Before we start, what is League of Legends?
"League of Legends (abbreviated LoL) is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows and macOS. The game follows a freemium model and is supported by microtransactions, and was inspired by the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne mod, Defense of the Ancients." A perfect description of the game which I borrowed from it's own wiki page here.
I'd also like to add on that League of Legends is considered a MOBA game. What does this mean? Well, it means that it's a mix between RPG and RTS genre games where you select a champion from a large pool on heroes to play controlling them as you do battle on whichever map and game-mode you pick. League has a variety of different maps and game modes, but the single most popular is it's standard 5v5 on Summoner's Rift where the objective is to through whatever means get through the enemies' defenses and destroy their nexus (base) whilst also trying to protect your own. One reason why this game-mode is so popular is because of it's only use in the League of Legends large pro competitive scene.
Before continuing on to the post itself I'd like to go ahead and state that if you guys have any further questions about League feel free to ask below, I'll make sure to reply as soon as possible. I'm here to help!
Moving on, let's get right into the post itself!
Mic chat, the ability to talk and use voice communication while playing in-game on League of Legends. Quite a controversial topic in the League community starting up quite a ruckus as people rush to join and argue their two sides; don't add mic chat or please add mic chat!
But wait,
BEFORE
you jump to conclusions and scramble to pick a side, take a moment with me to pause and think out the pros/cons of each side. I've even done a bit of thinking of my own and decided to share to you guys what I believe are the pros as well cons on adding a mic chat to League of Legends.
Let's start with the cons first.
I always like to get the bad stuff out of the way first before moving onto the good stuff. I don't know what it is but doing bad things last always leaves that terrible taste in the back of my mouth.
The League of Legends community is already and can be pretty toxic. Yes, Riot is working towards fixing it and they've done a lot compared to the community before, but there's still a lot more to go before they're anywhere near creating the safe-space where toxicity doesn't exist. People right now especially when things aren't going there way can type up some pretty rude and hateful stuff. I myself sometimes have slipped up and used a few 'over the top' words from time to time whenever I find myself having a bad day, everyone has them. Now it's bad enough watching someone type up some mean words they're calling you but now having to potentially listen to them scream it into the side of your ears? Yea, that's pretty bad.
And if things couldn't get worse enough, adding in a mic chat throws in the potential for trolling! Annoying sounds being blasted, terrible mic quality besieging your ears and an onslaught of screeching will give anyone trying to concentrate on a game a headache. It's unavoidable, or wait. . . But is it?. . .
Here's the part where I break some hearts and side with the pros.
Every con mentioned above can be counter-acted with a single pro that already exists to counter-act toxicity through text chat. You can MUTE people. A single click of a button and you'll no longer to hear a thing the other person was saying beforehand. Sure it cripples teamwork and communication which is essential in winning games but the likelihood is that if you have to mute someone there wasn't much teamwork going on in the first place. Speaking about teamwork, that brings me onto my next point and pro of adding a mic chat.
To type you have to stop and take time. Even a second could mean your life in the face-paced action going on in the summoner's rift. Adding in the ability to speak instead would make it so you can communicate MORE while still being able to play the game. To someone like me, that's a God sent. Especially if you find yourself having leadership traits, which means you can take charge, make the calls and increase your win-to-loss ratio, finally climbing out of that frustrating elo hell.
See? Even Brolaf approves!
Wrapping up!
Now as this post comes to a wrap I want to go ahead and fully disclose that this is just my opinion on it all. You can have your own opinion, it can be different to my opinion and the best part of it all is that that's perfectly fine. The world still continues, life goes on and we can still all be friends, so let's try to avoid turning to comment section to some sort of two-sided battlefield.
Also on a final note, I started this thread because Riot themselves HAVE confirmed that they are currently in the works of some sort of in-game voice chat. I don't know about you guys, but that gets me real excited!
Conclusion
I'd like to go ahead and thank everyone for reading.
I'd also like to encourage everyone to comment their opinions and thoughts on this all below, I'll make sure to reply as soon as possible.
And as always, I hope you all have a wonderful day and I can't wait to see you all on the Summoner's rift!
Just hope your on my team and not the other ;)