The thing about competitive gaming is that eye candy really isn't part of the experience. The prettiest backdrops in the world don't mean a thing if you lose. So Riot is adding an option to League of Legends that will make it easier to tune out the background noise.

"Recently we added an option to the Game tab in the menu called 'Hide Eye Candy'," Riot JxE wrote in the League of Legends forums. "Some of our more competitive players requested the the option to hide some of the less subtle movement on Summoner's Rift. We added the option to disable things like butterfiles, dragonfiles and the water wakes to help competitive players focus on what they care about, the gameplay."

Old-timers may recall cranking down the resolution in Quake to maximize framerates and thus the opportunity to get on the trigger before the other guy. But that was about squeezing every last drop of performance out of hardware that could sometimes be overwhelmed by all the on-screen action, whereas this toggle simply does away with potential sources of distraction.The concept is essentially the same, though: sacrificing visual quality for a better competitive edge.

The hookups should be enabled in the next PBE [Public Beta Environment] deployment, he wrote, adding, "Only ambient critters that persist after 1:55 will be disabled by this option. You can continue to perfect the dark ritual necessary to spawn the Duck." I have no idea what that means, but I assume it's important somehow.