Drawing the Line Between Self-Expression and Toxicity
No one wants toxic players in their games but by reporting for nearly everything from not ending a game soon enough to a guy typing "gg ez" after a turret dive fails, we are teaching the system to punish way too many things and stifling our own freedom of expression even in innocent cases. There's also the problem of false reports with no consequences but that's something else.
If you mute someone more often when it's not a truly toxic comment but still bothers you for whatever reason, we can leave the kiddie island and be adults with all our ability to be witty intact instead of living in fear of reprisals for what might be misinterpreted. This is not in support of toxic players because there's a mute function but I feel that the line is getting narrower between what is an innocent joke and what is being punished. Almost everything can offend someone somewhere and jokes especially often depend on a seed of discomfort. The system doesn't understand context or sarcasm so if the threshold is too low, it could lead to false positives. For example, if I type "report noob yasuo" after the 20-0 Tasuo dies to a Teemo shroom, that's an innocent joke in my book. The same comment directed at a 1-10 Yasuo who dies after stepping on a shroom would be toxic but the system may flag both as toxic if one is reported in both cases. I'm not a toxic player looking for "protection" or "leniency." I'm just a normal player who wants to feel free to express himself in chat with jokes and witty remarks without worries. Like everything, there is a balance. If you want to catch bad guys, you give up a bit of privacy and that can lead to its own abuses and problems. If you censor the press to avoid panic, that will result in a less informed population and will usually lead to the press being manipulated by those in power to maintain their hold. Well, here, if we punish too many things, we will eventually be scared to even make jokes and I'm at that point now. Personally, I'd rather mute a few more toxic players to avoid this.
I'll just quote my response to this since I don't feel like reformulating what is basically the same idea. I'm not saying the guy doesn't deserve a ban overall but he definitely doesn't based on what was provided as evidence against him so far (assuming it's the real chat).
> > Ok, but why is he presented with the chat log above as "evidence" which is not worthy of even a chat restriction imo. If you're going to ban someone, provide REAL evidence to them instead of hinting there is other stuff. He's not allowed to joke with friends saying things like "noob aaron" which for all we know was when his buddy misplaced a ward or died after having a 10-0 score etc.? > > If the system goes this much by reports rather than objective things, that's an issue affecting freedom of expression and I don't think the rewards are worth it. Honestly, the whole system makes little sense to me because the problems it tries to solve instantly disappear if you mute players. Moreover, if mute was the only way to deal with toxic players, we would feel free to be ourselves and joke around. Also, why ban players for this stuff when you can just permanently revoke their chat privileges? Many players already mute everyone at the start of the game and pings are pretty descriptive so I don't see the issue. > > As an adult, I'm afraid to make jokes, use sarcasm, use profanity for emphasis but with no ill intention etc., I feel like a little kid locked in a playpen when I'm in this game and it's demeaning. I think it's going to make a lot of players over 18 leave the game eventually. Since I limit a lot of my expression, I don't have any issues with my account but it makes it decidedly "un-fun" to have to hold back nearly every joke in fear that some oversensitive prude gets offended. > > I got 3-man turret dived and barely lived not long ago. I wanted to type "gg ez" as a joke and didn't but I find it ridiculous people would get banned for it too. I haven't heard of anyone getting banned for having the opposite opinion and typing "gg hard" so why isn't someone allowed to express the opinion that the game is easy? I'm not saying that it's the nicest thing to say but are we really all 6 year olds and do we need the thought police for every statement? I feel like I'm in Orwell's 1984 and no one wants to live like that. I'd gladly welcome more toxics (who I'd quickly mute) if it meant that I wouldn't have to worry about my chat being flagged as toxic for innocent jokes, sarcasm etc.
BTW: I think the reports system is out of hand in general. I've seen threads with a lot of support from the community for reporting teams for "not ending efficiently." For example, instead of taking Baron and winning, a team might go into the enemy base and get a bunch of kills instead. I consider getting reported for such a thing absolutely insane. First of all, no one has control of the team's decisions and secondly there is a surrender option. If people vote "No", it means they think they have a chance and it's probably exactly because the enemy team is messing around. Just yesterday, TL came back from 11-0 with every inhib down and there is always a sliver of a chance if one's enemies get too careless. In any case, this is simply a gameplay report and I think it's absurd to try to control how people on the enemy team play the game.