Lets talk about Toxicity.
supplimentary video from extra credits... it's worth checking out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9A8VJBh_Yc
Recently I've been banned. initially i was upset "how could i be when I've only done wrong when wrong was done onto me?" (and im still rather irked that riot doesn't send you those chat logs, because it can really show you how much of an ass-hat you are- more on that later.). Now lets get this out of the way. i do in fact try to be a very nice player. but sometimes the heat of the moment leads to hate shoved on you. sometimes i get false reports others are for legit reasons. i will admit to intentionally feeding when i was doing miserably when the team was dog-piling me. and believe me it's something im working on
but this is actually not the point. I'm not here to say "unban me" for i will serve this ban with gusto (and finally get my smurf to level 30). but while i was looking the topic up on Google I've found out something very interesting. people who have reformed and people who are genuinely upset at this game have all stated "the people in this game make you toxic" now at first it seems like an excuse, but upon thinking about it. the worst in me tends to be bought out, when the worst in others is prevalent. And when the worst in others is CONSTANTLY prevalent you don't see these people as people anymore. you see them as annoyances. Obstacles. suddenly what you say to them doesn't matter. suddenly when you get bullied, you fight back as there are no real limitations for you doing so, and when you unintentionally take the whole team with you you justify it by saying "but i was bullied first" Why is that? Because the negative influence of others certainly does have a wear and tear effect on players. and what else? in the game it'self muting isnt all that encouraged. hell muting is hidden away in the tab menu at the end of a player's name. so it's not immediately acessible to you. I actually had to google how to mute people in game before i figured it out, at level 30. that says something. the players encourge muting, but not the game itself.
--try this. whenever you start excessively typing to others (and using caps) have a mute reminder on standby right at the player icons of your team and a little reminder box (the ones you get at the start of every game) "you can mute any harassing party. by pressing the mute button on the summoner's icon.Please focus on play and report any offenders afterward thank you"
that would probably help a lot more than you think. for one, it's a distraction of the eye. it can stop arguing (and since people dont excessively type in the middle of battle it wont get you killed anymore than stopping to type will) and remind a very upset you that muting exists.
A few months back, I actually posted something regarding the subject and in that post i noted that this game doesn't really reward positive players. This game needs to give some form of reward other than "oh Looky a shiny badge" because it's not enough to motivate this. Why should I or others not go off on some ass hat when you get nothing in return aside from a report that may or may not get put into action? where are some small rewards. a skin you can only get for being good? 100 RP every other week you've been good? something.
so ive come up with some awesome solutions to tackle this problem and make players more eager to be cool
1: use a system like counter strike: in that system whenever a player is toxic you can pull up a direct chat log (the chat log highlights what you say so you cant be a toxic jerk either) and highlight everything that they say, and judge them directly after the game (and this is only accessible to the players with badges- including the new Incognito badge) -- the incognito badge is a badge that doesnt appear. in the options tab next to your name you can chose to hide your badge from other players.
2: give players a reason to report. make us feel like our reports matter. and say when people get banned because you helped. on the flip side one who abuses the button shouldn't be able to report anybody.
3: bring back a much faster tribunal. self explanatory. Access to pregame, in-game, and post game logs would really help in judging people.
4: when we get banned... SEND US THE CASES WE'VE BEEN BANNED FOR this annoys me to no end. but come on riot, think about it. when people can see what they've done wrong, they are less likely to bother arguing. on the contrary it may lead them to think about everything they've done wrong and take steps to avoid it.
5: that muting reminder i mentioned
6: for the love of god please remove the unskilled report. A bad game is a bad game. sometimes people are off. all the unskilled report does is give people bragging rights and another reason to bash players and rage. in other-words it seems to be doing more harm than good. Honestly i see no reason to have this thing. In ranked games if you're unskilled your MMR drops anyway and in Normals. the most unskilled you can get is somebody who bought their level 20/15/10 friend in to play. in which case they're new, so why report?
Lets try to make this game a better place. lets incentivise more positive play. As i serve my ban i will think of ways i can improve myself as well. Food for thought.
