The Problem with the Report System is...

SpaghettiVase·Jun 9, 2017·31 votes·1,216 views

Feedback.

There is very little feedback when it comes to how often our reports actually lead to bans. As far as I know, you are only notified if your report in particular lead to the ban. I feel as if CSGO has a decent example of feedback (There are surely better examples but CSGO is a game I know gives some feedback.)

If someone you reported was banned a small notification appears at the homepage of the CSGO launcher that says something along the lines of "Someone you reported has been recently banned.. yadda yadda yadda.. thank you have a nice day." Even though this notification lacks the whos and whys, it still puts faith in the player that the system somewhat works,

I feel like Riot should attempt at feedback to players individually, that way players feel like their report matters and its not just garnishing as many reports as possible on someone.

18 Comments

VectrosJun 9, 20175 votes

Yes please.

RacoonHunterJun 9, 20172 votes

I agree.. what's even worse is the response time for the report system to actually punish a player. it takes on average 2-3 DAYS for the report system to even throw a chat restriction out. Hell, the punishment card doesn't even include pre or post game chat!!!!

Riot seriously needs to improve their system BEFORE the new honor system is live. it's only going to get worse from here on out as a player. Toxic players will not care about earning rewards because the system is rigged so that their damage is done long before they are punished..

ChermorgJun 9, 20172 votes

Oh trust me, it's a lot faster. It's within 5 minutes of a game ending and being reported that triggers a punishment.

AbiwonKenabiJun 10, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sythriel Iolas,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=Az0dEGti,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2017-06-09T09:46:32.552+0000)

...the system is rigged so that their damage is done long before they are punished..

Well, you can't charge someone for murder before they kill someone, that's not how it works. How is the system or anybody for that matter supposed to know who is toxic before they display toxic behavior?

SpaghettiVaseJun 10, 20171 votes

The way he worded it I think he means that players who are toxic will make people less interested in honoring players all together.

Warhammer TitanJun 9, 20172 votes

Ive gotten a notification saying thanks to your report a player has been punished

Cornerstone1Jun 9, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Grand ChalIenge,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=Az0dEGti,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2017-06-09T13:50:44.665+0000)

Ive gotten a notification saying thanks to your report a player has been punished

I suspect we all have, but they are rare occurrences.

ElikainJun 9, 20172 votes

But punishments aren't rare circumstances. The reason why report notifications aren't frequent is because Riot did not want to spam players with "HEYY, THIS PLAYER YOU REPORTED 6 MONTHS AGO HAS BEEN PUNISHED, GOOD JOB BROOOO".

So the notifications we receive are recent (maybe a couple of days old at most) and if the player has been punished a day after that one, we simply don't see it but someone else who reported them sooner did get it.

ThundabossJun 11, 20171 votes

but dont they say only a small fraction of players get banned

ElikainJun 11, 20171 votes

Only a small fraction of players get perma'd. Because players do get punished and some kind of punishment first or second time is pretty much enough to stop them from doing that again or they risk a permanent ban.

kms irlJun 9, 20172 votes

The problem is that the only behavior that is punished is AFK and flaming, behavior like intentional feeding, griefing, refusing to cooperate, etc goes totally unpunished. On top of that the frequency of reports for flaming has less to do with what you say and more to do with if your teammates like you or not. I have been reported for flaming simply for having a bad game, the report system doesnt care as long as you swear (which is explicitly allowed by the summoners code)at some point during the game. The bottom line is Riot doesn't want to implement a comprehensive and accurate report system, they only want to cheaply implement an accurate-enough-that-it-won't-hurt-our-profits report system.

ElikainJun 9, 20172 votes

That isn't true at all. Every offensive behavior is being punished and the only difference is how much a player has to get reported before the system is sure it is the offense that other players flagged a specific player for.

AFK is AFK. DC, bug splat, internet going down or you unplugging your internet cable doesn't matter, as far as i know. It's a pretty straightforward offense but still, a single AFK report doesn't lead to a punishment. Infrequent internet problems are just that.

Flaming is again straightforward. Racism, homophobia, death threats and all that jazz is straightforward. Being passive-aggressive is straightforward.

What isn't straightforward is "feeding". After all, someone can intentionally do that but at what point can you call a person a feeder? 0/10 player may have just had a terrible game or they may have been ganked a lot or outmatched and you reported them because you were angry of their score. 0/10 player may also be suiciding into enemy turrets and giving them kills. How can a system differentiate these two cases, if both players said nothing in chat?

Is it the items that give them away? What should be allowed and not allowed on champions to have? Is it the pathing they take and where they frequently die? But if this was the filter, imagine how easy would it to just walk down each lane and donate a kill and then die to every camp in the jungle. Easy circumvention.

That's why Riot's systems need a few games and reports from those few games in order to build an accurate report card of the offense. Yes, one person feeding in your game intentionally and never doing it again in the next 50 games is still a punishable offense but Riot can't punish people based on a single game, through an automated system.

JlackBesusJun 10, 20172 votes

A veigar buying 5 dorans ring and save up for 7k before buying anything. Says in chat "im fucking around" "what can you do?" walks around and feed. Ya we reported him, but I bet he isnt getting banned or even punished. If someone flamed him in chat, i bet he would get punished way sooner than veigar. ur right riot can't punish people based on a single game, or it was jsut a bad game lmao. http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/2521069080/219181160?tab=builds

ElikainJun 11, 20171 votes

Ya we reported him, but I bet he isnt getting banned or even punished.

You don't know that. What people usually expect is that if they report someone for something and find it offensive, they expect immediate action taken against the said player. That doesn't really happen. Yes, the intent of that Veigar was to troll you but that's the intent that was surmised from human interaction. In the eyes of the automated system, he said nothing wrong. His deaths may be questionable but he has 7 kills so it might've just been a tough team, a matchup or him not itemizing properly.

In the end, yes, he is guilty of an offense. But this isn't something a system can detect of a single game. That's why if he's getting reported frequently but the system can't flag him for nothing in particular, Riot then manually audits his case as they did with Support Smite Nunu and Support Smite Singed. These players were never punished through an automated system but an action has been taken against them after Riot reviewed their cases.

iamthegoatofwarJun 9, 20171 votes

Eh...idk I don't report often enough to care. Only person I've reported today was a swain who decided to be an out right asshole to my team. Got a big ass grin though when I saw the feed back report.

MarshbouyJun 10, 20171 votes

Please. I haven't gotten a single message that someone has been reported in literal years. I've reported at least two hundred people since then. Rito please.