Boards›Player Behavior

Disciplinary Actions and Privacy Question

DJColdCutz·12/13/2015, 3:46:53 PM·1 votes·584 views

TL;DR: rito says that privacy reasons prevent them from disclosing any disciplinary actions in support tickets, but you can get the same or even more information by reporting someone in the client or on the boards. Why is that?

Hey guys, I have a question about player punishments and violations of privacy. If you have ever submitted tickets in order to report particularly toxic players, you will know this message by heart:

> Hello xXx, > > We will investigate your report and take any actions we feel are necessary. Please keep in mind; we cannot disclose any disciplinary actions that may be taken due to privacy reasons. > > Even if you were unable to use the report feature, please continue to use our in-game reporting system whenever you can. Reports you make provide us with valuable tracking information and help to escalate players to our attention for investigation. Each report brings violators of the Summoner's Code one step closer to restricted chat or suspension by our investigative audits. > > Thank you for your patience and for taking time out of your day to send us this report. It is our goal to continue working towards making experiences on the Fields of Justice fair and fun for all Summoners! > > Please let me know if you have any additional feedback or concerns.

In this response is a line that has confused me for a while. They say we cannot know if they punish a player for privacy reasons. The problem is that they are not consistent about this idea across the board, and is it really violating privacy in the first place?

In this game, there are three ways (that I can think of) for you to report someone for negative behavior. Each of these methods yields different results.

  1. You can use the reporting system in the client. If you report someone after a game in the client and they get punished, you and anyone else who reported them in that game will get a delicious notification saying "Someone you reported finally got punished." There's a good chance you only reported one person that game, so you know who was punished. Using this method, you might not know the specific punishment (chat ban, temp ban, perm ban) but most likely, you will know who got punished.

  2. You can make a post on these forums. If you experience something particularly traumatic, you can write up a post here and let the courtroom of public opinion take over. If enough noise gets made over your situation, a red might actually comment or look into the situation for you. One specific example I can remember is the current top "Best" post on these boards (http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/uNMYOlHN-to-any-concerned-summonerplease-help ). If you look at that link, you'll notice the top comment is a red saying (gasp!) that the player in question has already been permanently suspended! While it is unclear if the player's punishment was a result of that post (uh huh, sure, yea, we all know it was), this post gave way more people way more information than using the client's report system would. Not only do we know the exact punishment of the player, 12,600 people who looked at that post now know it. Contrast that to the client's system, where only the people who report the player in the deciding game (maximum of 9) receive a general punishment notification.

  3. You can submit a ticket to rito support. Maybe you forgot to report a player in the client. Maybe you posted something here and someone told you to submit a ticket. Either way, you can submit a general support ticket explaining all the trials and tribulations you were subjected to during a game. You don't know what you're expecting to happen as a result of the ticket, but, Boy! Oh boy! it feels good to write it all down. You inevitably get the copy/paste response from above. You receive the least amount of information by using the method that seems the most like a 1-on-1 personal encounter. Apparently, if they gave you any of the information you would have received from either of the other two methods, now it would be violating privacy.

Where exactly is the breach in privacy? Is it not your business? You are the offended party in the case. It sounds like your business to know whether or not someone who has negatively impacted you receives a punishment. In the example link I provided, one red gave this private, punishment information to 12.6k people who weren't involved in the case, and you're telling me I can't know whether or not someone who told me "I should have been aborted" got punished? It doesn't make sense.

Why am I not allowed to know whether or not someone gets punished through a ticket when I am given that information if I go through the client, and I (along with every other person that clicks my post) could possibly be given even more information than that if I make a post with enough upvotes?

My theory is that despite saying "We will investigate your report." rito doesn't actually look into the situation at all and just relies on the automatic reporting system to punish people. They say they're not allowed to disclose disciplinary actions so that they don't have to tell you anything else.

TL;DR: rito says that privacy reasons prevent them from disclosing any disciplinary actions in support tickets, but you can get the same or even more information by reporting someone in the client or on the boards. Why is that? damn why did I even write all that other stuff in the first place?

14 Comments

Hunts and Dips12/13/2015, 4:33:45 PM2 votes

They won't tell you a player was punished when you submit a ticket because it could encourage witch hunting.

Also you don't get much more info from reporting people in the client. It just notifies you a player was disciplined.

Jubbinaut12/13/2015, 7:57:27 PM2 votes

{quoted}

TL;DR: rito says that privacy reasons prevent them from disclosing any disciplinary actions in support tickets, but you can get the same or even more information by reporting someone in the client or on the boards. Why is that?

To be fair, the Support response you're referring to is a form letter that's been in use since before the recent changes in report feedback. It's hardly fair to compare an old standard to newer experimental standards.

AJStarhiker12/13/2015, 4:36:22 PM1 votes

{quoted}

  1. You can use the reporting system in the client. If you report someone after a game in the client and they get punished, you and anyone else who reported them in that game will get a delicious notification saying "Someone you reported finally got punished." There's a good chance you only reported one person that game, so you know who was punished. Using this method, you might not know the specific punishment (chat ban, temp ban, perm ban) but most likely, you will know who got punished.

The only way this works is if you rarely report anyone and you've only reported one person in the past game or two. If there were more games, or multiple people you're reported, you might be able to guess, but you won't know for sure. They also don't give you the level of punishment. It might be a 10-game chat restriction or a perma, but you won't know.

  1. You can make a post on these forums. If you experience something particularly traumatic, you can write up a post here and let the courtroom of public opinion take over. If enough noise gets made over your situation, a red might actually comment or look into the situation for you. One specific example I can remember is the current top "Best" post on these boards (http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/uNMYOlHN-to-any-concerned-summonerplease-help). If you look at that link, you'll notice the top comment is a red saying (gasp!) that the player in question has already been permanently suspended! While it is unclear if the player's punishment was a result of that post (uh huh, sure, yea, we all know it was), this post gave way more people way more information than using the client's report system would. Not only do we know the exact punishment of the player, 12,600 people who looked at that post now know it. Contrast that to the client's system, where only the people who report the player in the deciding game (maximum of 9) receive a general punishment notification.

Posts calling out players is against the board rules and tend to get deleted pretty quick. And I've seen people get board banned if they ignore that rule.

The banned player can come in and make a post about their own stuff. The player could have kept it private and sent a support ticket, but they chose, instead, to give up that privacy and, if they are loud enough, a red may respond.

  1. You can submit a ticket to rito support. Maybe you forgot to report a player in the client. Maybe you posted something here and someone told you to submit a ticket. Either way, you can submit a general support ticket explaining all the trials and tribulations you were subjected to during a game. You don't know what you're expecting to happen as a result of the ticket, but, Boy! Oh boy! it feels good to write it all down. You inevitably get the copy/paste response from above. You receive the least amount of information by using the method that seems the most like a 1-on-1 personal encounter. Apparently, if they gave you any of the information you would have received from either of the other two methods, now it would be violating privacy.

Why do you need to know what happens to the player? You don't.

Where exactly is the breach in privacy? Is it not your business? You are the offended party in the case. It sounds like your business to know whether or not someone who has negatively impacted you receives a punishment. In the example link I provided, one red gave this private, punishment information to 12.6k people who weren't involved in the case, and you're telling me I can't know whether or not someone who told me "I should have been aborted" got punished? It doesn't make sense.

Link doesn't work anymore, as I'm guessing the thread has been removed.

Why am I not allowed to know whether or not someone gets punished through a ticket when I am given that information if I go through the client, and I (along with every other person that clicks my post) could possibly be given even more information than that if I make a post with enough upvotes?

Again, why do you need to know what happens to a complete stranger's account? That just makes you look like a creeper stalker-type. And, some people may not play often. That 2-week hiatus that you think was due to your report? Could be the player bought the latest console game and is binging on that. Or maybe there's RL issues that prevent them from playing. Or the player has multiple accounts they rotate through. Or they don't play ranked, in which case, you won't see their match history, making it appear they're gone.

My theory is that despite saying "We will investigate your report." rito doesn't actually look into the situation at all and just relies on the automatic reporting system to punish people. They say they're not allowed to disclose disciplinary actions so that they don't have to tell you anything else.

TL;DR: rito says that privacy reasons prevent them from disclosing any disciplinary actions in support tickets, but you can get the same or even more information by reporting someone in the client or on the boards. Why is that? damn why did I even write all that other stuff in the first place?

TL/DR: You don't need to know what happens to other people's accounts, but if soemone voluntarily gives up their privacy by posting to the boards, they may receive limited publisized information about only their own ban.