@Riot - I'm an MSc Psychology Student, conducting a study on toxicity in games.

KierenLove·Nov 11, 2016·4 votes·1,141 views

I have started my masters in Psychology here in the UK, and my thesis is centred around the causes of negative behaviours (toxicity, trolling etc) in online gaming. Having already emailed the 'info@' contact address and being struck with an autoresponse, i was wondering if someone who currently worked at Riot in their research/player behaviour department could help me out.

I feel that some chat logs or other data from League itself would be beneficial to my thesis in providing evidence of negative behaviours, and their impact on the game and its many millions of players.

I am aware of Lyte's work and have read/watched his seminars on the subject, and any other information similar to that or raw data itself would be amazing.

Kind regards to anyone who takes their time to read this.

20 Comments

bbc world orderNov 12, 20163 votes

Play more in bronze and you'll get enough citing and reference for toxic, come over to NA if you have to. :))

Horse GrenadesNov 11, 20162 votes

gg get rekt

Mister PunchesNov 11, 20162 votes

I'm a Psych minor, but I would say that you might also want to look into the age demographics of this community.

The average age of this community is quite young (Like, pre-teens to early teens), so that may play a major factor in why this community is seen to be more toxic than other gaming communities.

KierenLoveNov 11, 20161 votes

Age is definitely a factor I'm gonna look at, the University of York did a colab study with Riot looking at Age and offensive usernames and their impact of negative behaviours in-game. Age definitely has an impact on toxicity.

IsoVhellNov 12, 20162 votes

Great place to do it! Hence already said comments being toxic towards you because of sheer jealousy! Good luck and I wish you the best. So many broken people who play this game, from parents who let the game baby sit their kids so the game raises them to be little rotten disrespectful shits. Why? Because they learn off older people in their 20's and 30's sad really that adults even act this way because no one can see their faces so they think it's ok? The same type of people you would not trust around your kids. One day I am going to start an MMA club for LoL so we all just fight each other. Like real men.

DragfinNov 11, 20161 votes

You need to include all things toxic, including bad players who refuse to learn and get better. I know being a bad player is not against any rules but it has to be taken into account when dealing with toxicity because continuous bad play causes a lot of it. Any report that excludes that is not taking everything into consideration.

KierenLoveNov 11, 20161 votes

Yeah I'm gonna try and incorporate things like that, although how 'bad' someone considers themselves is obviously biased.

Could ask for ranks, but then again I'll be looking at a few games and some people might not even be ranked.

YondorDaChrusherNov 12, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Yeah I'm gonna try and incorporate things like that, although how 'bad' someone considers themselves is obviously biased.

Could ask for ranks, but then again I'll be looking at a few games and some people might not even be ranked.

See if you can get report data. I'm sure there's a correlation between the number of reports a player may receive for unsportsmen-like conduct, win rates, and games ending in surrender. There's probably a correlation between reports and highest ranks players tend to achieve as well.

DragfinNov 14, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Yeah I'm gonna try and incorporate things like that, although how 'bad' someone considers themselves is obviously biased.

Could ask for ranks, but then again I'll be looking at a few games and some people might not even be ranked.

Being bad is fine as long as you learn and work to improve yourself. Those that bring the bad attitude and refusal to learn from mistakes are the ones I am talking about. An apathetic player is the most toxic thing in league and there are a ton of them. If a player don't care then go and not care in a single player game where this attitude don't affect other players.

Kei143Nov 11, 20161 votes

Send in a support ticket and ask if you can see the research paper from Lyte, as well as the data.

hshtagniemehrcduNov 11, 20161 votes

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020389/Enhancing-Sportsmanship-in-Online

ShinkoMinoriNov 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I am aware of Lyte's work and have read/watched his seminars on the subject.

You are doing it wrong. He was fired for a reason.

KierenLoveNov 11, 20161 votes

Enlighten me.

AstôlfoNov 11, 20162 votes

lul, ignore Shinko. It's another one of those "Lyte was fired" conspiracy theory trolls who can't handle the fact they are supposed to be civil in multiplayer games. Lyte chose to leave of his own accord and retired as a result.

KierenLoveNov 11, 20161 votes

i figured as much.

ShinkoMinoriNov 11, 20161 votes

You do realize after he left riot did a 180º on every major Lyte policy right?

AeroWaffleNov 12, 20162 votes

How so?

They still perma-ban players for their behavior using the ladder punishment system. They still use an automated system that was being employed during the times Lyte was still working, and they still hold a resolute, "You're responsibile for your own behavior" motto. If anything, they stepped up the pace by including chat restrictions and hextec loot restrictions included with the bans.

Friendly RamNov 11, 20161 votes

league is really private about logs and stuff, might try checking if you can access tribunal cases for this?

woodvsmurphNov 12, 20161 votes

Besides doing tribunal stuff as Happy Honker suggested, you could get the game yourself (if you don't have it) and either play some matches or "spectate" other people's matches. Also, YouTube and Twitch.tv are full of streams and vods. Just google search for different people and you can find the most notorious players who stream if that's what you are looking for. I watch streams and vods as well as play the game. The same type of stuff happens at all levels of play. From people being asked to carry an impossible game, to good teamwork; from courtesy to teammates and opponents alike, to uncalled-for toxicity. Same stuff at all ranks. If you want some positive streamers too, there are those as well. One favorite I'd recommend checking out is Voyboy.