Boards›Player Behavior

Prisoner Island, and Why Riot Won't Do It

Düff McWhalen·4/17/2019, 10:01:45 PM·7 votes·3,210 views
Ask Riot: Banished to Prisoner's Island

"At face value, it’s an emotionally satisfying fix that basically deports assholes to an island and theoretically makes everyone else’s games better as a result — but it runs counter to our value of reform"

Ignoring that players having to work their way off of the Island IS the reform...and a damn good one. Also no facts or figures to solidify that the Island is a bad idea, in fact this statement almost endorses it!

"We know that most negativity in game comes from a misstep, not a commitment to ruining games for people."

You don't track inters, and leavers aren't punished or at least the people they are screwing over's loss forgiven, while the leaver inter goes and does it again.

"Instead, we owe these players frank feedback about unsportsmanlike conduct, and a chance at gaining some self-awareness and growing as players and part of the community."

Imagine if toxic people had to go play with other toxic people. In DoTA 2 there is a reason I don't shit up games anymore, it's because working my way out of the Island is a huge fucking hassle. Go figure.

"We get that this can read as a bit naive. That’s why we keep the banhammer handy for players who just aren’t interested in being relatively sportsmanlike and playing the dang game. Still, because the prisoner’s island system gives up on these players by default, we can’t subscribe to it as a solution for unsportsmanlike conduct."

It's ludicrous. You are okay perma banning people from your game (the very definition of giving up on them), but them playing it more and actually having to reckon with their toxic ways through a process of punishment and corrective action is out of the question?

"Reason Two: Prisoner’s island is a truly awful experience for the “prisoners” in more ways than one."

That's the point. So you don't repeat the CHOICES that put you there in the first place when you get out.

"Beyond that, building and operating a service for a prisoner’s island would suck Rioters and resources from efforts we truly believe in, like improving Instant Feedback, intentional feeding detection, and reworking legacy systems like Honor."

If we ban people they will fork over more money to get back the account they lost. We know we have an addictive game model, so we're going to exploit it and deflect to the Instant Feedback and Honor Systems.

Tell me again how actually solving the problems with game toxicity is such a "complex issue".

22 Comments

Shandrake4/18/2019, 12:04:18 AM9 votes

Riot doesn't want toxic people to keep playing their game though, they want them to take the hint and LEAVE.

AeroWaffle4/18/2019, 12:13:43 AM7 votes

Ignoring that players having to work their way off of the Island IS the reform...and a damn good one. Also no facts or figures to solidify that the Island is a bad idea, in fact this statement almost endorses it!

It's making the "reform" harder than avoiding landing into the prisoner's island in the first place. Basically setting up people to fail.

You don't track inters, and leavers aren't punished or at least the people they are screwing over's loss forgiven, while the leaver inter goes and does it again.

How is this a proper response to, "We know that most negativity in game comes from a misstep, not a commitment to ruining games for people."?

You didn't address it at all. The only thing you've done is use whataboutism by making some claims. Most negativity is coming from the chat, it's far more rare to come across an intentional feeder and implementing a prisoners island is not going to do a thing about the intentional feeders that you do come across.

Imagine if toxic people had to go play with other toxic people. In DoTA 2 there is a reason I don't shit up games anymore, it's because working my way out of the Island is a huge fucking hassle. Go figure.

Having your account banned is a huge hassle. If having your account banned wasn't enough to deter you, what would a queue difference make?

It's ludicrous. You are okay perma banning people from your game (the very definition of giving up on them), but them playing it more and actually having to reckon with their toxic ways through a process of punishment and corrective action is out of the question?

The amount of people who are permanently banned is considerably smaller than the amount of people who get chat restrictions or 14-day bans. The permanently banned are a fraction of a fraction of players. They are the players that showed that it was unlikely to behave themselves no matter what punishment was given to them.

That's the point. So you don't repeat the CHOICES that put you there in the first place when you get out.

Placing people who landed themselves a punishment because they got aggravated at another player and lashed out, into a player group that is far more likely to make them even more aggravated is not a good solution. As stated before, it's just setting them up to fail.

If we ban people they will fork over more money to get back the account they lost. We know we have an addictive game model, so we're going to exploit it and deflect to the Instant Feedback and Honor Systems.

This is bullshit and you know it. You're suggesting that a person who just lost all their content will willingly come back (completely of their own free will) and gladly purchase even more optional content than before now that they know that they can lose it all. And that this will be the common result.

Mavëríck4/17/2019, 11:52:47 PM4 votes

I wish Riot would actually punish people... never knew about this interview. Eye opening.

speedameen4/17/2019, 11:58:09 PM4 votes

If you put toxic people together won’t that just influence more toxicity?

I personally think what would happen is people will get a free pass to Be toxic because they are on this “island” unless riot threatens further punishment if they do not reform.

Makarakarn4/18/2019, 12:04:13 AM4 votes

I mean, have you SEEN the amount of posts of people who complain about being banned? And those are just the ones dumb enough to try to go public on boards thinking they'll get support. Imagine all the rest who DON'T do that. People definitely get punished lad.

Infernape4/18/2019, 12:09:26 AM4 votes

I forgot how scary DotA's Low Priority system was.

It's been ages since I played or even heard anyone talk about it.

TrulyBland4/18/2019, 2:17:27 PM3 votes

You seem to be confused about the exact point they are making, so let me clarify:

People before the permaban stage should not end up in a prisoner's island because it lowers the chance of those players reforming.

They're not saying anything about players who are already permabanned, because the mere fact that they are permabanned shows that Riot has basically deemed them too resistent to reform for it to be worth any additional effort. And even if it were, again, prisoner's island is not the most efficient way to reform people.

You are asking them adopt a strategy they deem inefficient at a stage where they deem even efficient strategies to be not worth the effort.

speedameen4/18/2019, 12:16:16 AM1 votes

Toxicity is a complex issue because the toxic person can come back anytime they Want to even if they are banned, just hop on a smurf or make a new account.Those get banned? Make a new account and the cycle continues.

General Esdeath 4/18/2019, 5:16:37 AM1 votes

Riot doesn't want toxic people playing, they don't care for you spending RP or making new accounts, if they ban you they just want you gone

cars3n4/17/2019, 10:09:01 PM1 votes

Is the italic text your argument or a different interview