Just over half of those in the UK’s competitive League of Legends scene say ‘indulging in sensual pleasures’ ahead of a match makes them play worse.
In a poll of 83 people, 58% said that it makes you play worse, while 42% said no, it doesn’t.
Bare in mind it’s not a huge number, but then again the UK LoL scene isn’t that big anyway (not that the size of the boat matters).
Our poll comes after pro League of Legends player Li “Vasilii” Weijun (pictured) – who plays for Newbee in the Chinese LPL – blamed sex on his poor in-game performances in solo queue.
He said, as reported by Slingshot: “Because I caught a cold before, I asked to be subbed out for the sake of the club’s results. The club maintained its winning streak, so it wasn’t necessary for me to play, and I let myself indulge in sensual pleasures for a while.
“This led to me playing poorly in solo queue, but last week we lost, so I started to adjust myself to a more abstinent lifestyle. After about two days, I had already adjusted myself [to abstinence]. I will continue to play and try to correct this matter.”
His comments make no mention of whether it was ‘sex’ as such, or what type of plays that could’ve went wrong in-game (hard cc, backdoors, split-pushing with a rod of ages, knockups or just solo-queue fiddlesticks etc).
UK scene players, on Vasilii’s comments, does ‘indulging in sensual pleasures’ really make you play LoL worse? https://t.co/NjWIRMvxfq
— Dominic Sacco (@Dom_Sacco) August 12, 2017
While some believe that abstaining from sex ahead of an athletic tournament or activity can boost energy, there’s little hard evidence (ahem) to suggest that skipping sex before competition is the best course of action to take (sorry).
“Some experts believe skipping out on sex at least 48 hours before competition is best, since anything closer to game day may relax you too much and decrease aggression and testosterone, crucial to certain sports, like wrestling, boxing, MMA, and football,” suggests this Mens Fitness article.
“Then again, if you’re a quarterback, marathoner, or golfer, sex could be just the thing to calm frazzled nerves.”
Other reports suggest having sex decreases testosterone levels in males. The late, great boxer Muhammad Ali apparently abstained from sex six weeks prior to his next big fight.
Then again, female MMA fighter Ronda Rousey says she tries to “have as much sex as possible” before a fight, because it’s said to increase testosterone levels in women.
‘As if most players last longer than it takes for the queue to pop’ – UK scene reacts
Here are some of the select comments from our poll:
I would say it depends more on if it’s eating up a lot of potential practice time, if you’d be practicing instead of course you’ll be worse
— Alex (@SynygyLoL) August 12, 2017
Lol as if most League players last longer than it takes for the queue to pop.
— Will (@FrozenDawnLoL) August 12, 2017
I once lasted an entire champ select + load screen
— [PP] Billy (@NutriOW) August 12, 2017
Confirned Nutri abstains from all sexual contact for entire split. Instead finds comfort it level 3 invades and cheese ganks.
— Will (@FrozenDawnLoL) August 12, 2017
Hehe load screen
— Alex (@SynygyLoL) August 12, 2017
Can confirm virgins are superior in every single way
— Connor (@lemoknight_) August 12, 2017
It depends to what extent. Feeling good in your body improves your gameplay. Spending too much time on other things will lower your skill
— LADT Rayunmort (@LADTRayunmort) August 12, 2017
Explains why @Doxylol is Hardstuck low master now
— rae (lucoa) (@SonaBoner) August 12, 2017
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
