What is "Toxic" exactly? Riot getting too soft, over-reaching on power and penalties.

So what is a "toxic" player exactly? Over the years Riot has gone on a personal crusade against toxicity - similar to the United States war on drugs. Not surprisingly it has had the same affect the war on drugs has had - not a whole lot. You can report players for a multitude of reasons; ranging from afk, intentional feeding, to verbal abuse. Hell they used to have a reportable offense called "Unskilled player" ... yeah. So Riot allowed you to report a player for being unskilled, yet got mad when you called people out on being unskilled. At least they realized the hypocrisy there and got rid of that report feature. Hopefully they'll realize the rest of their report system is bunk (though I'd rather they address the ranking system first). So why is it that there are many reportable offenses, but the only ones you CAN ACTUALLY GET IN TROUBLE FOR are verbal/unsportsmanlike conduct? Seems a bit silly to even have other report options considering nothing is done about it.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am a competitor! I've been playing sports since I was a kid and have seen the emotions competition can bring to the surface. Most fights I have seen and/or been a part of happened as a result of competition, usually by sport. With that being said, League is considered a "sport" for lack of a better term - and can be highly competitive, especially in higher ranks. So it's only natural for people to get upset during a game. I've seen games where everyone cussed at each other yet still won. I've seen games where only one or two were toxic, but they still lost by a lot. What I'm trying to say is that while verbal toxicity is bad, it doesn't always change the end result. I would argue that one's skill and effort to win are more important than one's attitude. And I know most of Riot won't agree with that sentiment - but most of Riot doesn't consist of true competitors. Most of them haven't taken part in a real sport or experienced the emotions of fierce competition. Most Riot members' competitive experiences are limited to video games and League. This isn't a bad thing entirely and I'm not saying that Riot is dumb, but they are EXTREMELY biased and naive regarding a large group of people that play competitive online games. People like me; a "jock" or athlete with a different perspective on competition and toxicity.

I'm one of those people with a different perspective than Riot and I'm sure many in the community feel the same way I do, especially those playing ranked in high elo. I don't care what someone says, they can call me every name in the book, I don't care. What I care about is WINNING. Nothing pisses me off more then someone who refuses to communicate or group with the team. Someone who feeds intentionally. Someone who says "GG" after 10 minutes of the game. Someone who decides to afk split push or farm jungle all game because they're salty or upset. The biggest and most glaring problem with the Riot reporting system is that players who actually grief don't get the same penalties as "verbal" players, if they get penalized at all. If you want to call me bad, say I suck, call me a name, that's fine as long as you're not feeding and ruining our chances of winning. There is a mute button for a reason after all folks. I can mute my team mate, but I can't change him. Is verbal toxicity a problem that should be addressed? Yes of course! But is it nearly as bad as actual feeders and unskilled players? NO, not even close!

With that being said, I'm of the opinion that players who grief or feed on purpose, etc. should be punished with much more severe penalties or at the very least EQUAL PENALTIES to those of verbal toxic players. Especially if the reports are occurring after a ranked game. I'm of the belief that if there is a verbal report in a normal, aram, etc. that the currently penalty suffices. It's a normal, it's an aram, it's a bot game, no need to flame that hard right? But what about a ranked game? What if you're someone who only plays ranked, who is committed to the game and competes on a nightly basis? Is it more acceptable for someone to verbally flame in a ranked game? Maybe not. But is it more understandable? YES IT IS. I think this is where Riot really screws up the reporting system. I also think that this is a key example of Riot generalizing too much - "toxic is toxic." I tend to disagree. As someone who has personally been punished for toxicity I can honestly say that it occurred during a ranked game most of the time. I'm not toxic in normals and arams, I'm just not. Why? Because they just aren't real competition to me. When I see someone flaming in a normal or aram I laugh. Players who play normals have a different mentality than someone who dedicates their time to ranked, and I think the reporting system should reflect that.

Now that I've exposed the reporting system of its flaws from my perspective, there's an even more important issue at hand. The ranking system itself is so flawed. I can empathize with someone who waited 20 minutes to get into a game only to be stuck with troll players. And by "troll players" I don't mean verbally toxic - I mean bad at the game, give up easily, don't group with team, don't understand how to win, feed on purpose. Over the years Riot has actually made the ranking system worse. Que times have increased and the number of sensitive yet awful players has also increased. Riot is encouraging players to cry foul over anything that offends them, but discouraging them from actually improving in the game and taking self-accountability. By penalizing more players for doing bad, not assisting with the team, so on, it would cause less verbal toxicity and ensure ranked players that Riot is appreciate of them and the time they put into the game. Riot has sold out so hard that they are catering to the average players now, ignoring the plight that is the current ranked system.

A practical solution to this problem would be to oh I don't know, actually implement the "laws" and "rules" that Riot put in place. If I report someone for verbal I may get an update saying I've assisted in getting the player banned. But I've never gotten any message saying I assisted in getting a player banned for feeding, being unskilled, not communicating, etc. When in my eyes, and many others, those are far worse things to do then talking smack. So here's an idea - if you're in ranked and you are reported multiple times for unskilled, feeding, etc. Riot can ban you from ranked games for a certain amount of time. Or make you lose more LP then you would have from just a standard loss. These are just a couple of practical ideas and solutions that would comfort and help the highly competitive ranked players who aren't as sensitive as the average player base/Riot members.

Last but certainly not least, and what motivated me to make this post in the first place, is Riots recent over-reach of power. Many "toxic" players were stripped of their season rewards and banners from PREVIOUS SEASONS. To me this is extreme, even for the overly-sensitive Riot. I never agreed with the ideology of "eye for an eye" and I'm not one to seek revenge. So the idea that Riot would not only punish you even more then they already had, but that they would ensure punishment for at least a year (no banner all season, so on) is just outlandish and extreme. It really shows that Riot has their priorities in all the wrong places. Instead of seeing a new ranked system this season, we saw a bunch of players getting punished. Instead of updating the ranking system, we saw a start to the season with a new type of ranked that doesn't make sense and is broken (flex). We saw Riot confuse all of their players by putting up ranked for two weeks after the season had ended.. only to implement the actual pre-season days ago.. nullifying all wins ranked players earned over the past couple weeks and wasting everyone's time. I hate to say it, but Riot may be over-regulating and over-punishing. They may be causing reformed players to quit or grow resentment and troll even harder then before (perhaps even on different accounts).

If Riot punished players fairly and without bias and took all reporting offenses into account, not just the verbal, I think League would be a much more fair and healthy game. I think if Riot fixed the ranking system to where people were matched up more evenly and it didn't take so long to get a game started, there'd be a lot less toxicity - in every aspect. But instead of updating the ranking system this season, Riot decided to try and purge league of "toxic players." They decided to show their power by punishment on players, not by improving the game. I can honestly say as an avid league player for years this is the first off season where Riot has failed to improve the game whatsoever from the previous season. They kept the same que, matchmaking, LP system, and so on. They only thing they changed was to add more shit to the jungle... cool?