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Riot's take on combating trolls

Dark Echoes·7/13/2018, 12:39:02 AM·7 votes·3,920 views
League of Legends Match History

It's been a long time since I started playing league, late LATE season 3.... Like, a few days before the season went over to pre-season 4. I'm still not really a veteran to the game in my own mind, but I know my way around, I'm not new anymore. Recently I had my FIRST run-in with the tribunal and was faced with a chat restriction, a complete wipe of my honor progress, and was told that I was not eligible for end of season ranked rewards. While the last point was inherently wrong according to one rioter, it doesn't change the circumstances. I recently played what might possibly be my last game of league ever due to what happened with one toxic player.

I was having fun, the meta was new and exciting, Pyke was a blast to play despite not being the greatest and this game I decided to play him jg, not to try and win but to have fun. At some point in the game, around 10 minutes in our Taric asked me to help out bot lane, and as a good jungler I immediately headed down but Taric and MF had just died, if I waited any longer to attack Sona and Heimer would have escaped as I suspected they saw me coming, so I went in and got both of them. Taric immediately flew into a frenzy of flaming me out hard, such as immediately calling me "idiot" multiple times. I didn't really care about the insults, they weren't really that original but I still had to ask what he was talking about, I didn't comprehend who would be angry that their JG picked off their lane opponents but there I was, in a situation like that.

I am slow to argue in game, but this sheer lunacy pushed me a bit too far and I fought back, by my own admission I shouldn't have fed the troll but what I said in my own opinion was justified, but not necessary and I'm more than happy to serve a chat restriction. However, when asking about this to riot support I got a VERY cookie cutter response, which is the following (And I'm not going to name names here because this isn't a witch hunt and it's not riot support's fault in the end, it's a company wide problem):

Greetings Dark Echoes,

First things first, Here is the FAQ. This will give you the rundown on what the intention is for a chat restriction and how it works. As an aside, it looks like you have 9 games left on your restriction.

Now I do see that you had some players in this game that were not quite friendly and you are right they got quite upset about your play and this seems to have an effect on what you decided to do in this game. We will make sure to look at their accounts as well, But let’s talk about what you did during the game that put you in this place.

I am seeing instances of you arguing with them, insulting them and getting pretty heated with them and not letting this drop. This is not okay to bring this into chat, as chat is ultimately about communicating with your team and not aruging/insulting them.

I get that this would frustrate you to have this penalty on your account, but if you need any clarification on anything to do with this penalty, let me know and I can help you out.

Riot Games Player Support

So.... What I'm seeing from this is that we're not allowed to talk back to trolls and flamers, Toxic people get to do as they please and that the system WON'T find them as the rioter admitted they didn't even look at my game and a bot handled it. There is clearly no penalty for instigating the problem, and I'm sure there was no disciplinary action taken against them. Honestly, alot of my friends still play league, I was having fun with league, I want so badly to praise riot and say good job to them because finally the game was becoming FUN again.... But I don't know if I can continue if this is the system in place. Imagine if you will a scenario where YOU were mugged, you fight back and punch the mugger in the face and continue until they're unconscious, then the police show up and arrest YOU. I know there are others with similar experiences, and I know Riot doesn't listen without a massive uproar, so I expect this to get swept away.... But there's the possibility that my case can be used an example of a system that has been broken for a long time. Where the trolls get away every time and the people who eventually have enough of it and snap ONCE get penalized.

If anyone is wondering why alot of people still leave, this is one of the major reasons. A broken reporting and tribunal system.

25 Comments

Dark Echoes7/13/2018, 8:33:25 PM4 votes

Wasn't really expecting any real traction but after taking a quick glance I honestly knew this would happen. It seems that our advisor friend has neglected to actually read my post as I already admitted I wasn't in the right, never addressed the issue of the instigator not getting any initial correction, the rioter confirming that no action was taken against them despite more reports going to the troll than to myself, and ignoring the obvious fact that if trolls were banned by the reporting system there wouldn't be one in..... every other game. Then again I, once again, knew that there would be at least one individual who just wants to play devil's advocate and doesn't really make any original points. Instead of just saying don't do anything and suck it up, why are we not thinking about why does Riot LET this repeatedly happen game after game after game after GAME when one of the regular people who don't flame consistently defends them self one time and BOOM instant punishment.

On the note of "just mute them", yeah cool that works but eventually you'll just mute everyone every game for risk of that one flamer, and I've met some great people through league in game chat. Why are these individuals allowed to determine what we do every time, they push everyone ELSE out of in game chat and Riot continually does nothing.

On the note of not being a victim once you retaliate that's just.... incorrect. If you retaliate back with all-caps screaming and personal attacks that's uncalled for, no doubt, but the inability to say anything without risking being the one to receive punishment is abhorrent.

I'm all for an open dialogue about this but just telling people, "Mute or don't complain" isn't going to fix anything.

I AM VBAD7/13/2018, 12:59:41 AM3 votes

that is indeed their philosophy. do not fight back with bullys trolls or ragers because words can not hurt you. only mute and report.

it is very unsatisfying because we all know if we mute and report it is extremely unlikely that anything will happen to them. so you have to feel bad and weak and they get to feel powerful and like they beat you because you didnt even have the guts to fight back.

you are not even allowed to tell them you are muting and reporting them because somehow even that is considered toxic. if you play by riots rules it is extremely emasculating

their idea is that if they allow you to flame back then now the other person feels justified in flaming back at you and it is a huge mess of spreading toxicity. it can be impossible to sort out who even started it. so they believe the only way is to punish any and all 'toxicity'.

its a bad idea and a deeply flawed system. but they are trying their best to do a good thing.

ModPrandine7/13/2018, 1:05:39 AM3 votes

First of all the Tribunal doesn't exist anymore: the Instant Feedback System (IFS) is what handles punishments now. Second off the Riot Support rep already did a good job explaining to you why retaliating against poor behaving players isn't okay and why the punishment will stay, and even said that the other players would be investigated as well. It's not a cookie cutter response by any means, it's just not the answer you wanted to hear.

Your mugging example doesn't work because the only thing in danger in the game is your ego and pride, not your life. Trolls want to get a negative reaction out of you and they want to drag you down with them, which in this case they did. "They started it" doesn't work because everyone is responsible for their own behavior. To use a better example imagine you're at a bar and someone is verbally abusing and harassing you. Do you:

A) Retaliate with verbal abuse and harassment of your own. or B) Ignore it and report them to management.

If you chose A then you can expect both of you to get in trouble and thrown out, whereas with B you can ensure that only they get in trouble and thrown out instead. It's the same thing in-game where choosing A lands you both in trouble while choosing B only lands them in trouble.

Next time if someone is behaving poorly in chat then just mute, report and move on. If they're gameplay trolling then try to work around them to the best of your abilities, report them and move on. Also, if you must rage then do so at the screen instead of in the chat to avoid compromising your teams chances of success. If you must respond though then do it in a mature and respectful manner but know when to stop. Both ways don't give them the reaction they want and chances are they'll stop once they realize that (not always but sometimes).

CharDeeMcDenniz7/13/2018, 11:04:45 AM1 votes

"So.... What I'm seeing from this is that we're not allowed to talk back to trolls and flamers"

the beauty is...you dont have to!

there's this new-fangled invention called A MUTE BUTTON! check it out, it's crazy!

AMADEUSdotEXE7/15/2018, 10:08:18 AM1 votes

The shit is automated. They need real people handling the reporting.