Thread originally posted by Vincitore on the 1st of August, 2016.
This thread was a former Thread of the Week.
(Old) Moderator Note: Every week, we bring you one particularly outstanding thread as your Thread of the Week. This installment is all about the power of positive thinking and what each of us can do to have better team synergy. Congrats @Vincitore!
It isn’t uncommon for someone to say how solo queue is “unplayable, full of idiots, stupid etc.”. A lot of people are good/decent enough to climb but are bad solo queuers, there is no shame in it, lots of high elo/pro players outright refuse to solo queue under any circumstances, they simply despise the experience and don’t find it rewarding enough to take the risk. I think, more than anything, people are neglecting a certain aspect of the game when they solo queue and it leads to worse matches, being concerned with someone’s skills and team comps is important and seldom overlooked, but you know what is often overlooked? Team morale.
Having a high morale within the team has many positive effects, some of which can be boon to your chances of winning and the enjoyment you get out of a match.
Benefits
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Everyone is more willing to cooperate: If a teammate is salty, they probably won’t pay much mind to the teammate they are salty towards and do their own thing, much to the detriment of the team. A team with high morale will be very likely to overcome that obstacle and the team will be performing at a higher level with no internal conflicts going on
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A team who is happier and more motivated to win will perform better: High morale mitigates tilt, and without it the team will perform better
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The match will be more enjoyable: Everyone knows what I’m talking about, we’ve all had that game where everyone was cheery, smiles all around and everyone is playing for a common goal, either to win and have fun, or die trying. Everyone who has had a game like that, enjoyed the F-- out of it and I’m 99% sure. That particular game was a result of a team playing with a high morale.
Now how can you boost your team’s morale? I have a few strategies that I incorporated into my solo queue sessions and I’d like to believe they were a great help, I feel like it was a large part of my success here: (Road to VG world tour: EU http://forums.vainglorygame.com/index.php?threads/91162/ )
- Reinforce positivity with pings, use them seldom for negativity
No one likes playing with a salty rager who stomps and shouts when something goes wrong, everyone likes playing with the guy who keeps his cool during the match. If you find your self face-palming at your teammates with pings, consider stopping, YOU could be the one negatively affecting the outcome of your matches, if you don’t have anything productive to add to the team dynamic with your pings just don’t use them at all.
Instead, throw up pings of appreciation when your teammate does something good.
- Roamer buys good vision? Ping the scout trap and throw up a thumbs up, I love when my carries do that
- They pull of an impossible gold mine/kraken steal? That warrants a Starry-eyed ping in my book, don’t be stingy with it
- Life saving vanguard or crucible? Two thumbs up from me.
Showing appreciation of your teammate’s positive actions makes them feel good and want to do better, that makes them motivated to continue performing. Even if it doesn’t win you the game at least you made someone feel good in that moment. Similarly, if someone does bad don’t chastise them for it, that doesn’t do anything but lower your team’s morale, instead of question marking your team for going after the roamer ping the enemy carry twice, that does volumes more in conveying the message and you’re not pissing anyone off when you do that.
- Don’t buy into negativity or feed trolls
If someone is harassing you with question marks, just mute them and ignore them. Pinging them will only make things worse between you two and it annoys the third player caught in between the conflict. If you mute them they can vent their frustration while not bugging you and that’ll be the end of it unless they decide to troll you directly. When someone trolls you, the last thing you want to do is show them that they are frustrating you, just ignore them and play on, they’re wasting their own time and you’d be hurting yourself stressing over something you don’t have control over. Try your best not to afk either, thats what they want, they want someone else to shoulder the burden and if you do they go and troll some more in hopes of free passes. Remember that two wrongs don’t make a right.
- Be there for your teammates, be map aware, rotate
Nothing feels worse than feeling like your team isn’t there for you, teams are supposed to work together, don’t leave your Jungler/Laner/Roamer hung out to dry, they’ll immediately wonder why their team isn’t helping them and get salty, granted this doesn’t mean that you should venture into the enemy base because ringo is too drunk for his own good, indicate that you aren’t following them there so they don’t assume that you’re backing them up. If you were there for your teammate when they needed the back up they’ll feel appreciated or at the very least the won’t throw salt at you, though you have a few special cases out there. Believe me, you have no idea how many matches are lost because someone didn’t rotate down to the jungle in the first minute, you won’t die if you have 98 cs in 10 minutes instead of 100, be there for your team.
Hope you guys benefitted from my rambling.
Wishing you GGs.