Boards›[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous

Improve the Honor System!

9001·9/17/2013, 8:42:28 PM·48 votes·5,512 views

I really enjoyed the Honor Initiative but I feel like it carried no real weight behind it. It was nice and exciting at first but I think people realized that there was no real reason to try and gain honor simply for a ribbon during the loading screen and champ select.

I think the Initiative is a great start and I don't want to come off as wanting "free stuff" but I feel like you could add some other incentives to achieving honor such as new summoner icons or extra IP or a new ward skin or something.

The difficult part of this is that this will most likely cause some summoners to ask for Honor or trade it so I'm not sure exactly how to avoid that.

All in all I'm proud to have earned as many ribbons as I have, but you don't have a choice of which to display or all of them would be cool too actually. I just think the system needs a little something extra to make it truly effective and a success.

What are your thoughts?

59 Comments

RiotDrevarius9/17/2013, 9:42:13 PM27 votes

This is something we've been discussing for awhile internally. Honor was a good first step, but there are lots of aspects we've gotten feedback on that we would like to improve.

To address rewards specifically - it would be thematically appropriate if we rewarded honorable players by empowering them to have an even bigger positive impact in their games. This could come in the form of giving them privileges that neutral players would not normally have access to.

To unlock features like these, we need to be extra certain that Honor is being used to correctly identify commendable behavior while minimizing abuse. These are the kinds of challenges we are tackling as we decide where to take Honor next.

Riotdavin9/17/2013, 9:24:13 PM8 votes

Last Snowdown Showdown there was an icon (Santa Baron) that was only available to players who were positive example of teamwork and behavior. I know there has been discussion by Lyte & co. of wanting to iterate more on ideas like that--but things like hard rewards can be super tricky from a motivation standpoint. I'll bug him and the group to see if they can share some more info.

mrfiddles9/17/2013, 9:50:51 PM7 votes

Maybe if being honored gave a small amount of IP (like 3) that would help? Positive reinforcement is great, but I think by this point toxic players have figured out that they've got a long ways to go if they want to qualify for a ribbon, so they don't exactly get positive reinforcement from the occasional honoring. A small bit of IP might do a better job of reinforcing good behavior.

Alternatively maybe we could trade our honor points towards rewards at the end of the season? I often get teamwork honors, but I still don't have a ribbon. I'm not bitter about it (being positive nets its own rewards in terms of player experience), but it would be kind of nice if I could get something for those points, even if I never make it to getting a ribbon. It doesn't even have to be something permanent/collectable. Maybe you can use honor to get a few more rerolls in ARAM. (Or maybe next game you get some cookies to feed Runeterra's non-killable wildlife)

Seylah9/18/2013, 1:03:13 PM5 votes

I think the honor system needs to see some improvement.Funny enough, I wasn't feeling so well recently and played some League and this idea came to me...The big problem here is that I'm sure my suggestion is a lot of work to implement.

The meaning of the honor ribbons gets lost after the tenth "honorable opponent" getting reported for toxic behavior. How many times have you seen "honor me pls"? I've seen that a lot. I don't think some players grasp that their team mates need to decide whether to honor them or not.

A proposed solution? Enter the Tribunal. Those few minutes I spend voting "pardon" or "punish" can make me very sad for the League community. What if I had a whole other group of cases thrown in there with some positive spins? Why not an "honor report" system? We can report team mates for their honorable behavior. Just like "pardon" or "punish" cases, this also goes to the Tribunal where we decide to "honor" the player or leave them be.

If the Tribunal decides a player is "honored" then they will eventually receive something. An "honored" player can receive exclusive icons,IP boosts,bonus IP and maybe even an exclusive skin that's set aside for the most positive players.

So let's say the above is way too much work to do. I can dig it. I do think that rewards should be implemented on some scale. I was one of the people who got the santa baron icon and I love it. More icons, maybe IP bonuses, and even an exclusive skin would be cool.

I have kids. They play video games (heavily supervised and yes, one of them is a LoL player). I think about stuff like this because I want them to have fun when they play their games.

ItsUrGuyRai9/25/2013, 8:50:09 PM2 votes

Hi everyone here is my opinion after reading this post :). I agree i personally enjoy the honor system quite a lot. I feel a little more encouraged when i see the ribbons on my teammates i believe that they earned them and they worked hard to get that title and it reflects in there actions. With that in mind i believe the there should be more to show to encourage these players to keep up the good work. And to encourage new players to have a fun positive experience:). I would firstly suggest icons as a starting base its a simple and fun way to express oneself:) and just add a little flash for yourself :). One thing i would recommend is the option to choose your ribbon from the ones you have earned i currently have earned every ribbon except honorable opponent and i would enjoy to choose my ribbon based on what role i am currently going to play. Like i stated before i feel more encouraged by seeing these players with ribbons and i want to show my allies that they can trust in the ribbon i reflect :). Anyways id like to thank everyone on this post for having such a positive and productive attitude and make the game a more enjoyable experience i hope to see you all on the field :)

Akado Bayushi9/17/2013, 8:59:41 PM2 votes

I think it was a good first effort by Riot, to recognize/identify positive players. I think even they know it isn't the end of the line for this part of the game/community, so I'm hoping they do something else with it. Or, maybe I can get a Santa Baron icon with a different-colored had?

whorecraft9/17/2013, 11:15:16 PM2 votes

I feel like the honor system is just sort of a moot point, at my elo at least (silver/gold.) I don't see anyone with ribbons anymore if I even see and honorable teammate ribbon it's a rarity. I think that if they just had a pop up after the game got out that said

"Good Game, Riot appreciates your feedback in our 'Player development' if anyone you thought you'd like to play with again or.... etc."

Just something because most people in post game lobbies are just there to complain about their team or to report their entire team for losing. I keep getting reminders about me being reported, but maybe if they had a reminder to use the honor system that would help too.

iXeres9/17/2013, 11:50:54 PM2 votes

I like the honor system, personally, but I do feel like it lacks a certain... Gravitas. I mean, I personally enjoy seeing that people think I've been helpful or friendly or displayed good teamwork, but it inherently comes down to good players honoring other good players. Toxic players only care about the post-game 'report' button, and generally fail to be introspective enough to realize that their own bad behaviour is the cause of their bad games.

Maybe Riot could work on a matchmaking system based on how people give and receive honor/reports? So that toxic players will more likely be matched with equally toxic players, and honorable players can avoid that kind of environment? Sort of like the 'Cheaters Pool' in online matchmaking that some games have enacted.

... Iunno. I'm just here for the pretty ribbons, guys.

haha idiot9/19/2013, 2:25:38 AM2 votes

Maybe you could give honored summoners special skins that show their awesomeness.

Like maybe Honorable Darius, Teamwork Teemo, Helpfuldinger, Friendly Annie, etc.

Suddenly Dragons9/28/2013, 12:37:29 AM1 votes

I don't see any issue with the Honor System's rewards. Nothing quite compares to the excitement or prestige receiving a ribbon confers. I believe the focus at this point should be to somehow encourage players to honor others or at least remind them that the system exists.

I do love the system. I know it makes player's days when the see that wonderful pop-up box after a match. I would just like to see more of that. It might just be where I am (Silver I, soon to be Gold V), but I don't see many players using the Honor System.

Hirok02/24/2014, 3:11:32 AM1 votes

My take on ideas:

1) Better ribbon/honor display. Personally, I think the ribbons look like they're just glued on top of the character pics. I'd rather see the icons shown in profile page under the picture, either lit up (slightly tinted to their respective colors) or not depending on if they have it. Also lit up or not within profile page.

2) Deterioration. Make honor-count deteriorate over x-number of games. They all go down 1 every 5 games, so you have to earn them consistently. Its fine if the profile count shows the total you have earned ever, but the value used to determine ribbons shouldn't be as simple as a check mark. If a player receives a warning for being reported too much too quickly, take 3 from each as well.

3) Reward for giving honors. Perhaps as simple as, give 25% bonus IP (would not stack with other bonuses) if you give at least one person an honor. That is about 10-15 bonus IP on average I believe. I understand any kind of monetary reward can be abused, but its also something that works.

4) In-game effects.

4-a) motion trail depicting all of the different ribbons you currently own. For example, you kick up a light trail of red dust for being honorable, or a trail of red and green if you are honorable and good teamwork, perhaps with a special rainbow for having all 3.

4-b) Commands. If its reasonable to ask, custom joke/taunt for characters would be cool.

4-c) Death and Revive effects. Play with that one.

Also, see the idea about wards below. As well as tribunal posts. That is probably an important piece.

Ultîma2/24/2014, 9:08:42 PM1 votes

Has Riot thought about implementing an MVP button in the post-game chat? Something along the lines of the enemy team choosing whom they believed was the biggest threat to them throughout the match. It isn't honor strictly speaking, but it is a solid form of player recognition that hasn't made it into League.

Zorthian3/8/2014, 10:13:19 PM1 votes

I think it would be very effective if summoners could track their path to a ribbon and see how they can improve. Also, if other factors such as gifting and assists could be implemented or have increased significance. Working towards an achievable goal that you can see would really help improve the behavior of the League of Legends Community.

When the honor system just started, many summoners easily achieved their ribbons for about 50 honor points. Now, honor is rarely noticed because a goal with a vast community such as that of League, is somewhat uninteresting and only motivates for a short time.

I suggest that a greater portion of the honor system's inner workings be revealed son the public can understand each factor along with possibly introducing a tracking system to help summoners achieve their goals and have greater motivation.

Riot, thank you for your time and effort in creating a player based game and meeting the needs of the community.League of Legends is an amazing game that has the ability to expand and grow through trial and error. I am also excited to see if you guys at Riot Games release another awesome game.

Thanks Again, Zorthian