Boards›Player Behavior

The Root of Toxicity

reksighs·1/26/2019, 1:14:38 PM·12 votes·7,355 views

I just got my first ever 14 day suspension in the 4 years I've been playing league of legends. I flamed some troll team mates and feeders in solo que for wasting my time as well as the times of my team mates and the 5 enemy players. I can take a ban like that on the chin and learn to watch my tongue, but one thing I want to understand is this:

Why does riot games consistently and without hesitation punish flaming harder than any other behaviour in league, when it is the only type of negative behaviour that arguably doesn't lose people games most of the time?

As I said, I know I should watch my tongue and I do lose my temper sometimes but I would never flame someone who is helpful to the team and lead us along for a good game. If someone ruins 30 perfectly winnable minutes of game time, why am I punished for being mad about it but they are never punished for causing the loss and my naughty words?

The root of toxic behaviours is in the game, not the player. I don't log into my favourite game every morning to play some poppy top and type rude words at good people. I log in to climb soloq and try and have fun. I can't climb or have fun with trolls and feeders nearly every game but I also apparently cant lash out at them when it does happen because I shall be punished instead.

I don't think many people will agree with me with what I'm saying... if it's any consolation I'm breaking the enter button off my keyboard before my two weeks are up. I also think this is not just a problem for me but a problem for a lot of the people I play with. I anticipate some backlash for this but I needed to get this off my chest and see if anyone else had similar feelings.

I appreciate the time anyone took to read this, thank you.

35 Comments

ModBianca Colt1/26/2019, 1:19:02 PM8 votes

Why does riot games consistently and without hesitation punish flaming harder than any other behaviour in league, when it is the only type of negative behaviour that arguably doesn't lose people games most of the time?

They don't punish it harder. Intentional feeding, for example, will get you instantly suspended for 14 days, whereas verbally abusing others will subject you to a gradually increasing punishment ladder (10-game c.r., 25-game c.r., 14-day account suspension, permanent suspension).

The reason why they're more consistently issued is that chat related offences are fairly easy to detect and punish (everything is crystal clear in one's chat log(s)), whereas gameplay related offences require a bit more information to be dealt with.

nubulas21/26/2019, 1:29:44 PM6 votes

I agree and have been saying this for years. I got several 15 days and then a perma ban on one account just for telling morons they were morons. I have had 3 people winning a game and then when I got my 3rd item and we were going to finish, they all walked into the enemy fountain over and over for 15 minutes.

They even ghosted to get there quicker.

I have seen ever kind of troll there is.

But the only that is punished is words in chat. And for all you yappy assholes who are gonna pop up and say trolls are punished.......fuckoff now. They are not. I reported and tracked several and they just kept playing for weeks no ban. I even had one guy in 3 or 4 games one night. What are the odds?

I refuse to play with any Tahm Kinch. Half of them intentionally throw games.

I changed my config file so the position of chat is -100. You can move the box off the screen by dragging it in game, but mine is off the map from the beginning.

No you don't need chat for anything. The only thing chat does is give people a way to antagonize and ban you.

I also report every troll every game. So far it is rare that I don't have at least one a game.

Used to play a lot , finally just got meh. The whole thing is rigged in favor of a small group of champs and people with better hardware and low ping. All these dash and invisible and un targetable champs that also do one shot damage are just shit to play against.

beb0p1/26/2019, 2:19:09 PM3 votes

I totally agree with you, I also reported players for trolling/throwing and they didn't get anything ! I flamed yesterday after getting frustrated and got a 14-days suspension. I wrote a ticket as why I didn't get a chat restriction (25 days) first, as I am usually a nice player, who tries to help the team to win. Still waiting for a response from an agent. I really hope that some administrators will SEE this post and take some actions.

General Esdeath 1/26/2019, 10:37:48 PM3 votes

I still like how the Malphite who inted in DUNKEY'S GAME on HIS VIDEO where there's VIDEO PROOF...

wasn't banned until about 7 months later

CharDeeMcDenniz1/26/2019, 2:12:22 PM2 votes

{quoted}

Why does riot games consistently and without hesitation punish flaming harder than any other behaviour in league

because its 16327642187128412875 times easier to detect

R107 Games1/26/2019, 1:35:25 PM2 votes

Indeed.

The nature of a competitive online game will attract toxicity. No one flames other players for no reason. The flame is always provoked by feeding/making mistakes/playing badly/not trying etc.

Flame on its own doesn't lose games. It has to be when the flamer is typing excessively, or when the teammates receiving the flame aren't in control of their emotions.

I always respect most flamers in my games because it shows they take the game seriously.

Email Support 471/27/2019, 12:46:22 AM2 votes

In my opinion Riot have just become very strict and border line cotton wool parents for the player base. I remember playing in 2012 and 2013 and you would have to curse at a player in multiple games to warrant any punishment.

These days from reading all the forum posts and chat logs you'll get punished by showing any signs of frustration even if you don't curse or harass. I've never seen a game so strict and "Mothering" before.

reksighs1/26/2019, 8:28:22 PM1 votes

I don't have the time to reply individually to every single reply in this thread but I'm glad there's more people than me having similar issues with the report system and how it fails to meet the expectations of the community.

One of the big issues we seem to have is how it is easier to detect flame than it is than any other behaviour that violates the summoners code. Automation is the best way at finding these people because rioters cant go through every single game and of course that is true.

So why can't WE go through these games? CSGO has the overwatch system and the players of that game love it. People who care about the game go through games with alleged hackers and so they decide whether or not the alleged player is hacking or not.

If a player gets reported in league by more than one person then footage of the game could be sent to someone who decides whether or not negative behaviours occurred in game. They have access to the chat logs and everything.

If rioters can't go through the games we sure as hell could. As someone who watches all the pro games I wouldn't mind having a few more to go through from my fellow summoners. I don't know how others would feel about such an idea but in my opinion it could deter this type of behaviour from happening as well as effectively punish those who genuinely lose people elo and time.

I appreciate all the feedback and views, and will keep my eye on this thread for all responses! [poppy-wink]

Kanyoupipu1/28/2019, 10:01:00 PM1 votes

I agree, I really don't understand League's obsession with this. They are okay with trolls throwing and wasting other people's time, but they aren't ok with someone calling out the trolls.

"Toxic" has become a broad-brush term that is overused and meaningless IMO.

I could tell a teammate that is 0-10 that he "is trash" or I could say the N-word, racist stuff, etc, and the ban is the same. They have no differentiation and it makes no sense to me.

Riot's policy of not caring "who started it" is also absurd. There is absolutely a difference between me punching a stranger in the face unprovoked, or punching a bank robber in the face in defense. My point is context matters, who started it matters.

Najvek1/26/2019, 2:01:09 PM1 votes

I don't think many people will agree with me with what I'm saying...

Everyone who has a little common sense will agree with you on this. I think having troll or afk teammates is one of the worst things in this game that could happen to you. If someone flames, you can just mute them, but if someone starts inting your lane then going afk there is not much you can do. This needs to be adressed but there is no efficient way for an automated system to recognise trolls; and you can't expect riot employers to watch every match and manually punish the person responsible.

In theory the worst case scenario is that you have 4 trolls whilst the enemy has 5, so it does give a little advantage for you. In practice, however... tell that to my 15 loss streaks...

It could feel unfair, because it is. But sometimes, once in a blue moon the enemy has an afk. And then they flame. And then I feel relieved because they know what I go through every third or fourth game.

The best you can do is to pray to the Old and New Gods for worthy opponents and for teammates who do not lack the cognitive function of thinking.