Boards›Gameplay

The real reason boards are being removed?

Slitorous·3/2/2020, 7:12:29 AM·1 votes·8,194 views

I'm just here to start a dialogue about why the boards are being removed and would love to hear what everyone has to say.

From what they said in their official post it has something to do with the lack of players using the boards. This could be true but I find that the boards are used quite frequently as I am on here to check out what people are saying about the game. Maybe its just older people like myself that are used to using forums.

I find it hard to imagine a game without an official forum or some way for the player base to communicate officially and on the record. This might actually be the problem... A very high amount of the posts in this forum are negative and bash certain aspects of the game or the game developers themselves. Maybe RIOT got sick of it so they are silencing us all. The user base in this game is one of the most toxic so I can understand their thinking but we have many options available besides just deleting the whole forum...

It's probably to late anyways because it appears they have made up their minds and will move forward no matter what the player base wants. I am sad to see the forums go and want to get at least one more good topic in.

So lets hear what everyone thinks the real reason behind deleting the forums is.

91 Comments

FSRER3/2/2020, 8:09:43 AM27 votes

In reality, it is Riot who does not want to care for something that doesn't give them direct money income. Dominion? Could develop, would take too many resources, deleted Twisted Treeline? Could develop, would take too much time and effort to fix the bots and update the gamemode, deleted The boards? Would need more moderators and more sections to be fixed aka time and effort and so it is, deleted

All of the above were at a state that you could not monetize them and so they are deleted. And before someone jumps and says "but the majority of the posts are trash posts", well good job sherlock, you learned how to obeserve. Instead of making the game less frustrating so less people would come and go "this game is trash because...", they deleted Gameplay+, they deleted upvotes/downvotes system which was a way to keep the trash posting away from sunlight and now as the final solution they shut down the boards.

I have no proof but personaly, I think Tencent is behind this. Looking at their patterns on other games (epic games for example) where both the player and the customer does not know what he is getting into when playing/buying a game, it is a solid theory to say that they did this to shut down the criticism on this game (and reddit is where the sheepole live so..). And once again, before someone comes and says "but tencent has owned Riot since 2011 so you ain't got crap of a theory", let me tell you that, yes Tencent owned Riot for a long time but they had never interviened so much as they have in the past seasons. This is the reason why instead of Riot fixing the game and client, they instead try to monetize the half working game as much as possible (and the reason why Riot Forge was created). Tencent does not allow Riot to take control because they **can **fix the issues and just like the gamemodes and the boards, the infamous game named "League of Legends-Clash of Fates" will be eventually deleted as well

CloakAndGrenade3/2/2020, 8:50:09 AM18 votes

Riot has no plans to actually fix the game and can't abide by valid criticism on their platform anymore.

IainG103/2/2020, 1:10:28 PM15 votes

IMO Riot are killing the Boards because they have no use for them any more and have no interest in keeping them working.

Riot has for the last several years been allergic to player feedback in general and criticism specifically; with Reddit having its own Mods Riot cannot be accused of silencing dissent (and let's face it, we all know that IS what happens on Reddit), whilst also not being responsible for keeping them either running or even civil.

Riot abandoned the Boards when they stopped caring about how the playerbase felt, and then never returned because the more Riot ignore their players the more toxic those players are going to become, because no one likes being ignored.

Riot could have fixed this years ago; fuck, they could even fix it now, by returning to the Boards and giving them back their legitimacy, even if they doubled down on the bans for toxicity; at least showing that they're listening. But they won't, because they still actually do not care about what the playerbase thinks; they have their grand vision about how the game should be, and no one, not even the players, are allowed to quibble with that.

This is Riot's ultimatum to the players, whether they intend it or not, that our opinions only matter to them if they affect our spending; their only problem is, they won't get a reason when the money stops coming in, because they have left no avenue for people to say why they're quitting.

Nightsky Pirate3/2/2020, 8:10:10 AM13 votes

I notice the moderators are being silenced.

The thigh guy3/2/2020, 5:02:44 PM10 votes

It’s because riot doesn’t like their failures being spread and talked about.

Garson2113/2/2020, 10:51:02 AM9 votes

Riot dont give a fuck about players so stuff like forums ect are useless for them.

And if you think lol is "free to play" you must be crazy. There is so many stuff encouraging to buy new lootbox skins ect and the worst is the system of addiction to winnings. The system tries to keep everyone at about 50% WR that even losing 20 games will finally give you a series of wins vs opponents on which you are not able to lose

KalokasIsMyDaddy3/2/2020, 7:49:46 AM8 votes

Nah, it's just boards cost money to operate, so Riot has to shut them down so they can leech every last dime. They can't and must not spend a single dollar if it's not required. First animated login screens, then good events (maybe gamemodes too) now the Boards. I'm pretty sure they are running low on things to shut down. It's probably going to be League Displays though. They have to fix the client so that we can still be able to spend money and they won't cut down on skins.

Hibeki3/2/2020, 8:05:39 PM8 votes

Reddit is strictly not allowed to criticize riot or the game.

This isn't a joke or a circlejerk, anything that's not positive is strictly forbidden, so they don't want any feedback at all. Not surprising to be honest.

Flay Me3/2/2020, 7:37:23 AM8 votes

Idk, I submitted a bug report like a year ago, and it wasn't looked at at all as far as I know. So boards are pretty useless I guess. I use them all the time to find old posts/threads that are useful for hotfixing things, addressing bugs that Riot hasn't, and learning more about gameplay/macro. Oh well

Akali is SO HOT3/2/2020, 5:03:30 PM7 votes

The only red that actually posts here is Meddler with his Gameplay thoughts. Otherwise, there are maybe a few Rioters that post here in certain sections, but mostly just to interact with the community for fun. All the other reds have been scared away by the toxicity of some of the users. Since reds don't use boards, then there is really no reason for Riot to support the platform.

I think a big reason though is that it will get rid of all the negative criticism that the boards has for Riot. The mods are much more lenient on what is censored here so everyone is allowed to point out the faults that Riot has. Reddit, on the other hand, bows down to their overlords Riot and anybody who has negative criticism is silenced by the mods. Just go on the subreddit for a couple minutes and you'll see there is almost no negative feedback towards Riot. No talk about all of the money scams like eternals and the like. Now they won't have to see that anymore.

Vampyre6663/2/2020, 10:02:49 PM7 votes

Rioters used to frequently comment on the boards a few seasons ago. Yunno, before they broke the game and match making. They high tailed it out. Remember one rioter even calling these boards trash in a tweet. He basically said what was on every rioters mind. They dont like the idea of being criticized anymore for the shit state such as this game. They would rather us come to reddit where they can easily censor us just like they do in game on league with an instant AI ban system

Exodus2473/2/2020, 7:24:45 PM6 votes

Its because they dont give enough of a fuck.

The only posts they ever care about on here is either posts kissing riots ass, or posts that 'bash the trolls' who have complaints about balance (even though a lot of them are valid). Any actual conversation about the game or its balance, or ideas that could improve it, are taken down in a few days or sooner, and anyone who brings up a more spicy point is banned on the spot because the mods are snowflakes who treat this like its a personal preference board rather than an environment for conversations big and small.

Riot just lets them do this, and again, only ever really speaks to players if the post is kissing ass. Its pathetic, and this is why nobody likes them, because either they are too high on their own farts or too scared to actually use the boards for information or to AT LEAST interact with players. Theyve run out of excuses, so the last step is to just whitewash the boards like it never happened. I dont doubt the same thing is gonna happen to the reddit board when the people who use the boards migrate, because nobody can ever talk bad about big brother riot without getting sent to a gulag.

skills of luck3/2/2020, 8:36:05 AM5 votes

Boards in its current state honestly hurts the game as a whole. If I was a newcomer and didn't know any better, just reading boards alone would make me 2nd guess about giving this game a shot. The game has plenty of issues, but it's not nearly as bad as the plethora of shitposts makes it out to be. In fact, I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that less than 10% of the posts have sth positive to say about the game. Which is insane when you realize that the game is free and any time or money you've decided to spend on this game was out of your own will. If you hate the game then move on to something else, its a far more powerful way of expressing ur frustration then shitposting a ton and then proceed to play 5 games a day. At the end of the day, I've been a frequent user of Boards and yet I don't really care that it's coming to an end. Because it really stopped serving it's original purpose a long time ago.

Paroe3/2/2020, 10:55:27 PM5 votes

IMO the changes riot have undergone - cleansing comments and removing opposing media - is a classic authoritarian power grab. Literally every authoritarian will perform this kind of action when they get enough power. The only media left will be the prescribed media - the "official" subreddit - where the rules of the reddit are draconian and state negativity = perm ban with moderators who will perm ban you for very little reason.

Riot is a triple A developer at this point. What theyre doing is the kind of disgusting garbage that people wouldnt even take from EA. They are not a smol indie dev anymore - there are no excuses to not have your own forum. Secular communities are not healthy period when they are the only communities; they just become echo chambers. With the new games coming out theres even LESS reason to kill their own forums because there will be no official source of information. If it werent for boards i wouldnt even have known legends of runeterra was in open beta, or that the board game even existed.

The only kinds of games where no forum is acceptable are mobile games because theyre often not on PC and have relatively small communities compared to PC games.
Even a mobile moba - vainglory - has a forum, because its on PC too.

At this point i feel it would behoove riot to just make the mega client (the one thats got your one login, your riot news, your patch notes, and your access to all riots games) and put that on steam as a free to play game so that we actually HAVE a forum thats well built and has moderator tools worth a damn. maybe they could have steam-special pricing options and skins; imagine Valve themed skins for some champions! DotA 2 cross over skins! Steam sales! Platform exclusives!

Fella Air3/3/2020, 4:46:18 AM4 votes

First they came for the comments on patch notes, and I did not speak out... ok actually I did but screw it

Then they came for the forums, and there was no one left to criticize riot's crap decisions

FioraWillCarry3/2/2020, 2:55:09 PM4 votes

From an economic perspective, what they are doing makes sense. There is no sense in maintaining the boards when it's redundant. Reddit already has a very large League user base and far more specialized sub-forums than these boards. For example, each champion has it's own sub-reddit. Why maintain this site when there is another already fulfilling the same purpose and is arguably more popular?

III BAKURYU III 3/2/2020, 4:44:26 PM4 votes

Riot farted in the faces of girls and twisted the nipples and ballsacks of guys and in the eyes of the Lord, it was wrong.

Baby Ghoul3/2/2020, 11:07:51 PM3 votes

I'd like to know the reason as well.

All of this seems so abrupt.

LoudSilver3/2/2020, 5:53:50 PM2 votes

Yo, why not try this subreddit? The owner/moderator allows free speech and criticism on Riot, so far, only him and another person from forums are members, but his post on here got 1.5k views, meaning it might get traffic https://www.reddit.com/r/ItWasMeSett/

ThêVillâgê3/2/2020, 4:54:01 PM1 votes

I’ve been playing League since Season 3 and I’ve come to the boards probably 3 times (this included) ... I honestly wasn’t surprised by them saying people don’t come here. I’m also 28, I don’t know how “old” you are haha but I’m 100% young enough to still be using the proper boards here and there.