Boards›Player Behavior

Alternatives to the Current Punishment System

Eivon Vroud·11/28/2016, 7:56:29 AM·3 votes·938 views

Okay, basically as we all should know, if you flame in chat and show negative behavior, you follow a strict punishment ladder of: 1. 10 game Chat Restrictions (Stated as CR's for simplicity) 2. 24 game CR's 3. 2 week temp ban 4. Permanent Account Ban

This is pretty relentless and honestly kinda makes sense, except in one condition... This includes ALL negative behavior

Talking to a friend, we had discussed previous bans on accounts that we had, and the reasons behind those bans. Both of us agreed that the main reason that our accounts were banned was due to us flaming the team in chat. We also agreed it's a way to vent and cool off, lest we get so pissed off that we either afk, feed, or throw the game by trolling. (Which yes, we both admitted to doing a few times when we absolutely could not control ourselves)

Playing a game with him on an alternate account, he's actually a relatively skilled player. He made Plat 5 at one time (I honestly forget which season) and silver on another account. He had been playing since season 2. And this isn't just limited to him, I've ran into quite a few of similar cases over the past few months of playing on an alternate account.

Talking it over, we both decided that we could come up with an alternative to this. What if we removed their chat entirely?

Essentially, the game would continue to play as normal, and the player can still read the team's messages, however, if the player attempts to send a message it will not send. It will be as if everyone on the team has muted him. As the support desk has told me previously, they do not punish you for refusing to use the chat functions. So there's no issue there. This also helps the player, as he/she can now freely flame his/her allies as much as he/she pleases to calm down, and the team will be none the wiser, all because of Revoked Chat Privileges (RCP's)

This brings up the topic of how to implement this. And honestly, I do believe I have a decent solution to this, as well as a solution for already banned accounts.

Essentially, the eligibility of the player for this secondary ladder are (at least similar to) as follows. 1. The majority of reports on the player must be about verbal harassment 2. The player cannot have multitudinous reports of offences other than verbal harassment

If the player meets these two (and possibly more, should this proposal ever be tested) criteria, they will be eligible for the alternative punishment ladder.

1. 10 Game CR's 2. 24 Game CR's 3. 1 Week of RCP's 4. 2 Weeks of RCP's 5. 4 Weeks of RCP's 6 - ?. Either add another two weeks for each consecutive punishment or double the punishment each time. This depends on how harsh Riot wishes to be with the new implementation of this

Also, as for already banned accounts, I propose that Riot look over the majority of reports on the account and why the account was banned. If the account was banned due to multitudinous reports of verbal harassment, either: ** A. restore the account with Step 4 on the alternative ladder (doubling the time needed to show consecutive sportsmanlike behavior before stepping down to a lower step on the ladder) or B. Restore the account with Permanent RCP's**

Also, as an additional note, should the player from stage 3 and beyond of the Alternative Ladder begin to show actions such as griefing, trolling, afking, or similar negative behavior other than Verbal Abuse/Harassment, then they will be directly sent to Step 3 of the original ladder (2 week temp ban)

Keep in mind that all of this is just a rough draft and nothing is set in stone, this is just my attempt to get the idea out there and to better the community as a whole.

A few key points I'd like to make before I end this post.

They're still good players Honestly, the players that I've met are still relatively skilled and are more than capable of growing in their skill level until they potentially make it to the the Challenger Rank and beyond, however they have issues controlling their anger. As I've said before the venting is to help them control themselves and to calm down before they do something stupid like start to troll and throw game. I firmly believe they at least deserve the opportunity.

You're hurting your marketing Another thing that I've learned, not through direct asking but through casual conversation about what we used to have on our banned accounts, I've deducted that players on alternative accounts are far less likely to buy any in game merchandise such as champions and skins with RP. The fear of their anger causing them to waste more money IRL makes them hesitant to buy things on the secondary accounts. As an argument to this though, you could say that leaving them to just stockpile up skins and such on one account could end up with a majority of players owning most of the skins and causing a decline in sales, but lets face it. Roughly 10 Dollars a skin is likely too much for someone to buy all of the skins in League of Legends (though I'd like to see someone try... XD)

Another addition I know that technology these days is advanced enough to filter the types of reports the players are getting. If the player consistently gets reports for 2 or more games due to harassment and negativity, implement a short 3 minute wait time before being able to play again. Though this might require a section of the tribune to quickly check over the chat logs in order to determine if this could help the player out. About 3 minutes is all it would take for the player to clear their mind and relax a bit so they're not as tilted going into the next game.

Let me know what you guys think! Is this idea good, bad, needs improvement? Say so and let me know, and hopefully I can get a finalized draft in so that we can possibly improve the community of League of Legends

13 Comments

Martensitic11/28/2016, 9:07:27 AM3 votes

Permanent suspensions are not meant to punish you.

They are meant to protect the community from your influence. When a permanent ban is issued, its because it was determined that you are un-reformable, and will continue to be a negative influence no matter what chances you are given.

That's why the current system is advantageous over your proposal...because it protects the community.

Touch My Box11/28/2016, 8:31:51 AM2 votes

They want to permaban knowing people relevel and buy more skins. riot are money hungry.

OnlyYouCanHearMe11/28/2016, 3:26:02 PM2 votes

I like the idea. I really do. I don't have a problem with the existing punishment system, as there are very good reasons for why it is in place, as outlined by Martensitic and Zezockary. Riot has tried other ways, and they just don't work. But Riot has also shown, repeatedly, that they are willing to try new things and find ways to work with the community, despite some posters on the forums claiming to the contrary.

What no one can seem to get through to others is that permabans are not for "toxicity". Excluding those situations that result in an immediate suspension, they are for players refusing to listen to the multiple warnings issued prior regarding behaviors that violate the ToS. In essence, they are because the players are not changing their toxic behaviors.

As you said yourself in your proposal, putting them on CR will allow the player to be as toxic as they want, typing whatever they want, because the other players just won't be able to read it. So while it would be protecting the other people on the team... it's not encouraging the flamers to change. It's actually encouraging them to flame even worse, because they know that it won't be seen.

All that being said. I still really like the idea of putting toxic players on a permanent chat restriction, while still allowing them to play. I don't care how "good" of a player they might be, as that doesn't really matter to me, but I know a lot of angry teenagers from broken homes use the internet to vent the frustrations of daily life, and its very hard for them to not lash out. I don't like seeing them have their only escape taken away because they haven't yet learned not to snark at teammates.

So, I would propose a modification of your idea, where it lasts a very long time (6+ months) with no stages, and with a filter set up to scan for certain words. Typical trolling words, various curses, etc, and if they are still used repeatedly, the player doesn't come off the CR. It simply continues. I would also add into the system a set of commonly used phrases, like "I need to base" "Let's group" "Let's push." Simple things, that are used in almost every game, but not easily conveyed in pings. Some of them have been addressed with the new amount of gold and shop pings, so those aren't needed anymore, but there are some ease of use pings that would be helpful for the rest of the team if one person isn't allowed to speak.

TL;DR I like the existing system, but I also find your idea intriguing with a few possible modifications.

EvilDustMan11/28/2016, 2:05:32 PM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Eivon Vroud,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=Ls7mEEip,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-11-28T07:56:29.742+0000)

We also agreed it's a way to vent and cool off, lest we get so pissed off that we either afk, feed, or throw the game by trolling. (Which yes, we both admitted to doing a few times when we absolutely could not control ourselves)

What if we removed their chat entirely?

Can you see the problem here?

Really, the problem here is you, not the system. You can't control yourselves. It doesn't matter how good you are, how long you have played. And the VAST MAJORITY of people do just fine not getting banned.

bad arcade kitty11/28/2016, 2:15:10 PM1 votes

i think permabans for chat abuses should be get rid of

it's ridiculous how much more mild punishments on this forum are comparing to the punishments in the in-game chat, it makes no sense to be so draconian there

Zezockary11/28/2016, 10:33:07 AM1 votes

Riot has already tried a scaling chat ban system that basically did this. The people being punished by it repeatedly basically ended up with so many chat restricted games that they could not possibly play all of them, and when their chat was removed the majority of them changed from flaming to trolling games. Riot considered it a failure and implemented the four tier system we have now.

To those that say they just want the money from people that buy their skins back, why would anyone that knows they are not welcomed to a company give that company money? Personally I think that is stupidity on the part of the consumer and not the company.

AeroWaffle11/28/2016, 8:14:40 AM1 votes

We also agreed it's a way to vent and cool off, lest we get so pissed off that we either afk, feed, or throw the game by trolling. (Which yes, we both admitted to doing a few times when we absolutely could not control ourselves)

You pretty much explained why it would be a bad idea to only give out chat restrictions and chat bans.

ReadyxPlayerxOne11/28/2016, 8:00:01 AM1 votes

If something's gotta change... this isn't it. Sorry.