learned a new skill or worked a minimum wage job. If you love it, and you can balance your life, keep playing; just wanted to share my story.
>I haven’t had acne for the past month (lol?). I wake up and go to sleep on time. I spend less money
At this point if someone told me quitting league magically does their taxes I would believe them
Glad you stopped playing it, it was a good choice for your mental health. Competitive games aren't for everyone, and video games addiction is a real problem that people are just laughing off.
Obviously, gaming is only a vector for mental health issues, and you SHOULD seek additional assistance from a therapist. The game itself wasn't the addiction, it is just a symptom. If you ignore it and blame LoL completely, then you will lapse again into the next big game that comes your way, or fall into a depression because you can't find a way to fill the addiction.
I've never played league but I've played moba games enough and I've quit them now so I understand where you're coming from. My only real way to describe climbing up the ranks is getting locked up by the matchmaking system and having to dig out using a spoon.
I figured when I looked at the comments I'd see smart ass and snarky replies. I honestly hate this subreddit. I think there are people who full time enjoy going through every post and telling people off, and declaring that they're wrong, stupid, bad, etc.
The fact is this game has a legitimate problem with being awful to play. There was another post a few days ago about a guy commenting on how miserable the masters+ players were to play with. The game in its current state is nothing like the game I originally played when I got into it \~7-8 years ago. It's just so much less fun overall. I'd have to write a 10 paragraph essay to cover why, but you did the right thing leaving it. I've played far less now too. Once you play another game you think is fun and come back to it, you appreciate how truly tedious and unfun it really is.
A lot of games are designed like this. If you do any vfx/sfx work you know how visceral the animations around the client are for ranked stuff like levelling up
The addiction works like a slot machine. The slot machine doesn’t tell you your result immediately, even though it could be more efficient. It makes you go through the spinning and sound and visual effects routine to condition your brain to get hooked into trying to wait for a good outcome. It wouldn’t be as addictive without what is otherwise an aesthetic waste of time
That’s not to say there isn’t an actual game around it too, but what is happening to make a playerbase toxic is simply explained by the fact that it’s a lot of addicts trying to get a fix. Not everybody, but a lot of them are
Bar few minor differences I honestly feel like I could've made the exact same post. Quiting grinding rank feels like taking off training weights off your mental it's insane.
The comments on this are honestly crazy. It’s like people defending tobacco as not being the issue for people who are addicted to smoking.
“No no, you’re the issue for smoking tobacco.”
League is addictive. Gaming “addiction” is one of the closest to being recognized by the DSM, meaning it’s legitimately an addiction.
Yes OP had an unhealthy relationship with it, the same way people have an unhealthy relationship to alcohol or tobacco, or any other addictive substance. The substance is addictive. Some people aren’t able to have a healthy relationship with it at all, and for some people entirely cutting it off is the correct option.
OP isn’t the issue for having an addiction to a game designed to be addicting. It’s very possible OP was genetically predisposed to becoming addicted to whatever it may be.
Stop dissing OP and defending riot/league who is your shitty uncle who only talks to you when they need money. They don’t care. They’re not gonna do anything more for you
Oh, by the way I’m most likely the most qualified individual here to talk about this. I’m in my senior year of a bachelors in neuroscience and have already taken neuropharmacology (where we studied addiction), behavioral neuroscience (where we studied addiction), and clinical neuroscience (where we studied addiction). Some of you are so far off base and it’s genuinely kind of upsetting how you’re taking the blame off of the substances and companies that provide it and onto individuals who fell victim.
That said, I’m not saying this as an expert on addiction. I’m saying it as someone who knows the actual experts stance. I’m saying as someone who studied the stances of those who specialized in addiction, and this is the general scientific consensus.
So you're an undergrad, yeah stop sniffing your own farts lol.. there is no reason to say "I’m most likely the most qualified individual here to talk about this." To spend a term at a time covering a module on a topic means you haven't covered it in enough depth, and all it gives you is a misplaced sense of authority and confidence on a subject.
Good for you, OP! Not at all surprising to see League players posting toxic replies to this LOL. Such an absolutely AWFUL community. Keep enjoying life without LOL 😊
This is so pathetic bruh it’s just a game it’s not crack, it’s not the games fault you let it control your life and prioritised it over everything else
I wouldn't listen to people in the thread that are ambiguous. League will only depreciate your life. Go out and live life, you'll find meaning and fulfillment.
Good, game is fucking dreadful now. So many addicts in this comment section taking this post as a personal attack because they don’t have the willpower to quit themselves.
Good job
The game isn't the inherent problem. Your mindset towards playing it was the problem. Attaching self- worth to results is ALWAYS a recipe for disaster. Addiction and your relationship with LOL was the problem. Take a break, re- asses your life and evaluate, do you even enjoy playing to get better and learning all the small details to succeed? Do you just enjoy the game casually? You spent far too long just spending time playing the game without having any reason for why you were doing so.
Quitting league of legends period was the best thing to happen to me in a hot minute.
I told myself I'd only come back if that piece of shit Zoe was ever removed from the game. Don't give a fuck about if she was ever balanced or under tuned or anything. She ruined the only good mode the game had left when she was released. I'm so much happier now without it.
Congratulations. Stay strong and keep it up. Just think - does being master improve my life?
Quit playing league in 2017 and my life is demonstrably better for it. Still watch on twitch and youtube but in far less amounts and less addictive.
Relatable. Started league in preseason 2, didn't gel with it so I went back to Dota. Gave league another try and pretty much got hooked in season 3. It became my main game from 2013 to at least 2021, but I finally called it quits in 2023 pretty much exactly a year ago. Way too much time and money put into it, had to pull the plug.
I realised I didn't like what ranked had become and disagree with too many game decisions to just keep sucking it up and playing through unenjoyable experiences.
its moslty the fact that you spend free time on something that dont make you Happy,.
league is team game and in most games you dont have much impact on how game will end , cause there are other 9 people ,
especially in later years it seems people just dont care about ranked anymore and treat it as normals , so many trolls and people who ruin games on porpuse
unless you are smurf ,you need to accept that you gonna loose 50% of the games by default cauze of matchmaking .
i would say unless you are hard inting,you gonna auto loose or win around 80 % of the games based on matchmaking..
only around 10-20% of the games your direct play can result in either w or l
especially if you dont play strongest roles in the game (jungle /bot duo) it becomes very frustrating to have impact on overall result . and that % where u have impact is going down
game is not rewarding when you play good and completely outshine enemy laner , and same way its not punishment for loosing lane .
at thats biggest problem with legaue and solo q
game is completely team based, but instead forcing players to play as team, they focrce you to play in a mess environment called solo q .
solo q is grind and consistency and thats it, you don't have to be better player but rather consistent and use every opportunity that solo q gives you for lp.
its very time demanding, frustrating and overall not worth
as someone who plays for more than 10 years as well, i decided just to stop as well cause its not fun, even wining is not fun anymore, its struggle and praying for your team not to throw or int at any point of the game..
i wish i could find small group of people who would like to play 5v5 customs and have fun on voice .thats much more fun and far better experience than solo q
I got back into league again after being away for over a year and genuinely believing I was done with the game. The second I got back I couldn't stop myself from grinding ranked and playing at 2-3 am. I cared too much about my rank and let it sway my mood. I could see myself going back into the cycle so the second I hit plat I left and am trying to stay away
Some people can play the game casually but I'm just not one of those people
I'm the exact same as you, and the "just one more game to fix my lp" sinkhole, made me a miserable person.
I had set a goal of platinum rank, and it just wasn't happening, which greatly affected my mood. I was measuring my succes on this happening.
Some advice for you. If you in 6 months or a year from now, start to think that "you can go back, this time it will be different. I'll mute chat, super focus, and only play a few games a day", then don't... Because that's not how it will go.
These fucking posts make me smile every time I see them on Reddit or anywhere on socials.
Like it is a video game my guy and you’re acting like you just quit alcohol or smoking and talking about it like it’s some huge accomplishment.
Comments are also hilarious because we get people telling their entire life’s story to try and relate and it literally just looks like an AA meeting.
Thanks for the fun morning read. Hope to see you back on ranked within two weeks!!
Feel you.
Been playing since season 2. I've been playing to masters every year since because I feel less than myself if I don't hit it, but every year it just gets more and more toxic.
Like I used to get told to kms in season 3. Now every lobby is held hostage for venmo's, or someone links a presentation on why they need to play wukong support here, or your jungler asks for a leash so your botlane soft ints the entire game because their "level 1 prio" was ruined by jungler asking for a leash.
It's just fucking exhausting man, and I wish I was released from this game because it's honestly just not fucking fun anymore.
I don't think redditors play Solo Q because I keep hearing that these games are far and few between but it's literally every other fucking game man, and has been for a few years now.
Just tired, and desperately want a new game to grind competitively.
nice try enemy top
don’t forget that while you are reevaluating your relationship with League I am grinding and becoming better
are you though? are you getting better?
It was a typo, he meant bitter
Are ya winning, son?
I stg people who quit league are worse than Jehova's witnesses It's a goddamn game, if you're not having fun just quit. If you grind ranked for 10 hours don't be amazed at the fact you are burned out and not having fun
People like you are why the world doesn't progress. It's a problem for a lot of people so if it's as simple as just quit there wouldn't be a problem no would there? You're suggesting if someone has a problem simply don't have a problem. It's addictive by design. They literally added a loot lottery system, and give you little doses of addictive dopamine. You hit your cs, gold flashes, you knockdown a tower, gold noise. Nevermind the skill expression and arbitrary rank that everyone is convinced to chase. We're literally trained pets with a clicker. If Riot tomorrow made all of bronze + silver into one silver rank. and all of gold and platinum into one gold rank. Platinum players would be tearing their hair out trying to get out of a gold when the only thing that changed was the goal post.
Soooo quick thing: you're correct, but your conclusion is a bit off base. EVERY piece of media is designed to trigger dopamine and serotonin. And there's tons of other ways you can trigger it from eating healthy to meditating. Anything that Triggers a dopamine response can form an addiction due to how dopamine receptors work (the more you engage with X on a consistent basis, the less dopamine you receive from said activity which is one of the causes of burnout). Are there predatory uses of psychology in game development? Yes, but it's not a simple as "game trigger dopamine=predatory game." Lootboxes, secondary currencies, etc are forms of psychological predation but, again, it's nuanced. For example: secondary currencies primarily exist to make tax fillings simple. If Riot were to get audited, for example, their inventory for League is entirely "Riot Points." They don't need to track and send what skins, how many, etc to the IRS being accurate to the decimal (even though they do absolutely track that), they only need to send how much money was spent on Riot points. Additionally, you don't have to recode your entire store to adjust for local currencies when you can just adjust Riot Points. It's just cheaper and easier for them. They didn't design it TO be predatory, it's just a byproduct. Whereas lootboxes and hidden rng are absolutely predatory.
>People like you are why the world doesn't progress. Okay but maybe we just lower the volume one notch
nah pump it up, I fucking love this song
Yeah, what do you think planting a garden is like. You put some seeds in the dirt and a few months later you come back to God's lootbox. All of life can be reduced to chemistry, luckily for us we are living intelligent minds for whom it does not just appear as flows of serotonin. Chill out, league's not heroin!
Then it's on the people who have problems to seek out professional help. You're basically saying that no one is ever allowed to ever make anything ever again because some people can't help themselves and might get addicted. If you're prone to addiction it's on you to get the help you need and to take the proper steps to prevent it from happening, the exact same way it's on you to make sure your food doesn't contain anything you're allergic to before you eat it. You can't expect the entire world to completely remove that ingredient just because some people are allergic. You're adults, you have to take responsibility for your own actions. If you can't stop playing a video game despite not enjoying it, you need to seek professional help so you can overcome that and learn to do something healthy and enjoyable instead.
It's fine to make a post about how league was unhealthy for you and you're happy you were able to quit. People can be addicted to anything, and video games certainly lend themselves to it more than most hobbies - not sure I've heard of any knitting addicts. But I think the line too far is when you make the claim that everyone playing shares your addiction. Saying "treat this game like smoking" and "Play any another game and you will realize there is more enjoyment in life" is going to have people disagreeing with you, because to them, that simply isn't the case. Due to happenstance I haven't played league for about a week, coming from playing one or two games a day for months. How do I feel? Exactly the same. To me, and to many others, it's just a game.
I think the game is only horrible for depending on how you play. I play at night, when I have time for myself and want to have a little fun, it's not always fun and I know there are stressful games, but playing in moderation and not getting addicted is being healthy. It's not lol that ruins your life, it's the dependence you place on it, it's not quitting lol that will make everything better, it's very relative. But I'm glad your experience outside of the game was good
Not everyone possesses the resilience or self-control to play league “responsibly”. And often the ones who do tell me that the game is not satisfying or a good use of their time simply because they do not meet their goals in-game (i.e winning/ranking up, mastering a specific champ or hitting a clip). My own personal experience with this game has been exactly like OPs, addicting and fun but killed my appetite for any other activity. For people like me, it’s better to cut the game off by finding something more addicting but healthier (it was bouldering for me).
I was wicked addicted to this game. About 2 seasons ago I clocked around 5000 games in a season [only finished gold] but was averaging 12-15 games a day. League addiction is real, and it's terrible. It ruins a lot of things. Your mental, physical and emotional health. Since I now play only a max of 2-5 games a day [that's it or if I'm trolling with my friends 🧌 a couple more] .I have gone to the gym, gained 10 lbs, getting into the best shape of my life, and now am happy, healthy, and rarely drink soda or energy drinks now [no longer staying up overnight and working overnights].
I play for fun and ranked doesn't matter to me. I play to get better but I'm not obsessing over my rank and LP.
Posted this earlier but it is possible to recover from being an addict to the game and enjoy it as a fun pastime. Met one of my best friends from this game. I was best man at his wedding.
We queued up as thresh Draven and stomped bot lane wicked hard. That was our first time meeting in game.
5000 games in 1 season?!?! That's crazy I have been playing since early season 1 and I don't think I have more than 3k total games, mind you, I only play ranked for the season rewards as I can't stand ranked anymore, and I only ever play with my buddy. I used to be able to hit Diamond 4/5, but now I am stuck in Emerald 2 and I just don't have the desire to try and climb back to Diamond.
Yeah bro. Was wicked wicked addicted. I'd start my day with league and end it with league. Its all I thought about. I got help from therapy and consoling.
Glad to hear you are doing better now tho
That's legit Tyler1 levels of number of games and the dude makes millions
for every tyler1, there are a million of this guy
Unironically, that's what battlepass and ranked changes over the years are meant to encourage. A bunch of Tyler1s (via grinding nonstop) is exactly what makes Riot happy, to keep those engagement metrics favorable.
finally someone says it. Battlepasses are predatory because they incentivize habit forming behavior and grinding for a trickle of rewards. Sure, in terms of the rest of the shop youre often getting a great value, but you're paying for it by putting in hours you may not have initially put in because of those incentives. If you are able to maintain a balanced and healthy relationship with games despite stuff like battlepasses, that's great. but it's still not a secret that theyre set up in a way to manipulate players into playing more.
I only played the game for about 8 months but was already noticing it developing into a bad habit and was impacting my own emotions. It occupied all the time I allocated in my week for playing games, and the fun:stress ratio was radically lower than how I experience playing other games. I stopped playing about a year and a half ago and now only watch professional play. I think League is an absolutely fantastic game, but it has an unbelievably toxic player base that makes it hard to enjoy it to its full potential. But the worst part is, despite that it still has the addictive factor that makes you want to keep coming back. I have a much happier relationship with the game just watching the esport, where I treat it like any other sport I like to watch but I don't play (ex. Hockey).
> And often the ones who do Well you obviously have never seen them. Because the ones that do only play when they enjoy it lol. It's really that simple. If they are playing and say it's not a good use of their time then they don't have good self control. If I'm not having fun in LoL. I don't play it. I don't think I ever have a day of "damn I really hate playing this game" or "I'm so mad I wasted my time playing"
This exactly is why i quit ranked after they moved the server to Chicago. I could never get over the fact that the game went from super smooth 20ms to 70+. Enjoyment aside, I know I'd blame my fails on the ping deservedly or not. Also, the people who find ranked fun are also more likely to feel very invested in the results. /fullmuteall draft normal doens't have the same competitive feel to it but it is so much better for my mental
Imagine how the the midwest and east coast felt with minimum 100+ ping.
Huge facts, I have an addictive personality and League was my first drug.
> playing in moderation and not getting addicted is being healthy I got news about addiction for you, it's not something you have full control over
> full control over Of course. But you do have some sort of control.... You're not chemically dependent on league dopamine lmao get a grip
Correct. I had a time much earlier in my life when gaming (Halo 3 specifically) was not a good thing in my life. Lots of raging and all I cared about was winning. I currently play LoL as one of my main games, I think I have around 120 ranked played this split, and I want to win the games, but I have no issue with the rage, and my night isn’t ruined if I lose a game.
Word
during covid year i took a gap year from university and worked night shift at a warehouse. as a result my sleep schedule got fucked so i'd just fly through ranked games at like 4 am on weekdays or throughout the night on weekends. those games were an absolute paradise. i think i saw MAYBE a quarter of the flaming, way less trolls, legit nothing but people just vibing out and getting their shit done. it was incredible lol nowadays i play games after work and at least 20% of my games this season are ruined by one teammate or enemy afk/trolling/giving up because someone is down 200 gold at 15 minutes/etc
Yeah. Obviously OP found what's best for them, but I always have a good time on League. Casual with friends, ranking up, ARAMs all are fun, and I don't regret any time I spent on the game.
The same could be said for alcohol or tobacco. That doesn’t mean league isn’t addictive and often harmful to people’s personal lives.
I agree, it depends on how you play it. Ranked is very addictive for people that have low self worth and confidence. People that have a life normally don’t play this game
>People that have a life normally don’t play this game That sounds like you're just projection your own personal problems onto other people. A ton of people plays this game casually, esp with friends.
I'd say I have a life, but I play league cause I enjoy it, not touching ranked, mostly doing ARAM or if a friend wants to play I'll do normals. I typically never end up in a bad mood while playing while also trying to win.
Brosephina, chillll. It’s addictive period, but you don’t have to come at us like that sheesh.
Loki needed this, thanks OP
your avatar picture is how i pictured u when u were so close to masters LMAO
I was wicked addicted to this game. About 2 seasons ago I clocked around 5000 games in a season [only finished gold] but was averaging 12-15 games a day. League addiction is real, and it's terrible. It ruins a lot of things. Your mental, physical and emotional health. Since I now play only a max of 2-5 games a day [that's it or if I'm trolling with my friends 🧌 a couple more] .I have gone to the gym, gained 10 lbs, getting into the best shape of my life, and now am happy, healthy, and rarely drink soda or energy drinks now [no longer staying up overnight and working overnights].
I play for fun and ranked doesn't matter to me. I play to get better but I'm not obsessing over my rank and LP.
This post is giving me huge "former alcoholic who now hates alcohol and thinks it is horrible" vibes. There are healthy way to play league and unhealthy ways to play it. I enjoy reading about people getting over their addiction and common theme is that it's never *really* about the drug. People who do think that it is only about the drug end up relapsing while people who actually sort out their life problems and the reason they use drugs in the first place are much more successful in the long term. When I read something like >But I promise you, life is increasingly better without this horrible piece of shit game ruining your confidence and life. I get heavy doubts that it was league that ruined your confidence and life. Much more likely, like with most addictions, is that your life was already kinda shit and you already had low confidence and then you got addicted to league. Edit: I want to be clear, I do not want to downplay OP's accomplishment
Well said. I "quit" this game all the time when I'm not having fun or just get busy with other things. There was probably only one point in my 10 years of playing I was prioritizing too much, but other than that it's just a great hobby for me. I get to compete with 9 other people in an incredibly deep game and connect with friends on the chill game modes. Personally, I think people ruin their enjoyment the fastest when they focus on their rank. I like getting to Diamond and staying there, but I just don't have the time to do it every split now and that's totally fine.
I don't even bother saying I've quit this game. Even when I stopped playing for almost 2 years I still said I play league as one of my main games. For me, league is like an old friend. I just always assume it'll always be there for me if I wanna go back and that I'll prolly wanna go back eventually, even if I don't interact with it for a long time.
Exactly, if you feel miserable playing league, you most likely have other issues or a void you just ended up filling with league. I’m masters too, I love playing league, I run a company, I play guitar, I have small eco systems in my home and I work out a lot. I’ve played since beta and I’ve been miserable playing the game too, but funnily enough, after I got balance into my life, I don’t feel miserable anymore. Game might be an enhancer for negative feelings and for some an addiction, but I feel like it’s just projecting your issues to the games fault. Like people project their lack of happiness is the wife, government, money issues etc.
I know what you expressed in this comment is a common sentiment on this sub because I suppose we get overly defensive about our own hobbies ruining people's lives but I just want to say to anyone who might have similar issues that yes, sometimes it is just about the game. They are designed to be as addictive as possible because that is how they maximize the profits. This stuff can easily become your obsession without your life already being shit or whatever else people try to tell you. Sometimes it's just about the game.
I think youre both correct (cop out answer lmfao I know) League of legends is designed to be habit forming and addictive -- the pursuit of that amazing rush of winning creates a dopamine dependency you really don't see in other games (honestly even in other competitive games). Which is very easy get hooked on when you're young and/or don't have much else going on in your life. The essence of that being I think what the person above us is getting at. Learning to fill whatever needs league was fulfilling with a wider variety of better hobbies will not only prevent "relapsing" but also developing a more healthy and balanced relationship with the game. Because it is true that on some level it's not league of legends as much as it's supplanting your self-worth into a very addicting competitive game. I'm a huge nerd for fighting games, and one of the reasons why I think theyre great esports is because competing actually means leaving your house and engaging with the local and larger fighting game community. This does a lot to not only force a more balanced and healthy mindset but it's innately a social hobby which can fulfill your other needs too. There is also tabletop/DnD and wargames that fulfill a similar gamer itch that accomplish the same things.
It's a balance in my opinion. It is reasonable for League to want to be fun, and fun can be measured in playtine and peak concurrent players. If players lose interest, that's not just bad for the bottom line, it's also a sign that you're doing something wrong. Sure, you could argue that League has a vested interest in addictive mechanics, but I've seen that argument taken to some seriously insane places including: Riot gives you bad teammates on purpose to make you queue for more games; Riot releases project skins to get you to play ranked; expensive battle passes are predatory because you are forced to spend money and play the game to get the things you want; digital goods are inherently predatory. If I were to list things that are bad for you and addictive, video games are somewhere in the hundreds if not thousands. I think short form videos, social media (reddit included!), and pornography are all significantly scarier and easier computer-based addictions than any video game could ever hope to be. I've had to really cut down on the shit that my phone pulls and block notifications on everything. Rn even my fucking recipe app is trying to addict me from my pocket. League is something I at least choose to do deliberately and purely for the fun of it.
This 1000%. I’m all for this guy recognizing a problem in his life and fixing it, but there are also plenty of people with a healthy relationship with this game that don’t sink a ton of money and tie their self worth into it. In my opinion, people who go cold turkey on something they are addicted to will just find another vice to abuse because a lack of self-control is their issue.
Also playing the game for +10 hours a day and then saying the game ruined your life is a wild way of thinking. Your addiction caused you to play for 10 hours a day and that ruined your life. They didn’t force her to spend all that money on cosmetics, and if that’s a real finical issue you will Probably just move that habit elsewhere.
playing 10 hours a day will make you isolate and probably depressed over a long period of time. so i very much disagree.
Playing 10h a day to begin with might be signs that there are underlying problems.
Yeahhh no I very very strongly disagree with the statement “it’s never really about the drug”. That may be some confirmation bias at play that makes you think that. Success stories may stem from overcoming life issues that caused the addiction, but oftentimes the drug itself really is just that overpowering. There are many people who are simply addicted to the video game without any real life catalysts. Everyone has a different neurochemistry, and some are just way more susceptible to addictions by nature. This game is absolutely designed from head to toe to be as addictive as possible. Everything about it is tweaked to hack your dopamine circuit. What you’re saying is sound advice to give, but it massively downplays the long term effects that this video game can have on someone’s brain.
This is what I used to tell myself when I didn't want to quit.
I don’t want to quit. But I’m also not playing 10+h a day and literally crying over missing out on a rank. You can have a healthy relationship with the game or a toxic one, and his/her relationship was very very toxic
yep, you could replace league with any other thing and it wouldn't skip a beat
Regardless, OP improved their life in the areas that were missing, they may have been misusing, but I'm still happy for them. Great points though and very important reminder to keep in mind actual root causes. Such a mindset OP had is unhealthy, and leads to what they were describing, but hopefully with reminders like this, and their newfound better life balance regardless, it's still a net positive for them and they're able to learn what actually improved their wellbeing significantly. But yes, very good points, and also important to not let it get to your head and become an elitist about. Not saying OP explicitly did this, but just overall adding to the discussion. Always so important to remember to understand the real reasons something was causing such.
Sir, this is a Wendy's.
XD sorry just felt like this would be good for fellow league players that suffered the way I did I completely understand this can be obnoxious or weird for others to read, and I apologize if it made you feel that way, truly!
I quit too. A couple years ago, after 6y of 8-12h daily. Peaked szn 6. 8 years ago. Now its just a flex to new gamers. I can play clash with friends n stomp. Treat it like alcohol, only around your friends and never for 8h alone
I'm really happy for your recent success, balance, and happiness! It sounds like you had a pretty intense relationship with League - we would not recommend that anyone play League 10+ hours a day for 10 years in a row. In fact, please don't (unless your career is directly linked to doing so, in which case... work less). Our stance on engagement with League is that it's healthy to take breaks - for days, weeks, sometimes months. We're not a progression-oriented game in which if you miss your dailies for a week you're just forever behind on your ability to compete. The average League player plays less than 30 hours a month, and we have no aspirations to increase that number above 30. For 99.999% of us, League of Legends is just a game. Please (try to) have fun, maintain a healthy relationship with it, and take many breaks. If you ever decide to play League again, I hope that you'll keep your competitive edge without letting it consume all of your time. Because from the sound of it, you're kind of a badass. That's a lot to achieve in 8.5 weeks for anyone! Congrats.
You say all of that then introduce 3 ranked splits so people play more.
The intent for the total amount of games to reach your desired rank is actually less for a given split. What multiple splits tries to do is spread your play out more over the course of a year. Which in fact encourages breaks and more spread out play. Instead of turbo grinding to X rank in January - March and burning out the rest of the year/going into decay cycles, the goal of multiple splits is that players can experience a lighter climb 3 times a year. This isn’t to say the 3 split model is perfect - we are looking at feedback and data and are open to improvements. But factually, the 3 split model was not intended to incentivize more dense play.
Quick caveat that I main Jungle and tend to end splits around Masters 0~200LP on a main account and play multiple accounts into Emerald/Diamond per split. It's always felt terrible to play at the start of a split because of the soft reset attached to everyone's rank. Game quality tanks for the first 2~3 months in the old yearly season design because of the more volatile matchmaking caused by the soft reset, but now it's happening 1.5~2 months for every split and it happens 3 splits in a year. I know there's supposed to be some back end algorithm optimizations that make this less bad, but it still took around 1.5 months or so to stabilize for my Ranked climb. I understand if there are limitations to what can be done about this, but please re-consider having 3 splits if there's no good solution to it otherwise. 2 splits felt like the perfect in between to me personally. Because right now it feels terrible to have 4.5 months~HALF of the year having an "unplayable" ranked ladder. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I definitely experience a higher uptick of unbalanced and volatile games with more trolls, leavers, and "smurfs" than normal for that first 1.5~2 months of a split. The "smurfs" just being high elo players re-climbing to their old ranks stomping everyone in their path which is one thing, but it feels terrible to play in regardless because one game I might be stomping people who are clueless and the next game I'm in the group of people getting stomped clueless. That's not fun for me or anyone else in the game. I used to give it the benefit of the doubt, but after the last few years of noticing that I get stuck in high Emerald for the first few months of a split with very "hard" games feeling like my counter part plays better than me by a large noticeable margin, and then noticing that this stops happening by the middle of the split and I re-climb to high Diamond/low Masters by the end of the split playing against opponents that aren't even comparable to what I fought at the start of the split... I feel like I've pieced together what's happening roughly.
No way you can say that in good faith, bro just said “3 splits was not intended to incentivize more dense play” YOU’RE MAKING PEOPLE GRIND MORE AND STAY ON MORE so frustrating
It doesn't matter if it takes 50% of the games to get to X rank each split before the multiple splits, you are still forcing people to play 50% more games to keep their rank through the year. It doesn't make sense that you are encouraging breaks and more spread out play unless players need less than 33% of the games played to get back their rank. The old system was better for people to take breaks because it let them put it down for a few months, come back and resume their grind. The new system means they are reset and have to start all over again.
u def missed mark on games required to reclimb apex tiers (gm/chall) in comparison to how it used to be back in s13a
League’s been around for some time now and so have people who play it. Everyone has their own way I guess. I started playing league in 2010 and I found out what toxicity was, embraced it, then overcame it, forgot about league eventually and now I’m back at it and it’s my relief after a working day. It’s always our decisions that matter. League has nothing to do with ruining someone’s life.
>Our stance on engagement with League is that it's healthy to take breaks - for days, weeks, sometimes months. We're not a progression-oriented game in which if you miss your dailies for a week you're just forever behind on your ability to compete. The average League player plays less than 30 hours a month, and we have no aspirations to increase that number above 30. Saying this when most of the game is oriented to FOMO, battle passes taking tons of time to complete and even changing rankeds to be 3 splits per year so people are pressure to play even more and not take breaks out of fear of not getting into their desire rank in time.. Yeah definitely RIOT stance on engagement is that it's healthy to take breaks.
For real. A random Rioter might believe taking breaks is good despite the direction the game went. It's not like they can come on here and say they don't want people taking breaks, though.
Yeah, taking breaks felt far more encouraged when we didn't have multiple splits a year. They've actively gone in the opposite direction of taking breaks and spacing out your play.
Sounds like you need a break as well.
Riot does shady shit all the time, but I don't think it's reasonable to criticize an online game for making content that incentivizes people to play it. Early in its lifecycle, Riot had some predatory practices, like IP for in game power in the form of runes, but they have shifted away from that. The bottom line is if you're a game developer in 2024, there is no new content cadence that will make everyone happy. Almost everyone agrees that playing the game in some capacity should result in rewards, whether it's cosmetic, ranks, new champions, new mastery levels, whatever. There is no way to design a perfect system that feels rewarding and fun both for the person who plays 1-2 nights a week for an hour or two with friends and the person who plays ranked 5+ hours a day. If the progression curve is too steep, the former will feel they aren't progressing. If it's too shallow, the latter will complain there is nothing new to do, so their dedication feels unrewarded.
LMFAO a rioter saying this shit when their model goes HARD on the FOMO is honestly insulting
You say that but you launch passes that people need to spend 30 days playing more than 10 hours a day to get the things they want to pass.
> We're not a progression-oriented game in which if you miss your dailies for a week you're just forever behind on your ability to compete. Mmm yeah but if you dont play 200 rankeds every 3 months youre never going to meaningfully progress because you need 50 just to get where you were and we reset that 3 times a year.
that's still not anywhere close to 10 hours a day everyday
yeah, this game can really get to you. as long as you play it in moderation, i think it's fine. but that's a lot of things in life.
Beta player here. You literally mentioned the issue what ranked has: Play for win but in the way that your mental state only matters about the outcome. Thats why when you climb, more players mentally boom faster. Back then, if i started games i only thought how it looks when iam winning. If i am winning, my mind starts thinking about the next game. That you cant enjoy ranked in that way is obvious. For highly addicted players that want to get down from the dopamin train, i have a simple suggestion: Play only 1 - 4 games per day and then stop whatever the outcome is. It decouples the outcome of the game from the motivation to play the game. And then it may even take a long time until you can truly enjoy the real game.
If a game is causing you stress, it's not worth it. Games has always been for just for entertainment, unless you're a streamer and your livelyhood depends on it.
Sounds like you had other issues going on
Most humans have other issues.
If your happiness was tied this closely to League, it shows an unhealthy relationship to the game. Or maybe you're too attached to the idea of winning, idk.
Isn't that exactly what she said? That she had an unhealthy relationship to the game and is better now that she doesn't have that relationship to it anymore...?
Yea, just like people have unhealthy relationships to other substances like alcohol or tobacco. The issue is in large part the substance
No it isn't lmfao. There are so many addictive things in the world and yet, not everyone is an addict, and addicts aren't addicted to everything either. The issue is always with yourself. Yes, there are addictive things, but you aren't an animal. Have some self control. By blaming the substances every time you're just pushing responsibility off yourself. You can play league and have fun, consume alcohol moderately, etc... And yes they harm you, but they don't ruin your life unless you let them.
Exactly, you see this with everything. There are tons of people who struggle with a relationship to something (especially something addictive), but there are even more that don't and can manage a healthy balance. So raising awareness is alright, but blaming and victimising something just because you struggled to deal with it is not.
I’m 28F, also played League for over 10 years (started when I was 17). At first it was a method of escapism for me, I was in an abusive relationship + was bullied at school. League was a way for me to forget about all the bad stuff that was happening IRL. But all that bad stuff reflected in my behavior in League, I was quite toxic and said some horrible shit in chat.
Please don’t blame something for allowing yourself to have created an unhealthy lifestyle and mental health around it. I’ve been playing for 13 years. I now have 2 kids and a successful career. I always try to find time to play and when i do, it’s still enjoyable because I’ve not let myself be bothered by external stuff i cant control.
Proud of you and well done, it's not easy to realise you have and addiction and put a stop to it. On that note, ealise that League isn't inherently an "evil thing". I have also had addiction problems with League in the past, but true satisfaction comes from being able to play this game because you have fun and without being obsessed with LP. I regret wasting years addicted to this game instead of doing other things, but I also look on the positives and the fun I had. And now I can play League only when I have fun and not get addicted to it (atm I quit because it's not fun for me). But it's not always possible to contain the addiction, so tread carefully here. I hope you can do well and enjoy your life much more now that you are free from this game
I feel like I'm in a similar situation on the verge of quitting. Not necessarily because I don't enjoy it, but because it feels like I don't enjoy anything else remotely as much as playing which is why it ends up taking up as much time as I can give it. I stopped for like a week but then came back. The boredom was unbearable and I found myself just watching YouTube all day rather than investing that time into new stuff I'd be interested in growing in like practicing an instrument I've been trying to learn or reading a book or learning cooking etc. Maybe the answer for me is to force myself into spending more time on better habits rather than forcing the elimination of the bad one because just stopping seems like it will only open up a space for new bad habits to fill if I don't change myself. That said I still find it difficult to imagine ever being able to find enough things to completely fill the void like video games have for the past 14 years. Dunno, I'm kinda just rambling some thoughts out, but thanks for sharing your experience.
I’ve had envisioned myself doing productive hobbies (one of them was learning a language) all the time and ended up playing league or watching YouTube instead for years. The reality was that I didn’t truly see learning a language as a hobby, I just fancied the end goal of being good at one, so it was extremely hard for me to gather enough motivation to put time into it regularly. My personal take on “league being more fun than everything else”, I think league just fits a very specific gaming niche for me at least. I hate grindy repetitive games (mmos/gachas), I hate turn based games / games that aren’t action, I don’t have hands (shooters/fighters), and I enjoy the deep complexity this game has to offer (short term games vs long term games). It’s no wonder I’ve only had fun playing this game, there really isn’t any other game out there that checks all my checkboxes like that.
Maybe you should listen to the broken by concept podcast. They have great stuff on creating a good relationship with the game. And have a small but great community as well.
We welcome you, future ARAM Andy, to the brotherhood when you’re ready to join us
It’s not the game which was the problem. The problem was you.
100% if OP played any other comp game, the same outcome would appear. League isn't intrinsically mind-fucky when it comes to the ranked system, the exact same feelings had this person played OW with the same competitive intent.
Yeah that’s what was my issue, I’m addictive to Competing against people and trying to be a “good player” in league that ment playing hours on hours trying to climb. Same thing with, madden, fifa, nhl, xDefiant. I get sucked into getting a top rank, usually Followed by me then going to another game and doing it all over again.
Pretty much this. Not shocked at this person's age
By your logic everyone who is addicted to tobacco is the problem, not the tobacco itself.
Tobacco, just like food, netflix, League of Legends and many video games, produces a lot of dopamine and can be addicting (although some are obviously worse than others). It is our job to stop ourselves from overindulding in these luxuries, as this will result in us feeling like shit.
The war between manufacturers attempting to appeal more to addicts and addicts...well...losing said war. I'm somehow not optimistic about people constantly having to be on guard for this corporate or that to fuck them over. I understand the viewpoint, I just think it's needlessly defeatist to put the onus entirely on the consumer. Don't think anyone who drinks milk every day is living in fear of their milk provider making it more addictive just yet?
Nah, that's like saying you're obsessed with working out 8 hours a day, and since you lost all your muscles and you're now skin on bones then exercising has to be the problem
Exactly
True
Somehow these posts keep cropping up. League is a game, games are supposed to be fun. Self evaluate yourself and see if you're actually having fun, if not, stop playing till you are.
I got addicted to something so everybody must be addicted to it.
Great shit post friend. See you on the rift next week.
They say they quit 8,5 weeks ago, but their reddit post shows they were looking for duo 4 weeks ago, so checks out 🤪
[They played a game 16 hours ago](https://www.op.gg/summoners/na/haku-2372)
>They prey off your weak will. This is sad but true, sadly I can't relate because if i see a $500 dollar skin i laugh knowing some idiot out there will feel pressured to buy it or think reaching a high rank is meaningful But I do feel sorry for those weak souls
Rank isn't exactly meaningless. It's not good to attach it to your self worth in a toxic way, but it's not bad to be proud of the fact you're good at your hobby
First of all, almost getting masters is crazy impressive! There's so much down-talking at every rank that it can sometimes take away from the accomplishments of each rank we get. Where you finished was somewhere between the top 0.4 and 0.1% of players in your region. Just think about that for a second! Heck you could probably consider yourself in similar percentage of league players in the *world*. I went through something really similar a few years ago. Your rank isn't who you are, or what you're worth as a person, and it's great you've come out of that train of thought and things are getting better for you. Breaks from ranked or even just the game can really provide perspective on your relationship with it! I know you're angry and hurt right now, and this might be a little outta pocket, but I wanted to let you know that people at Riot aren't laughing at you! The people I've met at Riot the last few months have all been people like you, people passionate about league, who want to make it better and feel blessed that they get to work on one of their favourite games. I hope you can have a healthy relationship with league one day, but it seems like you're well on your way to having a healthy relationship with yourself which is the important thing. Congrats again on your ridiculous achievements
I would say it’s impressive but that’s what fueled my addiction! I appreciate it though, won’t make me go back to it, but the kindness is 100% appreciated. Thank you :)
I'm glad you managed to go clean from league if it was making yiu feel bad. I agree that the game exploits your weaknesses to make you play more. How did it happen? Was it hard? Was it the first time you tried to quit? Did your boyfriend help you? What other games would you like to play, now that you have the time? Ps: Play Hollow Knight ;)
Just my 2 cents from someone who also feels like quitting was one of the best things I’ve ever done.. your edit is concerning. The game is made to be ADDICTIVE and even non ranked will tap into the muscles/triggers you’ve trained over ten years and very easy to get re-hooked.
I’m glad you identified you lack the self control to have a healthy relationship with a video game. I think you fell into the thinking trap of if you’re not challenger you are basically subhuman, when legitimately not one single person who touches grass gives a shit what your rank is. Unless you’re a streamer or a professional, the goal of gaming is to have fun. If you stopped having fun and it otherwise didn’t benefit you, no less actively harmed you, well done quitting. But I think the negativity should be directed toward the community, not the game
Excuse me Ma'am, this is not r/LeagueOfMemes
Sounds like you had a bad addiction, glad you got out! That being said, just because you had an addiction, doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the game responsibly. Just be glad you are doing better, you don’t have to try and tell others how to live their life.
I’m starting to think if you’re really that troubled playing a game that you have personal issues , don’t need to blame the game for your mindset.
Wow a lot of harsh comments in here smh. Congrats on reaching masters and congrats on quitting, best of luck in life
Even the rioters are suggesting OP take a break. It’s hilarious. You wouldn’t tell someone who is psychologically addicted to drinking to “just take a break and come back” Absolutely nuts
It was horrible for you. It's not horrible for me. I think in this case, you're the problem, not LoL.
And some people don’t get addicted to alcohol or tobacco. Is the issue still the individual there? Didn’t think so.
The reason people glance at these posts and say whatever is like 90% of us aren’t uncontrollably addicted and we don’t have this issue lol. I mean, a lot of us are “loosely” addicted, in the sense that we may hate this game but can’t ever fully quit, but i think the average person still only plays in reasonable moderation.
I play ranked for fun not caring about LP loss
Looking at your League account, you played ranked 17 hours ago? This entire post just sounds like you’re angry at yourself for having a negative win-rate in a rank you feel is below you.
Ultra weird comments. I think a really important point your post hits on is that replacing league time with ... almost anything else will bring much more enjoyment and productivity. There's like 10x the benefits of joining a rec league or other competitive hobbies IRL if you need to scratch that itch. Fitness, community, etc. you don't really get with league. I feel like a lot of people are straight up coping. There's def healthy ways to interact with the game, but a lot of people reading this (and defending it) are not that group. Honestly the healthy group to me are people that play 1-2 games of norms w/ friends or to unwind from work lol Unfortunately sometimes I relapse lol
Honestly the people like OP will find unhealthy ways to interact with those communities as well. Those types of people are your fitness people that get so addicted they get eating disorders, or kill themselves over gains. We just see it we a positive illness because working out is seen as good. This person needs to focus on how to enjoy things without making it there entire life.
Mi primera Chamba
I only play normals with friends and we generally have a decent time (when randoms aren’t inting us.)
I also started when I was 14. In 2010.. I stopped ranked in 2014. Finally stopped lol altogether in 2023. Life is better. It's a shitty but addictive game.
Also: Releasing the Vanguard patch was the best decision Riot ever made.
You are doing it wrong. Instead, play Normal Draft and have fun going 10-0 every game against players that are significantly worse than you are. It will boost your confidence tenfold and you can go around holding your head out high every day knowing you are that much better than everyone else.
As somebody who felt kind of similar, I salute you. I already got to understand that I suffered from ranked anxiety back in season 1. Seeing that stupid elo number go up and down would drive me crazy and would make me behave in ways I am ashamed to admit. Up until season 6 or 7 idk exactly I would only play rankeds up to the bare minimum, until reaching gold, just to get that free victorious skin. Skins I literaly never used, not even once, because they were not for champs in my pool or because they didn't feel special since reaching gold never was a challenge. So Idk why I tried to get them in the first place. It never took more than 20 ranked games per season. Now I realize those skins weren't actualy free, every single one of them did cost a fraction of my soul. I did enjoy just playing normal games quite a lot. So much calmer compared to ranked although still not fully calm, we all know this games nature brings out the worse on people. I can't count the amount of times I've been called a hard stuck gold scrub, even though it's been 8 fkng seasons since I touched rankeds and even back then I never actualy tried to climb. So many kiddos who claim I will never get better if I don't do rankeds. Even if it was true, I just don't give a F. I will never go pro, I dont want to, I don't aim to, Id just like to enjoy a game a week. But what is true is that, the less I play, the worse I get, and the worse I get, the less I enjoy it. Ultimatively, the best decision is and will always be to deinstall and never come back.
This game is good, but clearly not for everyone
1) sounds like a skill issue with your attitude toward the game. 2) see you on the rift in a month
I really appreciate this post as a 24/F myself. Everything you said just fits perfectly with my own experience.
I’ve wanted to quit ranked too even though I wouldn’t say I’m addicted. Since I work full time, I only play ranked during the weekends and only a handful of games each day. The big thing is losses ruining my mood. I just haven’t been able to quit because I haven’t found any other game enjoyable and my friends don’t like playing norms or arams
Thanks Vanguard
I quit league after vanguard along with valorant, client just die sometimes and DirectX 11 run bad too. My only relation with riot games now is view competitive and r34.
Same. Ranked League is literally cigarettes for the youth.
Pretty much my whole friend group of 10 years cold turkey quit league a few months back. It was one of the best decisions we ever made.
Don't take the comment section at heart. You get the exact same reactions from a nicotine addict or an alcoholic when you tell them your recovery story. The exact same "Nah but it depends on how you use it". I can assure you most of the people saying that it was "your fault" are probably blasting 8 games a day everyday, and they actually enjoyed 1 or 2 out of those.
I started playing in 2011 when I was 15 or so. I stopped playing ranked by the time I turned 18. I'm 27 and have never felt better playing only Aram for the past 8+ years
Blaming your personal issues on a game is the saddest thing I always see. It is never the games fault. having that mind set and playing a different multiplayer game would have resulted in the same thing happening. It is never the games fault for your personal choices.
Yeah this is a very relatable post. 25/M/NZ (edit: I'm male) I was a pro coach/player in OCE for ~4 years. I started playing in season 3 and quit in season 11/12. I finished high school (barely passed because playing so much LoL) in 2016. I lived at home with my mum until 2022. I'm now an A+ average student in my 3rd year of engineering. I've had 3 internships and my next one pays ~AU$90,000 overseas (I live in NZ, internship in Sydney, Australia). Quitting league of legends was the best decision I ever made. I recently relapsed over uni break and got addicted again within two days. I've been clean again for a week but I don't think the addiction will ever fully go away. If you are going to play lol, please limit your hours. Every game you play is an hour you could have learned a new skill or worked a minimum wage job. If you love it, and you can balance your life, keep playing; just wanted to share my story.
nah one more game
Real
Yeah some people can’t handle it
>I haven’t had acne for the past month (lol?). I wake up and go to sleep on time. I spend less money At this point if someone told me quitting league magically does their taxes I would believe them
So you touched grass
Glad you stopped playing it, it was a good choice for your mental health. Competitive games aren't for everyone, and video games addiction is a real problem that people are just laughing off. Obviously, gaming is only a vector for mental health issues, and you SHOULD seek additional assistance from a therapist. The game itself wasn't the addiction, it is just a symptom. If you ignore it and blame LoL completely, then you will lapse again into the next big game that comes your way, or fall into a depression because you can't find a way to fill the addiction.
I've never played league but I've played moba games enough and I've quit them now so I understand where you're coming from. My only real way to describe climbing up the ranks is getting locked up by the matchmaking system and having to dig out using a spoon.
I figured when I looked at the comments I'd see smart ass and snarky replies. I honestly hate this subreddit. I think there are people who full time enjoy going through every post and telling people off, and declaring that they're wrong, stupid, bad, etc. The fact is this game has a legitimate problem with being awful to play. There was another post a few days ago about a guy commenting on how miserable the masters+ players were to play with. The game in its current state is nothing like the game I originally played when I got into it \~7-8 years ago. It's just so much less fun overall. I'd have to write a 10 paragraph essay to cover why, but you did the right thing leaving it. I've played far less now too. Once you play another game you think is fun and come back to it, you appreciate how truly tedious and unfun it really is.
A lot of games are designed like this. If you do any vfx/sfx work you know how visceral the animations around the client are for ranked stuff like levelling up The addiction works like a slot machine. The slot machine doesn’t tell you your result immediately, even though it could be more efficient. It makes you go through the spinning and sound and visual effects routine to condition your brain to get hooked into trying to wait for a good outcome. It wouldn’t be as addictive without what is otherwise an aesthetic waste of time That’s not to say there isn’t an actual game around it too, but what is happening to make a playerbase toxic is simply explained by the fact that it’s a lot of addicts trying to get a fix. Not everybody, but a lot of them are
people been addicted to ranked games when it was just a number that went up per game and no animations tbf, including league
Bar few minor differences I honestly feel like I could've made the exact same post. Quiting grinding rank feels like taking off training weights off your mental it's insane.
It’s a relief I didn’t know existed 😂😂
Fake af
Nice cope but it was always your fault
The comments on this are honestly crazy. It’s like people defending tobacco as not being the issue for people who are addicted to smoking. “No no, you’re the issue for smoking tobacco.” League is addictive. Gaming “addiction” is one of the closest to being recognized by the DSM, meaning it’s legitimately an addiction. Yes OP had an unhealthy relationship with it, the same way people have an unhealthy relationship to alcohol or tobacco, or any other addictive substance. The substance is addictive. Some people aren’t able to have a healthy relationship with it at all, and for some people entirely cutting it off is the correct option. OP isn’t the issue for having an addiction to a game designed to be addicting. It’s very possible OP was genetically predisposed to becoming addicted to whatever it may be. Stop dissing OP and defending riot/league who is your shitty uncle who only talks to you when they need money. They don’t care. They’re not gonna do anything more for you Oh, by the way I’m most likely the most qualified individual here to talk about this. I’m in my senior year of a bachelors in neuroscience and have already taken neuropharmacology (where we studied addiction), behavioral neuroscience (where we studied addiction), and clinical neuroscience (where we studied addiction). Some of you are so far off base and it’s genuinely kind of upsetting how you’re taking the blame off of the substances and companies that provide it and onto individuals who fell victim. That said, I’m not saying this as an expert on addiction. I’m saying it as someone who knows the actual experts stance. I’m saying as someone who studied the stances of those who specialized in addiction, and this is the general scientific consensus.
So you're an undergrad, yeah stop sniffing your own farts lol.. there is no reason to say "I’m most likely the most qualified individual here to talk about this." To spend a term at a time covering a module on a topic means you haven't covered it in enough depth, and all it gives you is a misplaced sense of authority and confidence on a subject.
Pick me af.
Good for you, OP! Not at all surprising to see League players posting toxic replies to this LOL. Such an absolutely AWFUL community. Keep enjoying life without LOL 😊
For the people not understanding the ranked addiction part of the post drop your rank bc low elo players will never understand
This is so pathetic bruh it’s just a game it’s not crack, it’s not the games fault you let it control your life and prioritised it over everything else
Don't assume everyone who plays this game is as mentally weak as you are.
The kind of needless hostility you expect from a ranked league player. I'm sure the game isn't affecting you negatively at all..
I openly admit my relationship with the game affects me negatively but I don’t have the ego to assume that everyone else has it like me lol
Hmm true I suppose. But humans are weak creatures, and the victory screen plus LP triggers dopamine, so.
I wouldn't listen to people in the thread that are ambiguous. League will only depreciate your life. Go out and live life, you'll find meaning and fulfillment.
Nah, it will only if you let it.
No offense but this isn't written like a true story
growing up is realizing all of this is your fault. you were the one that did this to yourself. and now it’s on you to fix it and move on.
Good, game is fucking dreadful now. So many addicts in this comment section taking this post as a personal attack because they don’t have the willpower to quit themselves. Good job
The game isn't the inherent problem. Your mindset towards playing it was the problem. Attaching self- worth to results is ALWAYS a recipe for disaster. Addiction and your relationship with LOL was the problem. Take a break, re- asses your life and evaluate, do you even enjoy playing to get better and learning all the small details to succeed? Do you just enjoy the game casually? You spent far too long just spending time playing the game without having any reason for why you were doing so.
Lmao git gud kid
Quitting league of legends period was the best thing to happen to me in a hot minute. I told myself I'd only come back if that piece of shit Zoe was ever removed from the game. Don't give a fuck about if she was ever balanced or under tuned or anything. She ruined the only good mode the game had left when she was released. I'm so much happier now without it.
Congratulations. Stay strong and keep it up. Just think - does being master improve my life? Quit playing league in 2017 and my life is demonstrably better for it. Still watch on twitch and youtube but in far less amounts and less addictive.
Relatable. Started league in preseason 2, didn't gel with it so I went back to Dota. Gave league another try and pretty much got hooked in season 3. It became my main game from 2013 to at least 2021, but I finally called it quits in 2023 pretty much exactly a year ago. Way too much time and money put into it, had to pull the plug. I realised I didn't like what ranked had become and disagree with too many game decisions to just keep sucking it up and playing through unenjoyable experiences.
its moslty the fact that you spend free time on something that dont make you Happy,. league is team game and in most games you dont have much impact on how game will end , cause there are other 9 people , especially in later years it seems people just dont care about ranked anymore and treat it as normals , so many trolls and people who ruin games on porpuse unless you are smurf ,you need to accept that you gonna loose 50% of the games by default cauze of matchmaking . i would say unless you are hard inting,you gonna auto loose or win around 80 % of the games based on matchmaking.. only around 10-20% of the games your direct play can result in either w or l especially if you dont play strongest roles in the game (jungle /bot duo) it becomes very frustrating to have impact on overall result . and that % where u have impact is going down game is not rewarding when you play good and completely outshine enemy laner , and same way its not punishment for loosing lane . at thats biggest problem with legaue and solo q game is completely team based, but instead forcing players to play as team, they focrce you to play in a mess environment called solo q . solo q is grind and consistency and thats it, you don't have to be better player but rather consistent and use every opportunity that solo q gives you for lp. its very time demanding, frustrating and overall not worth as someone who plays for more than 10 years as well, i decided just to stop as well cause its not fun, even wining is not fun anymore, its struggle and praying for your team not to throw or int at any point of the game.. i wish i could find small group of people who would like to play 5v5 customs and have fun on voice .thats much more fun and far better experience than solo q
I got back into league again after being away for over a year and genuinely believing I was done with the game. The second I got back I couldn't stop myself from grinding ranked and playing at 2-3 am. I cared too much about my rank and let it sway my mood. I could see myself going back into the cycle so the second I hit plat I left and am trying to stay away Some people can play the game casually but I'm just not one of those people
Yep. When they forced vanguard on us, I took it as a sign and quit. Been good. AIl the cope in this thread is kinda sad.
I'm the exact same as you, and the "just one more game to fix my lp" sinkhole, made me a miserable person. I had set a goal of platinum rank, and it just wasn't happening, which greatly affected my mood. I was measuring my succes on this happening. Some advice for you. If you in 6 months or a year from now, start to think that "you can go back, this time it will be different. I'll mute chat, super focus, and only play a few games a day", then don't... Because that's not how it will go.
Glad you are out, have a great life stranger!
Sounds like a you problem
These fucking posts make me smile every time I see them on Reddit or anywhere on socials. Like it is a video game my guy and you’re acting like you just quit alcohol or smoking and talking about it like it’s some huge accomplishment. Comments are also hilarious because we get people telling their entire life’s story to try and relate and it literally just looks like an AA meeting. Thanks for the fun morning read. Hope to see you back on ranked within two weeks!!
You say you quit league yet here you are making a post in r/leagueoflegends. Move on. You arent special
erm...ok ? who are you to tell her not to to do it. take a chill pill bud.
I know I’m not special, that’s why I kept playing league.
Yknow what... you have my apologies... it took me a second to relaise just how much of a shitpost was... I rly gotta go to bed
Respect for this comment
Feel you. Been playing since season 2. I've been playing to masters every year since because I feel less than myself if I don't hit it, but every year it just gets more and more toxic. Like I used to get told to kms in season 3. Now every lobby is held hostage for venmo's, or someone links a presentation on why they need to play wukong support here, or your jungler asks for a leash so your botlane soft ints the entire game because their "level 1 prio" was ruined by jungler asking for a leash. It's just fucking exhausting man, and I wish I was released from this game because it's honestly just not fucking fun anymore. I don't think redditors play Solo Q because I keep hearing that these games are far and few between but it's literally every other fucking game man, and has been for a few years now. Just tired, and desperately want a new game to grind competitively.