Boards›Player Behavior

I Have an idea how to improve the community! I call it the Mentors Program

Diplomacy Failed·1/22/2017, 3:30:27 AM·9 votes·758 views

I'm a proponent for encouraging good behavior through rewards rather than simply chat restricting/banning people for their offenses. We are all people enjoying a game, trying to grow as players in turn as people. No one likes being shunned by their own fellow gamers. Getting banned only makes people buy a new account and come back with more rage.

Core Idea We should implement a system that helps elevate players for their ability to control themselves! You're probably thinking, this sounds like the commendations system we've had for quite a while but I want to take it a step further. I want the good attitude players to have a way to talk to players who have been offensive. Sort've like a peer to peer chat.

Reason why People would be more likely to adjust their attitude if they talk to someone else who plays, maybe works out why they had the attitude and if necessary delivers the warning to reform or face consequences. Giving people with lighter offenses a freebie but fair warning to adjust their attitude. This could give players a chance to grow as people as well as increase their performance in future games!

Rewards You're probably thinking, how could riot convince people to volunteer for this? Well, give them free loot, I'm not suggesting Riot hand out free riot points or skins or anything but perhaps key fragments or something for hextech (maybe a shiny banner on their border in load in screen). These incentives will be more geared towards players who play often and engage in the game more frequently while maybe even encouraging players with poor attitudes to reform to become a mentor.

Please share with me your thoughts on how I can develop this idea further, help me show this idea to riot to see if they can see any benefit in implementing it. Feedback is encouraged. - Diplo

28 Comments

ModUlanopo1/22/2017, 8:56:57 PM3 votes

You know, I want very badly to say "this is an awesome idea, let's see how we can get it implemented". I have been doing this very thing - volunteering to be a peer guide - all the way back to the first days of the TBI. But, here's the problem:

I believe that people in the moment are emotionally charged and when they've had some time to calm down and think about their actions they're more likely to be receptive of new ideas.

My experience is that this is not the case. Riot ran the numbers a few years back and discovered that whether or not someone reforms has very little correlation with the punishment they receive and that includes the whole gamut from warnings to suspensions (permabans are not intended for reform, they are intended to remove people from the community).

Riot found that about 50% will reform after the first action and that effectiveness drops by about half with each successive step (so 50% at 1, 25% at 2, 12.5% at 3 and so on).

What this means for your suggestion is that most people don't want to change their behavior, they want to explain their behavior and the numbers get worse the more times they have been touched by the system. Every single time someone has come to me personally for help, we start with a long period where I have to keep telling them, "no, your behavior was not okay." Sometimes we get past that phase, sometimes we don't.

Frankly, the real solution is for people like you to help where you can. Be a good role model in game and on the boards. Sportsmanship can be contagious.

50000000000000001/22/2017, 7:47:41 AM2 votes

I don't think I'm understanding this right. So a positive player becomes a mentor, but doesn't do anything as a mentor?

Manaricelle1/22/2017, 8:09:52 AM2 votes

Do you believe that a toxic player will listen to another person if they can't even do that in-game?

swordofsun1/22/2017, 8:02:24 PM2 votes

I don't think it's a bad idea, but I don't think it should be mandatory. Perhaps as an opt-in in addition to the punishment. In the reform card have an option to talk to someone about why the ban happened and what they can do to be better players going forward. This is a step that I think Riot is missing, too many people come to the boards and don't understand what they did to get punished.

I don't think it should be instead because of course everyone would choose the option to talk to someone instead of being punished.

My other concern would be getting volunteers for the mentor side of the program. I'm hesitant to offer rewards as it would encourage people to do the bare minimum to 'sign-off' on someone, whatever the criteria for signing off would be. Isn't that what happened with the Tribunal? People just voted to the get the rewards and didn't bother to actually read the cases?

Again, I do think Riot is missing the step of having a way for people to discuss their punishments in a private setting so it's not a bad idea.