This is the story of the one time I ever decided to rage quit. Now, I want to say something clear here: I am not one to quit a game. Surrender? Maybe if the rest of my team wants to. Quit? Not me. So understand, please, that this moment was very much out of character for me.
So anyway, back then I was still new to the game, relatively speaking. I had just hit level 30, but if I had like 20 PvP games on me, that was a lot. I didn't play PvP back then because, well, I wasn't confident yet, and in fact I was only just then getting the confidence needed to play PvP. Anyway, I was the last pick, so the rest of my team decided to pick my role for me; they picked me as the jungler. Problem was, I never jungled before.
Now, our top laner, who picked Mordekaiser, decided to say "solo top", and that's why I was stuck with the jungle. I picked Fiddlesticks because he was the one jungle champ I had that I knew how to use. The problem wasn't entirely my mechanics, it was not knowing what my role entailed, and that includes ganking.
I didn't know how to gank. Heck, I didn't even know what a gank was! I was so used to champions and players staying in their own lanes that I forgot that, yeah, it was a good idea to sneak off to another player's lane and help them. I was a noob; there's no other way to say it.
So the game starts, and I start at the blue buff. Mordekaiser goes top lane by himself, and I'm just doing my thing. I can't for the life of me remember the other champs, but I think we had an Ashe and Leona bottom. Anyway, I'm just clearing out my camps, and Mordekaiser's up top...
...getting killed. And I'll admit, there was an element of Schadenfreude to it at first, seeing the guy who thought he could handle top lane by himself get owned so handily. But that got old quickly. Anyway, who was I to talk? My ganks were few, and none were effective. Not once did I ever burn down the enemy flash, never mind getting kills or assists!
And that was when my team started making fun of me. They kept calling me "noob!", "trash!" and kept telling me to uninstall the game. And it got to me. It wasn't the first time it happened, it wasn't the last, but it got to me that one time. Why? besides the fact that I already had a rough day that day (though I can't remember what else happened), it's the fact that I wasn't even playing the role I wanted. I never wanted to play jungle, I was forced into it.
So I started defending myself. I'm new to the role. I'm trying my best. I didn't even want to play jungle. I told them all that, but it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. I was even told to "STFU!" And so I quit the game. I just pressed Esc, selected Quit Game, closed my laptop, and I didn't even look back. That was 3 years ago.
So, does that mean I was justified? It'd be real easy to say yes, that I was right to quit the game and leave my team mates to deal with the enemy team. But it's not that easy. See, in spite of everything, I was still trusted to play the game, and like it or not, I WAS the cause for my team's defeat (assuming they lost. I think they did).
I rage quit. I quit the game early and left my team to their own devices. Yes, they yelled at me and they yelled verbal abuses, but I was the one who quit. I was just so emotionally spent that I couldn't play anymore. Is that an excuse?
You know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But I have to admit my own faults: I entered a game and was placed into a situation I was not yet ready to handle, and I handled it poorly. VERY poorly. I didn't know the mechanics of my role, I didn't know what I was doing, I had no map control; in all honesty, I was the load at best. And that's never good.
And in all honesty, my teammates must have gotten frustrated at me, terribly so. The problem was, they took out their frustrations the worst way possible: by attacking someone, namely me. This isn't OK.
It's OK to get frustrated at someone else if they are doing badly and their performance is going to cost you the game. But don't start throwing insults at them, berating their every mistake, belittling them for every thing they do wrong, because those players are still people.
We are all people. We make mistakes. Sometimes, we can fix them. Sometimes we can't. Sometimes the mistakes we make are small and inconsequential. Sometimes, they are fatal. It's a part of life, and there's no getting around it. But no matter what, we have to learn from our mistakes, lest we repeat them. That's how we get ahead in life. To quote Ms Frizzle "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!" But also, don't forget that the person you're insulting is a PERSON, with real emotions that you're hurting. A little empathy for others, a little caring, and what is infamously called one of the most toxic communities in gaming (I don't really believe that) can become so much better. Let's all try and be better people.
So anyway, back then I was still new to the game, relatively speaking. I had just hit level 30, but if I had like 20 PvP games on me, that was a lot. I didn't play PvP back then because, well, I wasn't confident yet, and in fact I was only just then getting the confidence needed to play PvP. Anyway, I was the last pick, so the rest of my team decided to pick my role for me; they picked me as the jungler. Problem was, I never jungled before.
Now, our top laner, who picked Mordekaiser, decided to say "solo top", and that's why I was stuck with the jungle. I picked Fiddlesticks because he was the one jungle champ I had that I knew how to use. The problem wasn't entirely my mechanics, it was not knowing what my role entailed, and that includes ganking.
I didn't know how to gank. Heck, I didn't even know what a gank was! I was so used to champions and players staying in their own lanes that I forgot that, yeah, it was a good idea to sneak off to another player's lane and help them. I was a noob; there's no other way to say it.
So the game starts, and I start at the blue buff. Mordekaiser goes top lane by himself, and I'm just doing my thing. I can't for the life of me remember the other champs, but I think we had an Ashe and Leona bottom. Anyway, I'm just clearing out my camps, and Mordekaiser's up top...
...getting killed. And I'll admit, there was an element of Schadenfreude to it at first, seeing the guy who thought he could handle top lane by himself get owned so handily. But that got old quickly. Anyway, who was I to talk? My ganks were few, and none were effective. Not once did I ever burn down the enemy flash, never mind getting kills or assists!
And that was when my team started making fun of me. They kept calling me "noob!", "trash!" and kept telling me to uninstall the game. And it got to me. It wasn't the first time it happened, it wasn't the last, but it got to me that one time. Why? besides the fact that I already had a rough day that day (though I can't remember what else happened), it's the fact that I wasn't even playing the role I wanted. I never wanted to play jungle, I was forced into it.
So I started defending myself. I'm new to the role. I'm trying my best. I didn't even want to play jungle. I told them all that, but it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. I was even told to "STFU!" And so I quit the game. I just pressed Esc, selected Quit Game, closed my laptop, and I didn't even look back. That was 3 years ago.
So, does that mean I was justified? It'd be real easy to say yes, that I was right to quit the game and leave my team mates to deal with the enemy team. But it's not that easy. See, in spite of everything, I was still trusted to play the game, and like it or not, I WAS the cause for my team's defeat (assuming they lost. I think they did).
I rage quit. I quit the game early and left my team to their own devices. Yes, they yelled at me and they yelled verbal abuses, but I was the one who quit. I was just so emotionally spent that I couldn't play anymore. Is that an excuse?
You know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But I have to admit my own faults: I entered a game and was placed into a situation I was not yet ready to handle, and I handled it poorly. VERY poorly. I didn't know the mechanics of my role, I didn't know what I was doing, I had no map control; in all honesty, I was the load at best. And that's never good.
And in all honesty, my teammates must have gotten frustrated at me, terribly so. The problem was, they took out their frustrations the worst way possible: by attacking someone, namely me. This isn't OK.
It's OK to get frustrated at someone else if they are doing badly and their performance is going to cost you the game. But don't start throwing insults at them, berating their every mistake, belittling them for every thing they do wrong, because those players are still people.
We are all people. We make mistakes. Sometimes, we can fix them. Sometimes we can't. Sometimes the mistakes we make are small and inconsequential. Sometimes, they are fatal. It's a part of life, and there's no getting around it. But no matter what, we have to learn from our mistakes, lest we repeat them. That's how we get ahead in life. To quote Ms Frizzle "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!" But also, don't forget that the person you're insulting is a PERSON, with real emotions that you're hurting. A little empathy for others, a little caring, and what is infamously called one of the most toxic communities in gaming (I don't really believe that) can become so much better. Let's all try and be better people.
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