Boards›Player Behavior

Why Riot doesn't do permanent chat bans

Voldymort·11/16/2018, 3:12:55 PM·19 votes·14,461 views
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A few seasons ago chat restrictions used to stack and it didn't solve the problem. It made the problem more wide spread, in the sense that It wasn't uncommon to know someone with 2000+ chat restrictions. People were collecting them like they currently collect mastery points.

I managed to find this discussion on permanent chat restrictions (not bans) from 2014

http://www.surrenderat20.net/2014/05/red-post-collection-lyte-wookiecookie.html

The part that is relevant to you:

WookieCookie, a player support lead and member of the player behavior team, also weighed in on a set of temporary bans that went out on a small subsection of chat redistricted users, replying directly to a summoner who felt that had been unjustly punished:

_"On Friday we decided to review the data we collected after placing chat restrictions on accounts with high levels of recorded toxicity. We were pretty pleased with the results, a large majority of players actually showed signs of less harassment and toxic behavior. _

Unfortunately a small % of accounts actually increased in recorded levels of poor behavior. For these players we decided to place a 3 Day Suspension on their account.

_As a lot of you are probably aware, the Tribunal is currently in extended recess while the Player Behavior and Justice dev team works on some upgraded features for it. _

_During this time we're not going to sit idle while some players try to exploit others in game. Even without the Tribunal we have numerous tools at our disposal to find and take action on high offenders. _

In this particular case, we sent e-mails to those affected. I am bee bee sea you might want to check that the e-mail on your account is up to date, as this is the primary way you'll receive messages on the status of your account from us. To help you out here, I decided to take another look at your account. In your case, during the period of chat restrictions your account continued to receive reports in over 40% of the games you played. During your chat restricted period you had a habit of passively aggresively treating your team mates poorly. Either by feeding the enemy, rambo'ing on your own, or just waiting around not contributing until your team surrendered. Even with chat restrictions you did manage to say quite a few terrible things that I wouldn't repeat here. But I'm pretty sure that Lee Sin jungle in one of your games didn't appreciate being called that terrible racial slur just because he wasn't performing well. Everyone has bad games, it's how we deal with them that we excel and grow as players at League of Legends. Calling someone names doesn't help them get better and it certainly doesn't help you win."

He continued: "The observed behavior of those which were banned was that they used what little chat they had in game to harass and berate others. In other cases they decided to feed or play against their own team in order to "prove a point". But what I find most interesting is that of the players we chat restricted last week (and there were a lot!)we only had to place manual suspensions on less than .05% of the players. By and large, the vast majority of players had no problem adjusting their behavior in game with limited chat."

in case you missed it:

"The observed behavior of those which were banned was that they used what little chat they had in game to harass and berate others. In other cases they decided to feed or play against their own team in order to "prove a point"."

Aldo from Riot Tantram: :

It really breaks down into two categories.

1.) Helping players reform 2.) Shielding others from the behavior, at a cost.

We used to issue chat restrictions that essentially scaled indefinitely.

We were able to determine that after a certain point the penalty no longer helped with reform. The 10-game and 25-game counts for chat restrictions are based on data that they were both light enough, and felt strict enough to encourage people to understand their behavior is unacceptable in game and change it.

We also saw that the players in this 'large restriction' category defaulted to gameplay altering means of harassing their team. It caused an increase in feeding and trolling.

The sample size of this population and time frame is huge. Essentially the time spanning from the introduction of chat restrictions to the introduction of IFS.

So my question for you is, would you rather have more feeders and less negative chat?

if you think that removing the chat completely will also "remove the problem", instead of making it worse, you are kidding yourself.

48 Comments

MegaLobunny11/16/2018, 3:20:21 PM12 votes

With how often this gets asked we should have this pinned lol

SuppMasterRace11/16/2018, 6:09:22 PM5 votes

Riot are too lazy, it's as simple as that, they can throw out as many excuses and dodge as many times as they want but the fact of the matter is Riot are horribly lazy when it comes to handling "toxicity" just like how horribly they handle actual trolls that can run rampant for 50+ games before even being INVESTIGATED.

mlm olo mlm11/16/2018, 7:00:50 PM4 votes

We were pretty pleased with the results,** a large majority** of players actually showed signs of less harassment and toxic behavior.

Permanent chat bans do work. They work very well.

Unfortunately a small % of accounts actually increased in recorded levels of poor behavior.

That's where Riot got off track. They decided to escalate the punishment for EVERYONE. In an attempt to combat a small minority.

Dat Kat11/16/2018, 4:07:12 PM3 votes

Because that would be stripping you from the privilege of being able to communicate like your other teammates. Now, if you have trouble communicating like a civil person would with your fellow players, then you get two chat restrictions as a warning on how you're behaving. If the behavior persists, then that is not something for them to control or hold responsibility upon. Its something you need to work on.

This affects not only your online experience, but your social life aswell. You have to be able to contain and control your anger and be as civil as you can when it comes to interacting with others in any given environment.

DeadliftBeef11/16/2018, 5:45:42 PM2 votes

I've said this many times before. Add the option to DISABLE CHAT ourselves.

3TWarrior11/16/2018, 9:23:27 PM2 votes

Unfortunately a SMALL PERCENTAGE of accounts actually increased in toxic behavior

and here's another key point

we only had to place manual suspensions on less than .05% of the players

that were chat restricted

it doesn't really seem necessary to elevate from chat restriction to game ban when the problem is what is said in the game

Jorathmo11/16/2018, 10:01:23 PM2 votes

Congrats you cherry picked a quote and guess what people should be permanently banned for inting or trolling, its fucking dumb you get banned for chat behavior. The problem is Riot is afraid of some snowflakes and doesn't fix their game. People get to int and feed all they want with no punishment and one chat slip up they get banned. Also the stats he stated said chat restrictions worked only a few players became more toxic and those players should br chat banned or if they feed permanently banned.

Brotha11/17/2018, 12:07:17 AM2 votes

{quoted}

if you think that removing the chat completely will also "remove the problem", instead of making it worse, you are kidding yourself.

The problem was that players continued to flame and belittle allies with their limited chat. If they never had the option to chat they'd never had the ability to flame and belittle those players. All this post served to do was prove Permanent Chat Restrictions can work.

Like many players I want an option to disable the chat. I shouldn't have to type /muteall every single game to avoid toxicity. I shouldn't have to hear it in pregame lobby. We have assigned roles, pings, and timers to communicate game relevant information to our team. Those who want to chat and meme can keep their chat but those of us who don't want to see it shouldn't have to.

P.P.S: I also want a true Solo-Que where I do not have to deal with toxic duos or premades.

Stróc Dúnmharú11/16/2018, 9:03:10 PM1 votes

So... just ban the account if the player keeps being a toxic fuck after multiple chat bans?

Or hey, here's an idea. Lock them out of certain champions!

"Who is your most played champion, Mister Toxic Tommy?"

Toxic Tommy: "Riven..."

"Well, now its impossible for you to play as Riven until you earn a minimum of 50 honors from non-premades! OH! And you're chat banned, so you can't ASK for the honor either, you have to earn them!"

RiootGamesSuckss11/16/2018, 7:38:00 PM1 votes

They won't give you that option because they need you to flame and get your account banned so you can spend more money on xp boosts and rebuying all the skins you once had. Duh. 😎

Arrcanos11/16/2018, 6:38:02 PM1 votes

They need an option to flat out disable chat. I would pay $100 for it.

ı Sona ı11/16/2018, 3:57:22 PM1 votes

Just have year long chat bans then! :D

Wheless2211/16/2018, 5:43:32 PM1 votes

I don't understand the issue. You should receive two chat bans (say 3 day and 7 day). After that, if your behaviour is not acceptable, you get a 7 day ban from the game, then a 28 day ban, then perma ban... Case closed

forist11/16/2018, 8:04:56 PM1 votes

{quoted}

But what I find most interesting is that of the players we chat restricted last week (and there were a lot!)we only had to place manual suspensions on** less than .05% of the players**. By and large, the vast majority of players had no problem adjusting their behavior in game with limited chat."_

Wait a second.... is this the true origin of the legendary .05% statistic that everyone uses?