Ever hop in a game and someone is already on a rampage, insulting everyone left and right without anything even happening yet? We've all had those teammates that just love to complain about everything and nothing is their own fault. It seems like no matter what, someone's a "noob" or a "baddie."
Why are so many people so angry in League of Legends?
First off, this isn't something exclusive to League of Legends. The anger, the frustration, the raging, the offensive language, the blame, the negativity...it comes with any competitive game. Especially team games. You can find this behavior in other competitive team games, such a DotA, HoN, Call of Duty, etc. Hell, you can even find it in World of Warcraft and other MMO's.
People's competitive nature lends them to become more heightened in a competitive situation. League of Legends is a competitive game, where everyone involved needs to pour a lot of effort into achieving victory. The rush of victory is a natural high that people love, while the slump of a loss is a low people hate. If League were a fighting game or another solo-competitive game, then people could only blame themselves for their loss (well, except those who still manage to blame "cheap" tactics, game mechanics, or their broken controller). However, since League is a team game, it requires everyone on the team to perform fairly well and work together to win. A person's teammates' performance is relatively out of their control, and there's nothing more frustrating than something you cannot control. People often jump to blame or direct their frustrations at what's out of their control, because it's much easier than accepting responsibility.
In many cases, the person upset is just as much at fault, if no more so, than their team. Unfortunately, a lot of people experience illusory superiority at times. Since people naturally don't enjoy failure or be worse at something, the mind often overestimates one's performances and positive qualities, while ignoring or underestimating the negatives. Many people also deflect responsibility in an effort to make the situation easier to cope with.
Why do people seem to be angrier online than in person?
Distance and anonymity. Most raging is directed toward people the person doesn't know. A person is less likely to insult and offend someone they know in person because the potential consequences are far greater. Since there is minimal threat of the person they're harassing actually crossing roads with them or taking direct action, the risk of consequences don't deter them from venting their frustrations. Even if the person gets angry back, there is an unknown distance between the involved parties, so there is no real-life threat. If the games were played in person, I would be willing to bet that much of the raging and offensive language would be internalized.
Well that sucks. I hate it when people rage. What can I do?
The most important thing is to keep your cool. Don't let their raging get to you because the last thing you want is to get involved. If you rage back, it'd only make things worse. Don't let people upset you, otherwise it'll really ruin your fun. Just keep focused on the match, because the best way to calm someone who is upset is to stay focused and start turning the game around. Once a game starts turning around, their frustration will take a back seat and they'll start focusing more as well.
Low morale is one of the strongest contributors to a loss, and to raging. So many games fall apart when someone gets upset, or people start to give up. Winning a team-fight sends such a heavy shift to a team's morale that it can turn a hopeless game to a victory. If your team's morale is down, do your best to keep it up. Keep everyone focused. Suggest objectives, maneuvers, and strategies. You'd be surprised at how many games you can salvage from communicating constructively and positively with your team.
If you have a rager that just won't stop raging, ignore them for the duration of the game. Report them after using the report function in the end-game lobby. The Tribunal does pick up people and get them banned if they repeatedly behave in a negative manner, but only if we report them. The best we can do is do what we can to help reduce the problem and avoid contributing to it.
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