Boards›Player Behavior

Chat Restriction Suggestion - The "Self-Mute"

Jrugss··62 votes·14,433 views

Summoners,

It's come to my attention that some people in our community are very toxic. "What?! Toxic in LoL? No way!" I can hear some of you saying. Well the fact of the matter is that this is a game that can bring the worst out in people. From my own experience, I've had one of my good friends who had been playing the game since launch lose his account to a perma ban. He decided to play some norms after a long night of drinking with friends, what proceeded was one hell of a vulgar Lee Sin game which led to his immediate permanent ban. I'm sure many of have experienced this type of punishment or know someone who has. I have an idea that might be able to help.

Introducing the "Self-Mute". Under your settings in General Preferences (as well as in-game). The Self-Mute would restrict you from saying anything in chat. You are only allowed to ping.

By no means is the Self-Mute a cure or solution to the toxicity, but it helps those of us who can't control ourselves. Sure, someone could easily just not say anything toxic. You would think that most people have that kind of self control, but that's not always the case. I personally could see many players using the Self-Mute when they are gaming while under the influence and don't want to risk losing their accounts over a drunken outburst.

Self-Mute reminds me of other things that we use in our lives to keep ourselves in line. In college I used an app called Self-Control that I could set my own restrictions on websites for a certain period of time. This allowed me to focus on studying for my exams without getting distracted by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. It also reminds me of people who go on diets and lock away their sweets in their house. Sure, they can go unlock their dessert bank at any time, but they need to take the extra precaution to ensure that they stay true to their diet.

To me, there's no reason not to have this capability in our game. Let's give players the option of handcuffing themselves.

65 Comments

Sarutobi10 votes

Or you know you could have some self control. I mean what is stopping you from just not hitting your enter key? is it that difficult to do?

Junkο19 votes

You don't think rationally when you are angry, tilted, etc. If you know you have those issues it would be way better to just self mute yourself, you won't remember that you muted yourself.

Rewt3 votes

Also Inebriation affects your Decision making.... so yea...... not hitting the enter key..... you are gonna hit it 9/10 times when you are wasted.

And yea i get salty, but i play with freinds in discord so i get all my rage out in voice chat without actually typing anything. unless its something like "jihn for the love of god and everything holy in this life DO NOT ULT WHEN I GANK!!!!!!"

Fondling Gems9 votes

Can't you just unbind the chat key in your settings? Harder to do, but harder to undo too.

Krabby1 votes

i don;t think you can find it in settings tho, (probably is possible to do it in the game files but many people have no idea how that works)

Lexyy3 votes

I think this is a good idea.

KoearnChallenjaw3 votes

I would use it :D

Wayashe2 votes

{quoted}

I would use it :D

Same here.

PinguSchètOmhoog3 votes

This is a very good idea BUT please make a rule if you choose to self-mute yourself you are muted for THE WHOLE current particular game. No matter how much you want press the self-mute button again you just can't undo the rule.

Because I know if someone flames me and I read it, I could become so angry that I would go to settings and press the button again just so I can flame back... People will say that's untrue and I can handle it, but no, trust me, I can't.

Even if I /mute all and I flame someone in chat I unmute that particular person to read his possible answer....

But ofcourse let is reset by default at each start of the game. So if you self-muted yourself at the previous game and you start a new game it should show a small pop up at the beginning of the game with

"You can now freely talk again in chat. If you want to self-mute yourself again for this particular game go to settings. Note this setting cannot be undone during this game"

ItzZeyro1 votes

I know this seems silly but it helped me a lot. If you want help controlling your anger, think of a favorite snack (that doesn't melt) and take a bit and place it in front of you when you playing. Take one at the start to remind you of its taste. Then after that every time you think of something toxic and DON'T type it in take one. If you ever hit that enter key with a toxic message remove all of the treats and start all over next game. Do it successfully for 3-5 games in a row.

Another way to get self control is to say it out loud, to yourself. It helps especially if you have someone who doesn't play League near you. Would you want them to hear you saying that? Would they judge you negatively? After 3 games of getting weird looks/ disgusting yourself start your self reflect. Think about the person that gave you weird looks. Have it in your head that someone you know was the Summoner you were flaming. Would you be ashamed?

PhuckYouRito3 votes

Riot will never implement this because they are scum. They make a lot of money off of accounts who are permad and have to buy new ones. I once emailed Riot asking for a permanent chat restriction after a 14dayban which they denied, and later permad me. Twice.

ItzZeyro7 votes

they permabanned you twice? maybe they are onto something...

DrCyanide2 votes

accounts who are permad and have to buy new ones

Buying accounts is going to get the account permabanned too you know...

Skins Project2 votes

i think he ment like skins Buys DJ SONA/PULSE EZ/SPIRIT UDYR/ELE LUX Gets banned Does the same thing

Mig891 votes

They've clearly said if you get perma'd they don't want you playing their game anymore. They don't want you to level another account. They want you to go away.

PhuckYouRito1 votes

Do you actually believe that? That's so cute.

Mig891 votes

There's no use talking about this topic with someone like you. your name shows your bias. The number of perma bans isnt that high and i highly doubt they'd lose any revenue over it. I know the community doesn't want perma banned people back as a majority. Why wouldn't Rito go along with their player base on the issue as well.

PhuckYouRito1 votes

"I doubt they'd lose any revenue over it" You're wrong.

Mig891 votes

i kinda meant significant revenue

Elikain3 votes

Wouldn't work, in my opinion. People who don't have the discipline to stay away from the chat won't have the discipline to turn it off for themselves. One thing is to mute another player from bothering you (for some people, they'd rather argue then mute), the other thing is for you to stop yourself bothering others.

It's like an addiction to chocolate. You know you should cut it out significantly but it's always that "next time" that follows.

Sgt Necro1 votes

Well it's like locking up chocolate. You can undo it yourself but that extra step could make a difference in how you act on your impulse. You would definitely be less likely to flame if you had to first go into settings and turn it off before typing in chat. All that takes is enough self-awareness (knowing whether you tend to lose control) to set it up at the beginning.

TurboWindex1 votes

{quoted}

Wouldn't work, in my opinion. People who don't have the discipline to stay away from the chat won't have the discipline to turn it off for themselves. One thing is to mute another player from bothering you (for some people, they'd rather argue then mute), the other thing is for you to stop yourself bothering others.

It's like an addiction to chocolate. You know you should cut it out significantly but it's always that "next time" that follows.

As someone who has flamed people a bit, I'd have to disagree. There are times I go into a game and die level one and get really mad. I haven't lost it yet but I know that being forced to lane against someone better than me and ahead will probably make me want to blame my team. I've actually told my team in chat that "I'm kinda tilted right now so you might want to mute me in advance." And most people just go "lol" and don't. If I could mute myself there would be a ton of times where I'm still calm enough to do it, because I know I'm 10min I probably won't be.

Nerd Smartman1 votes

Yes, they would.

If you put a lock on the chocolate box, just because you had the key doesn't mean every time you want chocolate you'll unlock it. the lock reminds you of what you want. To stop eating chocolate. I don't like raging, I don't like being punished. It slips out.

This is like putting the safety on on a gun. It's optional, you can still shoot it, but it is so ignorant to think that because the gun shot once before and injured someone, a safety feature won't prevent that.

Insp1red2 votes

I have been chat restricted for the first time in my life and I actually enjoyed it. I can be get very easily out of control. I don't want chat to play. Pings are enough. If someone flames or gets salty I respond. A single mistake can make me flame every one on my team. They call me flamer but they don't know how it feels to try your best and see other people trolling you or not even trying. I'm hot tempered and I can't control it. Self mute is the best idea I have ever seen. Make it happen. At the end of the day it's my choice if I want to talk to chat or not. I want to be able to self mute before the game starts and can't undo it before this game ends. I hope some of you understand me.

I am Razgriz2 votes

Or better, just a shadow ban. They aren't informed, and nobody see's them type. But the words still go out. Sometimes you just need to vent, and if they responded it would usually just make you angrier. So if no one responds, no one see's your toxicity and you get a chance to vent.

Unfortunately Riot is about reform as well, and neither self-mute or shadowbanning help that. Chat restriction does help though.

Because you're informed and there's a clear path to a reward for being not toxic.

ModPrandine2 votes

Why can't Riot just assign perma-mutes to people instead of banning them?

Short answer: They tried that and it didn't work.

Long answer: There used to be a system in place where one could rack up hundreds of games worth of chat restrictions. This was replaced with the current Instant Feedback System for two main reasons:

  1. People with tons of CR's often wouldn't even try to reform because they couldn't work them off fast enough to make it worth it.
  2. The truly toxic people would just switch to other forms of griefing instead (i.e. ping spamming, intentionally feeding/afking, gameplay trolling, etc.) once they found out that they couldn't do it with chat.

The IFS encourages people to reform or get lost faster than the previous systems could. Is it perfect? No. Is it effective? Yes.

Kaioko1 votes

The only I issue I have with that is that there are certain times in game where strategy can only be conveyed through chat. Because this is team game; you would automatically put your own team at a disadvantage. I get where you're coming from with the self-control issue but the problem is that you're potentially penalizing 4 innocent players for an issue that you have.

Wipoulou6 votes

I usually mute all when chat distract me from the game. I think being more aware of the ame is more important than spending your game in chat.

Spaceman5pff1 votes

This. When people in chat start flaming (doesn't matter at who) I am super prone to getting in on the action.

I try to force myself to just mute all if this is happening.... But sometimes I get the best of me..

Bunny Molester2 votes

/ignore all :)

Mig891 votes

I type out something really toxic then ctrl+A and delete it. For some reason it makes me feel better

Harrah2 votes

I have done the /mute all, every game for the past year since I got a chat restriction and I am still climbing well. Pings are more than enough to communicate.

PHD CactusHugz2 votes

To be fair, if you actually can't stop yourself from raging or flaming when you play league, then you're already penalizing four innocent players for an issue that you have, and I would rather have a teammate silent than vocal and shitty.

UnboundCreator1 votes

This idea is good in theory but in practical use it won't work. If someone doesn't have the self control not to type the message they won't have the self control to self mute. Good idea tho

Nerd Smartman2 votes

It's going to work for some. Ignorance, I'm telling you. What you just said is like "people who don't have the self control to eat healthy wouldn't do it, even if they knew how to do it"

Yea, maybe some people man, but I'm convinced this would cut the number of raging incidents down a ton.

Hoshana1 votes

Not at all. I've been chat banned before, and it was helpful. Almost like I'm winning because I know no matter how mad I get, someone's holding me back from saying anything. Like your buddy holding you back from fighting a guy in a bar. Even though you know you don't really want to swing on him, it's nice to have a friend reminding you it's a bad idea.

I'm getting better (somewhat) about toxicity, but I have wanted this for a long time now. I think it's unfortunate Riot isn't willing to introduce it.

Spooky Thresh1 votes

Let the messages be sent as an illusion, but the allies/enemies can't see it

The Uncrown King1 votes

i think, if Riot would consider doing that or adding it into the game, it should be like this: You type a command like "/mute me" and then the game asks you if you are sure. if you press "Yes" you are not allowed to write in the chat for THE WHOLE GAME. you cannot type "/mute me" again to undo it it wont go away which would lead to being toxic in ur head but u cant undo the mute and u wont be able to write an insulting word and then mute again. it would be way better and also dont make it so that u can write in chat after the game :)

JSauce1 votes

Here is an idea, rather than perma-banning people for vulgar or offensive language to the children that actually care about being called shit, why not just permanently mute them instead so their hard earned items aren't lost into a hopeless abyss.

Hug My Panda1 votes

Please, please can you implement this (the self mute idea he has here). I'm am an impulsive mess and I mute all every game now but still get so frustrated every other game, and in the past I couldn't help but tell my 0/6 bot and top that there were steaming piles of dog poop. Please just let me mute myself so I don't get banned for verbal flame. (which is silly regardless, as others can just mute my a$$ when I get too flamey).

flavSb1 votes

I have had that idea as a shower thought some months ago and I wanted to write a post about it but it would eventually take me too long to explain. Riot should replace perma bans with perma mute. You would still be able to answer to your friends messages but this way people would stop talking/flaming in all chat and start focusing on their game. Perma bans should be reserved to the ones that keep on inting and rage quitting games (which, I bet, 20% of the players that do this but don't say anything in chat are banned). A perma ban doesnt necessarily removes toxicity. The dude would just create another account or borrow an account from a friend of his and would keep on flaming again until he understands. It's a vicious cycle. Some of my friends have been there, and the loss of their accounts (knowing that some of them would have spent more than 100 bucks of rune pages and skins) would create even more frustration and less patience during games (especially when they start over with a fresh account and doing their placements). And there is nothing more obnoxious that someone who spends their time typing in chat rather than focusing on his game (which is, unfortunately, 90% of the high plat, low diamond elo where i'm stuck on).

TheTrueQuarian1 votes

I've gotten into the habit of typing all of my rage into chat and then pressing escape instead of enter.

Rozair1 votes

I said the exact same thing a while ago and got downvoted to shit

Venomar1 votes

Myself I type out whatever I feel the need to say and then delete it. It's not what I'm saying that's important. It's the violent action of typing and slamming down the enter key on a mechanical keyboard that satisfies my blood lust.

Carpe Victoria1 votes

Wouldn't work imo. Just as muting all doesn't work for people with a toxicity problem. They will unmute it so they can argue again.

Nerd Smartman1 votes

Muting all does work for some. This wouldn't end all raging, but it would end it for those who knew they had a problem.

Hoshana1 votes

That's the point of this. It would be a "Okay, right now, I'm calm enough to know raging will only hurt me, so I'm going to mute myself for the rest of the game." Boom. But with muting everyone, I can easily go unclick it when I'm dead and ready to see what that douchebag adc has to say about my failed gank when he bailed for lulz. If I had a way to mute myself once and for all during the game, it'd make it far easier to relax knowing there's nothing I can do about it.

billtheos1 votes

Riot will never add it as when someone gets banned, they usually make a new account and give riot more and more money to buy skins etc.! They will never give it to us because they care for their money more than their playerbase

Typhon v21 votes

year ago i wrote a long letter to a support , that he have to perma chat mute me , he wont . JUST gif us mute button like hots , Overwatch . i cant fucking hold my self when i get dia players in my master games

Ada Wong1 votes

{quoted}

Summoners,

It's come to my attention that some people in our community are very toxic. "What?! Toxic in LoL? No way!" I can hear some of you saying. Well the fact of the matter is that this is a game that can bring the worst out in people. From my own experience, I've had one of my good friends who had been playing the game since launch lose his account to a perma ban. He decided to play some norms after a long night of drinking with friends, what proceeded was one hell of a vulgar Lee Sin game which led to his immediate permanent ban. I'm sure many of have experienced this type of punishment or know someone who has. I have an idea that might be able to help.

Introducing the "Self-Mute". Under your settings in General Preferences (as well as in-game). The Self-Mute would restrict you from saying anything in chat. You are only allowed to ping.

By no means is the Self-Mute a cure or solution to the toxicity, but it helps those of us who can't control ourselves. Sure, someone could easily just not say anything toxic. You would think that most people have that kind of self control, but that's not always the case. I personally could see many players using the Self-Mute when they are gaming while under the influence and don't want to risk losing their accounts over a drunken outburst.

Self-Mute reminds me of other things that we use in our lives to keep ourselves in line. In college I used an app called Self-Control that I could set my own restrictions on websites for a certain period of time. This allowed me to focus on studying for my exams without getting distracted by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. It also reminds me of people who go on diets and lock away their sweets in their house. Sure, they can go unlock their dessert bank at any time, but they need to take the extra precaution to ensure that they stay true to their diet.

To me, there's no reason not to have this capability in our game. Let's give players the option of handcuffing themselves.

Does this really exist?

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