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An Open Letter to Riot Games Regarding Player Behavior

Jhincent vanGogh·3/15/2019, 5:39:54 PM·5 votes·3,356 views

Riot,

I've been playing League of Legends since 2014, and for both better and worse, it's had an impact on me. I mean, I've met quite a few of my friends through the game. I played competitively for my college for two years, and as a result, there are people in real life that call me Jhin (or Jhincent). Needless to say, the game has had a lot of positive effects on my social life, so I've always been pretty good at not letting the unfortunately quite volatile community get to me.

However, since this new season started, I've noticed that even my tolerance is bleeding dry. Toxicity and bad behavior seem to have risen, and it feels like almost every game is an uphill battle against terrible sportsmanship. Yes, I know that muting people is an option, but even if I do, that doesn't stop someone from saying "gg" and giving up at 10 minutes, or from teammates spending more time arguing with each other than actually playing. This happens far too often, and the friends I would play with to make this behavior feel less prominent either don't play as much or have given up on the game entirely. Even I have been playing less and less, when I used to be someone who played daily.

The most painful thing about that is that I don't want it to be that way. I don't want to drop the game. I want to be able to have fun and partake in these wonderful characters you all have worked on and put so much care into, but it's getting to a point where I can't fight nine other people just to do something I want to enjoy anymore. I think you are one of the more open and trustworthy companies in the gaming industry. You've put out so many quality characters, stories, artworks, animations, and musical arrangements that I love with all my heart, but it's so close to not being enough anymore, and if someone with as much patience for bad behavior as me is running out of steam, I can only imagine how long it will be before others do the same.

Your community is killing your baby.

That said, I urge you as both a long-time fan and a rising peer in the gaming industry to be more assertive against negative behavior from your player base. I get how throwing ban hammers left and right isn't efficient from a business standpoint, but there are certainly other measures that can be taken to improve player psychology. For instance, I think a huge contributor to bad player mindsets is the fundamental significance of solo performance and the social elitism that comes with solo queue rank.

When I look to other online team games I enjoy (Final Fantasy XIV, which has both PvE and PvP, is probably the most socially positive game that comes to mind), the focus tends to shift towards teamwork instead of solo performance. Even if one person isn't doing so hot, the others can make up for him or her and pull through by cooperating. Good sportsmanship is rewarded by success. In League, there are many times where one player who isn't performing well (and often has a bad attitude to boot) can cost you the victory, even if you are doing pretty well for yourself or your team is communicating effectively. Yes, there is the honor system to reward good sportsmanship, but it doesn't seem like good sportsmanship is rewarded in the actual game itself. In fact, there's even something of a social stigma around it as a result of the solo carry mindset. It's never that the enemy team is good, it's that they "got lucky" or that "teammates were trash." When an ally is doing well, it's because their lane opponent is "garbage," not because they are a good player. Players are afraid of acknowledging the skill of others positively because the current structure of the game encourages them to be selfish instead. I think that adjusting the game to better reward cooperation would help alleviate this. Additionally, Ranked Flex should be brought into the forefront. Many players currently view it as a joke and don't take it as seriously as Solo/Duo Queue. A ranked queue that encourages team play in a team game should be just as, if not more important than a ranked queue that encourages playing for oneself. Perhaps a reward with more incentive like a separate Victorious skin, as opposed to a Victorious chroma and an icon? You are professionals that have a lot more experience than I currently do, so I'm sure you could come up with changes to encourage good sportsmanship.

This has been on my mind ever since the new season started and I finally felt I needed to say something. I don't want to leave this game and I don't want others to feel like they want to leave, either. I want League of Legends and Riot Games to succeed, but if the structure of the game itself encourages bad behavior, it's going to become increasingly more difficult for players to have fun-- and even if a game is competitive, fun should always be the first priority, right?

Even if this was a long read, I hope someone in your order sees it. Thank you very much for having the patience to sit through all my thoughts.

With Love,

Kain, A.K.A. "Jhincent"

7 Comments

Imperial Pandaa3/15/2019, 5:48:04 PM1 votes

Comparing pvp between Legaue and something like FFXIV isn't effective because of the styles of combat. In League you have to build your items and strategies in game. Assuming FF works the same way as GW2 or SWTOR, you take whatever gear you have into the arena; sometimes with hidden boosts to make the gear better for PvP. Meaning in those games everyone, in theory, has the same power throughout the match. Only variance being skill.

Wolfalisk3183/15/2019, 7:59:02 PM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Jhincent vanGogh,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=7VTkZfHh,comment-id=,timestamp=2019-03-15T17:39:54.033+0000)

When I look to other online team games I enjoy (Final Fantasy XIV, which has both PvE and PvP, is probably the most socially positive game that comes to mind), the focus tends to shift towards teamwork instead of solo performance. Even if one person isn't doing so hot, the others can make up for him or her and pull through by cooperating. Good sportsmanship is rewarded by success. In League, there are many times where one player who isn't performing well (and often has a bad attitude to boot) can cost you the victory, even if you are doing pretty well for yourself or your team is communicating effectively.

This is anecdotal of course, but I quit LoL several years ago and went to Heroes of the Storm, which is a much more team-based MOBA where you can't really solo-carry a game (aside from one or two Champions), and teamwork wins out most of the time. Blizzard also limits your communication to allies only.

The toxicity wasn't better, which in my opinion is a remarkable indictment I think of MOBAs in general. You can't force 10 complete strangers into a box together for 40 minutes with different competency levels and expect harmony. I think the toxicity levels are a result of the heavy time commitment, the competitive nature of the game, and your limited ability to control your fate despite your own performance. And lastly, perhaps most critically, in almost any other game you can leave if things get too heated, and the most it does is count against your score. If you leave in a MOBA, you're held as an equal or greater villain by the community.

The only way this can precipitate harmony is if you're in a team of people you know and are invested in through either friendship or business-related ways like teams or whatnot. These are buffers against treating people horribly.

CurrentBanTallyV3/15/2019, 11:44:41 PM1 votes

The issue is, and continues to be that the only people who are being listened to or who post on this thread regularly are people who are not toxic.

They dont know why people are toxic, they don't know what toxicity is half the time, and they are VERY not interested in solutions.

They see people getting banned, and they know THEY would never be toxic... so we just need to encourage people! Lets hold hands and talk about how toxicity HURTS you as much as it hurts trolls! Look how good we are!

I could not have CREATED a system on purpose that would be as good for trolling as riot has done accidentally. Its amazing. And because it's banning people, people will continue to think it works when it doesnt.

And in the meantime to try and stop the trolls, we just crack down on more and more minor offenses. Which just drives people to say fuck it and not care.