Why punishing people for toxicity is a pain in the ass for everybody, including Riot
Before I even begin, let me just say I don't have a problem with League as a game currently. We as players get plenty of fair updates for all parts of the game for free. And honestly, it's not my place to tell a business how to run their shit when they're not even breaking the law.
But Riot, you're making playing this game feel like a chore whenever there's a troll/rager in your champion select or an AFK in your game. The way you handle people who are toxic towards these trolls is just... bad. For instance, person B gets extremely pissy for little to no reason in his ranked game. Person A then decides to reply a simple "shut the fuck up." After the game ends, person B gets reported by person A for toxicity. But now, person A will also be punished for toxicity while his words were on a LOT smaller scale than that of person B. Same punishment, assuming they're both first-timers, but who exactly was being harmed by person A? You cannot assume that person B actually gave a damn about what person A had typed to him if person B didn't report him.
There's no other game like League. That goes double for this "anti-toxicity" bandwagon Riot seems to be chauffeuring, a phrase that didn't even exist before League. No other MOBA/MMORPG is this strict (or just downright inconsistent) about punishing "undesired" players (if nobody reports them, there's no reason to ban). I, for one, will wholeheartedly admit I love trash-talking, It's an effective strategy in any PvP game, and this goes beyond videogames. Plus, it's just downright FUN wiping your victory in an opponent's face, especially when that person was being a complete ass the entire game. While I do agree being told to kill myself before my cancer spreads is anything but funny, the bottom line is a few silly jibes with mild swearing versus extreme cussing with homophobia and racism are on completely different sides of the coin.
You're also letting players that are "permbanned" for toxicity off the hook completely while others are being told "a no is a no." I'm talking about C9 Incarnati0n. Nothing wrong with the guy on a personal level, I'm sure. I'd personally love to meet him, seeing that I'm a big Cloud 9 fan myself. But this further demonstrates your inconsistency. Players like TheOddOne have been streaming toxicity/troll matches and not been punished for it, despite it being reported. A quote from an old article by Richard Lewis titled "Why Riot got the Incarnati0n decision wrong" demonstrates my thoughts on the matter perfectly:
Ultimately, Riot seem to be missing the bigger picture here. The company is obsessed with rehabilitating “toxic” players. Its entire disciplinary system, >even for casual players, focuses on what it calls "reform.” It's even made videos about high profile “reformed” players, such as Carlos "ocelote" >Rodríguez Santiago. The company's lead social games designer, Jeffrey “Lyte” Lin, doesn’t seem to be able to write a single comment without using the >word "reform."
Take a recent comment justifying permanent bans: “For some offenders, we don't believe they have a chance at reform, so escalating their punishment is >the best solution to avoid the offender creating negative experiences for thousands of players.”
Sure, it's not my business how Riot goes about their business... But keep up the inconsistency, and players will leave, and not just the punished ones. It's just bad business for yourself Riot, and that's looking past the players that were punished. The biggest problem is a lack of knowledge players have about exactly what the Anti-toxicity Squad (Player Reform Department or whatever) is doing and what rules they go by. As you yourself have shown, the rules are a pretty big derpfest. A link to the directory on any updates of the rules should be posted in a comprehensive list, preferably somewhere on the launcher or client itself.
tl;dr While punishing people for extreme cases is nice, some consistency as well as clarity on updates on the rules would also be fantastic. Many rulings, including those that deal with pro players, have shown to be very inconsistent.
