Better Investigation of Player Behavior

BRBGTGBOWFLEX·12/19/2014, 12:40:31 AM·2 votes·871 views

So, the Player Behavior team is punishing people for verbal abuse, that's fine, but I think that it leaves a way bigger problem unaddressed and in fact, makes it worse-- the problem of toxic behaviors outside of chat.

Often, but not always, chat rage is caused by something infinitely more toxic. I.E. Players who intentionally troll their teams starting from champ select and continuing throughout the game. This behavior baits other players into insulting them in chat, it's unpleasant, and hostile-- but it doesn't get punished and there is not even an option to report a teammate for trolling. For example, at champ select, a duo queue says they are going to throw the game, picks jungle teemo and revive teleport adc TF. Needless to say, I dodged the game, leaving me with a 15 minute timer for dodging and an LP loss. Meanwhile, I have no way of reporting their abusive behavior and they can keep harming other players.

Similarly, in one game I picked Kat and someone else wanted her, at the end, they reported me for verbal abuse, even though there wasn't verbal abuse. Since the system is all automated now, just the report alone is going to hurt me.

Finally, in other games trolls get a double victory, because they can troll players into a fit of rage, the players than rage at them, and then they get to weaponize the reporting system.

I think this is a big problem. I think that toxic behavior is way worse than any words that can be said, because it instigates the feelings behind those words and makes people unhappy enough to start raging. It just goes unpunished and its frustrating.

Even if it's just something small, there needs to be more actions taken on negative behavior. Even a quick sting operation, no process, no technology, just a few human beings playing the game or spectating and catching culprits in the act and immediately punishing them-- that would do a lot.

13 Comments

League of Potato12/19/2014, 2:49:30 AM2 votes

picks jungle teemo and revive teleport adc TF.

Just because someone isn't following the "meta" of the game, doesn't mean they're trolling. It's probably just you and your teammates grieving them because they are picking something different.

The only reason you should ban someone for picking a champion/role that they picked is if they tell you (and follow through) that they are trolling you. Having a bad game does not constitute as trolling. If you, and your teammates are more focused on angrily throwing the game away just because someone chose a champion and role that you're not used to, they probably won't have the greatest game. It's hard to focus when your teammates are flaming you.

Needless to say, I dodged the game, leaving me with a 15 minute timer for dodging and an LP loss

This tells me that you are the problem. They have done nothing wrong, you're just a dick. You deserve more than a 15 minute penalty and LP loss. Get over yourself.

Catrian12/19/2014, 12:47:39 AM1 votes

Hmm...as far as the Teemo and TF thing goes,I believe that can fall under "Griefing-Assisting the enemy team" for reporting.So long as they did indeed say they intended to throw the game in the chat log as you described.

Jubbinaut12/19/2014, 2:02:07 AM1 votes

I don't understand why people think Verbal Abuse is the only thing being punished right now.

Feeders are being punished, often with Escalated Bans.

Griefers are being punished, often with Escalated Bans.

Leavers are being punished, with a newly updated system that has brand new punishments to offer.

It's just strange to me. Riot looks at "toxic behavior" and includes all of the things I listed above (and then some), and thinks "Yeah, we're gonna try to get people to stop doing all that."

But for some reason, players seem to think that they're only addressing one part of it. So strange.


I can understand your worry about the way the report system works, but you really don't need to. You said this about it:

Similarly, in one game I picked Kat and someone else wanted her, at the end, they reported me for verbal abuse, even though there wasn't verbal abuse. Since the system is all automated now, just the report alone is going to hurt me.

Lyte said this (emphasis mine) ( link ):

One, the Report System takes into account every player's report accuracy. If your reports are accurate, your reports will mean more and the systems will actually take your votes into account.

If your reports are inaccurate, if you spam reports, or if you simply do silly things like get a premade group of 4 to report someone for no reason, your reports will lose value over time.

If reports just resulted in punishment no matter what, trust me, you'd hear about millions of false positives on the forums, not just a few players complaining about their bans every so often.


As a bit of sourcing on some of what I said, this is a rather larger post from Lyte on Reddit ( link ):

Reports are still being used by a variety of systems that aren't tied to the Tribunal.

Some examples include:

  • Chat Restrictions, which are given to players who show moderate verbal toxicity.
  • Intentional Feeder Bans, which are given to players who currently show intentional feeding patterns in their games.
  • Ranked Restrictions, which are given to players who show toxicity in Ranked Modes and restricts them from playing Ranked until they improve their behaviors.
  • Escalated Bans, which are 14-day bans given to players who show extreme verbal toxicity.

That last bit isn't entirely accurate, as he says the Escalated Bans are being given for extreme verbal toxicity, but I've actually seen multiple cases where a player received an Escalated Ban for other forms of extreme toxicity.


Okay, so, the short version?

Verbal abuse is only one form of toxicity. Riot's stance is against toxic behaviors as a whole. Meaning that while they may talk about Verbal abuse (as it's both the most easily recognizable and the most common form of toxicity), that certainly isn't their exclusive focus.

D0nC12/24/2014, 8:21:45 AM1 votes

{quoted}

Even if it's just something small, there needs to be more actions taken on negative behavior. Even a quick sting operation, no process, no technology, just a few human beings playing the game or spectating and catching culprits in the act and immediately punishing them-- that would do a lot.

That takes money, sorry but no. We need more Ferraris in the company, the janitor's is almost 3 weeks old and needs replacement.

--Riot--