A Rant on Verbal Abuse in League

I started playing league when I was about 14, and three years later I still find myself playing it out of both addiction and enjoyment. Aside from dramatically whining about "OP" Champions ( ) or "Broken Hitboxes" ( ) I haven't found anything genuine to complain about. I think Riot does a great job of making league as good as they can make it, but it wasn't until recently that I noticed something that really bothers me. I greatly dislike the League of Legends report system and don't feel as though it does anything useful, but I'm just going to focus in on the report of "Verbal Abuse" for now . I like to consider myself a nice player: I don't flame my teammates and I believe in positive reinforcement over typing toxic profanities in /all chat. Like any other player though, I have run into my fair share of toxic players. While I don't condone or appreciate them, I don't really have a problem with them.

I think that Riot has equipped us well enough to deal with flamers. They've given us the ability to move, shrink, and hide the chat ( by this i mean place it someplace where you can't see it), along with the ability to mute players. The second someone begins flaming you you have the power to ignore it. I honestly believe that if you get upset that you're getting flamed by a teammate then it is 100% your own fault.*

My issue with reporting a flamer isn't because I think it's stupid, but rather because I don't think that anything comes of it half of the time. I have a "friend" of mine who's constantly harassing other people, and I told myself I'd keep in contact with them to see how long it would take for them to get a chat ban, but it's been almost a year now and they've gone unpunished. Reporting someone for Verbal Abuse has always felt to just be a petty way for someone to feel like they're getting back at someone for being mean to them. I don't think anyone has ever reported someone with the hope that some sort of punishment would reform whoever was toxic and make them think about their actions.

To wrap up my rant I just want to add that this is a Teen rated game, meaning that anyone 13+ is welcomed to play. If you expect to join a game with such a demographically diverse group of people on it then you're crazy for expecting everyone to be all rainbows and smiles. I know League is supposed to be a fun place where you can just have a good time, but I feel it is our responsibility to secure our own happiness. And I don't like how this may come out, but this is the best way I can word it: "If you can't take the heat, stay out of the Kitchen."

** Disclaimer no where in this do I mean to condone homophobic or racial slurs, to me they aren't the same as Verbal Abuse severity wise. I just wanted to make sure that's clear. And if I didn't say it above thank you for taking the time to read my rant.