User blog comment:Zeowolf0/Wolf's Rant - Ranked Games/@comment-216.36.26.248-20130122091533

I'd like to jot down some of my feelings:

First, the player was probably not 1800 Elo. Many people claim they're doing that kind of thing and provide a somewhat believable number to sound legitimate. If he was making a lot of rookie mistakes and raging constantly, he probably was not higher Elo.

Second, Elo Hell isn't real. Or all Elo is Elo Hell. Take your pick. Either way, you cannot carry someone out of it. There are a number of people explaining how this works. Elo, in a highly simplified form, matches you against players with similar win/loss ratios to your own. The reason most people claim starting Elo to be in the Elo Hell zone comes from the fact that there is no way of judging actual skill, and so starting Elo ranked matches are very unfair.

Third, human nature being what it is, I would expect a bit more raging from players as you climb in Elo, mostly because those players are used to getting free wins and never had to be polite. Once you crest that point, though, I expect players to get a lot more amiable. You will always find ragers at every Elo, however.

And your assumption about trolls is roughly correct. You actually have a slightly lower chance, assuming you are not trolling. Nine possible characters can be trolls, four on your team five on on theirs.

As players get better, they tend to learn that one person does not win a game. A team wins a game. As such, yelling and talking down to your team will never improve your win rate. If that player was a higher Elo, he would have adapted his strategy accordingly and requested assistance (note: requested, not demanded) at every reasonable opportunity.