Basically, the prompt was to read about good sportsmanship in the book and comment on it. I was determined to finish this assignment by tonight so I could devote tomorrow to studying because Sunday I'm participating in a League tournament and I have three midterms on Tuesday (Professors are scheming against me D: )
It took me about an hour and a half to write this thousand-word monster, which, combined with about half an hour reading the book and another half hour cutting this to about 675 words to actually post on the class blog, still comes to one of the faster times it's been to do the blog assignment. (And it's done early and was more fun.) Obviously, because I turned the assignment into an excuse to talk about League XD
Either way, please enjoy it!
WC: 1,248
Praise and Playing Better
As I read chapter 7, I found myself nodding in agreement to the book’s examples of good and bad sportsmanship and its importance in making and retaining friends; moreover, I was most interested in the book’s concept of fellowship. More specifically, as author Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson says, “One of the easier ways to show people that you’re a good sport is to praise them”. Drawing off my gaming experience from League of Legends, an multiplayer online battle arena game, I comment and expand on what the book describes directly as praise and tie it to other sections of good sportsmanship.
Reading through the book’s suggestions of verbal praises, I realized that there is an unspoken decorum amongst the people I play with in League: Before games, some people will type in the all chat “glhf” (good luck; have fun); even though everyone plays to win, I like seeing this, because it reminds people that the point of a game is to have fun. It’s customary to quickly type out a “nj” or “gj” (“nice job” or “good job”) if someone on the ally team gets the first kill in the game. During the game, people on both teams will congratulate players for getting a much-coveted pentakill. (Sometimes, if one player has gotten a quadrakill, then the last remaining player will more or less let themselves get killed so that the player gets the penta). As the book mentions, at the end of the game, almost everyone says “gg” (good game). An alternative of this is “ggwp” (good game, well played) that combines praise with gracefully concluding a match: it’s a compliment to both teams that summarizes the feeling “win or lose, everyone played well and I had fun”. In professional e-sports, the winning team will cross to the losing team’s side to shake hands; this seems to be something mirrored from all sports. (Here I also remember that my favorite part of water polo was cheering the other team’s name and shaking hands with all the opposing players after the match.) Like the honor description in League says, being an honorable opponent that is “humble in victory, graceful in defeat” is part of being a positive player.
Recently I’ve had the honor of playing with a player that, despite not being the most skilled , is a great sport and fun person to play with. He always has a good word to say: “Nice skillshot”, “Great engage there”, “Thank you for the vision/ warding”—and this is just commenting and complimenting small things that a support player like me is used to doing unappreciated. After team fights, he’ll tell other players, “That was a great ult” (ultimate), or “thank you for saving me” or even just “that was incredible!”; even if the fight soured for us, it keeps people’s spirits up and turns our frustration to determination. Even when I screw up and get him killed or we lose our lane and are doing poorly, he assures me over Skype that it’s ok and that it was his fault too. Like everyone, he is disappointed by mistakes, but instead of getting upset or frustrated, he communicates cheerfully about strategies and asks for tips to avoid the same mistakes in the future. Despite my primarily being a support character, he’ll cheer, “I believe in the Min carry!” and remind me that the support is an essential, even if undervalued, part of the team. Playing with such a great player has given me insight on how having such a positive fellow on the team unifies things and makes the game more fun. Having someone hold an unshakeable belief that you can do your best in every game—and being vocal about it—really prevents any player from feeling like they are dragging the team down or are just unskilled. Instead, it brings people up and makes them even more determined to do well and have fun.
Since the friend from above and I play complimentary roles (support and carry), we do occasionally swap tips or ask each other to so something. As the Laugeson defines, this is coaching in that we “intend to guide…and help [each other]…play better”. Where Laugeson pins coaching as a bad thing though, I think guiding (particularly inexperienced players) with a few tips and tricks is helpful; as long as we don’t entirely take the controls away from the person we’re coaching or try to micromanage their movements. Being friendly and showing concern for a fellow player doesn’t need to be bad, especially if the help is welcome and shows awareness of that struggling teammate. After all, being able to teach someone something shows a true understanding and mastery of that concept or skill. Of course, I say this only in the context that the other person welcomes the constructive criticism: some people are sensitive, some want to struggle and learn on their own, and some people just think they’re the best.
I’ve noticed that there are benefits for the positive player for demonstrating good fellowship as well. A lot of what Laugeson says about acclaiming others translates into just noticing what people do well. By noticing what other people do well in the game, a player can also get to understand other positions and connect and work better with them, avoiding misunderstandings. By noticing good plays, they will learn to set up good plays of their own and become a better player. By noticing other players, players increase their map awareness and understanding of what is going on in the overall game. The book mentions in the section about being competitive that the first step is to avoiding being over-competitive is to “keep cool”. Furthermore, by building a sense of camaraderie by consistently (not excessively) lauding them for what they do well, we can discourage others from raging. People cannot very easily yell at a person telling them they’re doing great, and staying respectful even when the other person is raging reminds them to calm down as well. Anecdotally, I was once being raged at by a stranger because I got caught by the enemy team in bad position and died pointlessly. Our team had been behind the entire game and this player kept getting upset with everyone on the team, evening making someone rage-quit. Despite being tempted to snap back, I instead accepted the advice they were throwing at me. They stopped yelling, and even apologized for being too harsh. For the remainder of the match, I remained mostly quiet, focused on staying safe, and offered encouragement to the remaining players. Even if we couldn’t pull out a win, we got mighty close for a 4 v 5.
I acknowledge that in every game—online or not—and at every level—professional or novice—there are toxic players. (As positive as I’ve been, League has a bunch of trolls and ragers as well.) I am extremely fortunate to encounter less and less of these toxic players, and I hope it is in part because I try my best to be a positive player in any game I play. Thus, I think if people are good sports themselves, they’ll find themselves playing with other good influences. That all starts with being aware and praising teammates—and opponents— for what they do well and keeping a level head. As Lux, one of my favorite League champions, seems to always say whenever our team is behind: “Stay positive.”
