Tilt Proof: How League of Legends Taught Me Patience in College

By: Sean Owen Refolledo

How did it start?

I would be that guy who could not get an entire week out of a bad grade. I was sensitive, anguished and could be easily annoyed by life. Then I began to apply the reasoning of play on a high level League to my real life. I thought to myself: Why do I allow it to stress me out this way when I survived worse in Solo Queue? Viewing my challenges in college as a high stakes game, I came to understand how to be more patient and discover a certain discipline that I was previously unaware of. I am a monster that cannot be stressed today, and it is completely thanks to the things that I have learned on the Rift.

The Crucible: How Summoner’s Rift Forged My Discipline

The lesson that I got was that League of Legends is a vicious and unhealthy environment. I have witnessed it million times: a single argument about a missed Smite or lost lane that makes one of my teammates choose to destroy my day. We refer to it in the community as running it down, that is when a teammate intentionally feeds the enemy, intentionally leaks team positions in all-chat, or simply goes AFK just to be a pain in the neck to the team.

It would have tilted me at the initial stages; I would have lost my temper and focus. However, with time, I also discovered that since I had the ability to remain calm when a stranger was actively working to frustrate my achievements then I could manage any form of negativity that college life could give me. At this point, I am not losing my head when a group project partner goes missing, or I receive immediate feedback of a brutal kind when I am, on the one hand, given by a professor. I have learned the good discipline of not listening to all that noise and remain calm when faced with sabotage. I have not only learned how to play a game, I have turned into a machine without stress.

Late game

I will be frank even nowadays: I never managed to learn how to control my emotions to the latter. Sometimes there are days when a bad match in life pierces my armor, and I experience the old painful feeling of frustration. However, now the difference is that I am aware of how to deal with it. I am able to take myself in, take a breath and rediscover my cool. A patch note is daily in my personal development; I am constantly adjusting my way of thinking and teaching myself to be more confident in myself.

I'm still human, of course. Laziness sets in or the urge to do the easy thing is at times too strong to resist. But, as I did during my four year trip along the Rift, I understand that progress is not a smooth path. I am still grinding, still practicing and still improving. It is my hope that someday I will stop being tilted by the distractions of life. In the meantime, I will continue to line up and be focused and keep in mind that as long as I do not give up, I have already won.

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