"KYS" Is NEVER Acceptable, And Is Your Responsibility

Dear Riot,

I have a problem for you, but I also have a solution. I ask that you be patient as I present both with some stuff in the middle. TL;DR version included at end.

Whoever is reading this - have you ever been told to kill yourself? Have you ever lost a friend or loved one to suicide? What if someone told your child or spouse to do it? What if anyone who was ever told to do it listened?

Have you ever told anyone else to do it? Same question. What if they did?

Let me make clear that I hold everyone accountable for their own choices. Nobody is ultimately directly responsible for the act of a suicide except the one doing it. However, there are malicious people who derive pleasure from inflicting their pain on others and ignorant people who don't know the pain they inflict; all of them contribute to the act by supporting or encouraging the act. Even when someone is told to do such a terrible thing and doesn't, they have that influence in their life for that brief period - the influence of feeling like another person, or worse, other people, want you dead. As in "real life person has ceased to breathe, eat, sleep, think, love, feel, dream, desire, etc. and it might have even been messy and was certainly traumatizing for their loved ones and changes all the lives around them for the worse" dead. A spark of consciousness has ceased to exist. That kind of dead.

Let me also say that killing yourself over a video game sounds silly, but I don't believe it's over a game when this actually happens. I think we can all agree it's because of their perspective and the people around them who affect it in many cases. To that effect, why would you ever even remotely allow the risk of this happening because of interactions in your community to be present? This is the only sport I've ever played (if you acknowledge Esports as sports) where during, after, and SOMETIMES EVEN BEFORE a game, you have your team AND/OR the opposing team telling you to end your real human being life.

You say you oppose toxicity and support constructive interactions, but especially in the lower ELO's (most of the world that plays the game) this blatant and destructive toxicity is rampant. Unfortunately, while you are once more not directly responsible for the act when committed, there are steps you could take as decent, compassionate, and benevolent human beings to minimize the destructive influences within the community you've created and interact with.

There's the problem; now for solutions. You've included a mute button, but sometimes that doesn't stop the incident from occurring. Unfortunately, it's deprecating garbage like KYS that causes you to use the mute button RETROACTIVELY. You could argue that you could go into a match muting everyone, but what kind of team dynamic does that create? And what kind of overarching community thrives when everyone has to preemptively destroy communications with each other lest they be made to feel worthless?

This leads us to the report system, which is also retroactively used, but offers some chance of retribution in the acknowledgement of one's injury. On that point, allow me to ask, what do you classify KYS as? Is telling someone to kill themselves a "Negative Attitude"? Is telling another person to end their life "Hate Speech"? Why not kill two birds with one stone here and add a report category specifically for KYS? This accomplishes two things in that it clearly defines where such a horrendous offense is to be reported while allowing specific punishment for the offense upon the confirmed report if it was deserved. That's the beauty of it too - it's so easy to validate. Scan chat for the match, and if it's there, it's there. If they said it, they said it. Apply necessary punishments.

When I say punishments, I don't necessarily mean they get perma-banned on first offense. As much as I like that, such absolutes disregard anomalous incidents, which are too many to try to predict. But why not impose immediate action that is not so severe as it is effective? Apply a ban from chat for a period, even if it's only a few hours. I acknowledge some people just need to calm down. While they get back to a decent place, keep them from sending others to such a negative one. If it persists, extend the chat ban. If it still happens and is a clear pattern of malice or disregard, elevate severity.

I'm sure there are other solutions, but that's the best I've come up with. It would certainly involve more moderation and work on your end, but why do something at all if you're not going to do it right? Why is it people can get banned quickly for cheating and breaking the rules of the game, but face such lacking punishment for breaking the laws of society and moral code of any decent person? At what point do you decide to step in and prevent what harm you can in your own social environment? At what point do you embrace the value of a human life and experience and take this simple tangible step to preserve it on your watch? If nothing else, wouldn't the removal of KYS from the LOL community narrative lead to improvement in the general quality of interactions and sense of community and belonging?

Again, I know it seems like a lot of work, but think of how easy it would be to maintain if the norm were the ABSENCE of this kind of toxicity. These days this terrible behavior is the expectation, and so the expectation perpetuates itself. Remove the expectation of painful interactions of this kind riot. I hope one day I get to play this game in a time where I would actually be shocked to see KYS in the chat again. I know I'm not the only one.

With that, if this is in the wrong place, please point me in the right direction. I don't want this to be read and moved on from. I want to see change for the better. TLDR below.

TLDR: KYS is an unacceptable idea to convey to another person. Add a category of report specifically for it, apply more targeted punishments for it, and create an environment that people don't have to worry about getting quite so hurt in by everyone around them. Make your "community" matter to everyone who feels they are not accepted in it. Save lives Riot. Let me know what steps I can take to see this through.

Now I hope to see positivity, support, and connections here, but I'm also ready for the trolls. Let's see how many times I get told to kill myself for caring about this. Hope you're watching Riot.

*EDIT: Thanks for the attention to the issue and the provided inputs. I do ask that if you voted no in the poll, you state why. I'd have added separate no categories, but the character limit is kind of small for naming the options. Also, please direct anyone here who would be interested so we can get a vibrant and open discussion going on the issue. Thanks, and gl on the rift.