Boards›Player Behavior

Chat Restriction Suggestion - The "Self-Mute"

Jrugss·2/9/2017, 6:06:06 PM·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

Sarutobi2/9/2017, 6:16:18 PM10 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?

Fondling Gems2/10/2017, 12:31:16 AM9 votes

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

Lexyy2/9/2017, 6:08:40 PM3 votes

I think this is a good idea.

KoearnChallenjaw2/9/2017, 6:14:26 PM3 votes

I would use it :D

PhuckYouRito2/9/2017, 11:24:53 PM3 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.

Elikain2/10/2017, 2:21:08 AM3 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.

PinguSchètOmhoog2/9/2017, 10:50:24 PM3 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"

I am Razgriz2/10/2017, 6:09:06 AM2 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.

Insp1red2/9/2017, 11:10:48 PM2 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.

ModPrandine2/10/2017, 6:41:00 AM2 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.

Venomar2/10/2017, 2:56:26 PM1 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 Victoria2/10/2017, 10:06:05 PM1 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.

billtheos2/12/2017, 5:46:20 PM1 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 v23/21/2017, 1:41:00 PM1 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 Wong1/29/2018, 6:36:14 AM1 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?

Kaioko2/9/2017, 7:34:17 PM1 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.

UnboundCreator2/10/2017, 2:45:57 AM1 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

Spooky Thresh2/10/2017, 10:52:05 AM1 votes

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

The Uncrown King2/10/2017, 10:59:44 AM1 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 :)

JSauce2/10/2017, 11:53:48 AM1 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 Panda2/10/2017, 12:15:13 PM1 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).

flavSb2/10/2017, 12:52:46 PM1 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).

TheTrueQuarian2/10/2017, 1:02:45 PM1 votes

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

Rozair2/10/2017, 2:40:40 PM1 votes

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