Boards›Player Behavior

Worried I'll get my account banned just from playing. Every game chat is filled with "Report!!"

ZoMsA·6/14/2017, 6:39:23 PM·8 votes·970 views

I've played since 2009, and now I'm just worried my account could be perma banned someday due to a report over nothing. I see players report every game, and that flags the system. Maybe I use caps lock and say "GROUP" i'll get reported. Also if I have a bad game (everyone does) i'll get reported for "inting" which is not the real case. This system has me nervous to even join games, knowing for a FACT i'll get reported once in a while just because another player doesn't like me. And the system will auto ban me. Literally every game I play, 1 or more players will say "report so and so" regularly. The "Report" thing has become the actual toxicity in this community. It's a threat, it's annoying, and quite frankly it's causing players like me who've played for years to become concerned about getting reported just because it's the thing to do! Can I get an explanation of how this system even works? And what to do to protect myself from being banned EVER? I've spent a lot of time/money and have some of the rarest skins available as I started playing at release in October 2009. I feel like the only real way to protect myself is to just not play on that account. If i mute all, i get reported for no communication. If i type, I get reported for making someone upset by making a call out, or telling them to go back. Apparently that makes people upset, so they report you just to ruin your day. If i have a bad game and don't do my best and we lose, I get reported. There NEEDS to be a better solution to this. If I ever get a warning, are there stages to bans before a perma ban? How many warnings? Warning first? Then chat ban? Then suspension? Or could i instantly be slapped with a 14 day ban like i've seen others get hit with before any warning whatsoever?

If I ever did get banned, riot is such a huge company - I worry they wouldn't care to hear my case. Or really listen. As I've seen with other players who have been banned. The only reason Gripex was unbanned is because he's a popular streamer with a following, so they took time to look into it. But a casual like me? Not a chance. I hope reports reset or warnings fall off after a certain period of time. I haven't had a warning in 3 years, I'd hate my next warning to be a ban. (if ever, i do my best to just stay quiet now.)

TL;DR Riot can someone please explain this system fully to me, how to protect myself. And also - is there a time period on when "warnings" reset and go back to normal if you've become an honorable player again? Let's say I had a warning 3 years ago and none since. Will my next warning (if i get one) be just another warning as it's been 3 years? Or will it still just be the next stage in the ban process? At my work, if we occur points or write ups for being late, they fall off after 90 days. Is this the case with league warnings? I hope it is, and hope this system can be perfected.

16 Comments

Zielmann6/14/2017, 6:50:29 PM8 votes

I've played since 2009, and now I'm just worried my account could be perma banned someday due to a report over nothing.

It won't happen, unless you deserve it. The rules are basically just "don't be a dick" so... don't be a dick and you won't get banned. Every report submitted is reviewed for accuracy. If nothing is found, the report is simply tossed out. It's as if it never happened.

Now, let's say that somehow, against all odds, you get a punishment from nothing. You won't go right to a permanent ban. You would first get a 10-game chat restriction. If it somehow happens again, you'd get a 25-game restriction. Next would be a 14-day ban. And finally you'd hit a permanent ban. I would be willing to bet the odds of winning the lottery are far greater than the odds of escalating all the way to a permanent ban, entirely off a series of false bans.

Not only that, but if you get a punishment that you think you don't deserve, you can submit a support ticket to have the punishment reviewed. They will review the case and determine if it was correctly handed out or not. And yes, if they find the system made a mistake, they will correct it and reverse your punishment.

RallerenP6/14/2017, 7:05:32 PM2 votes

Any false reports don't get thrown out and are never used for anything again. Simple. You cant get banned due to false reports, do no reason to worry.

And what to do to protect myself from being banned EVER?

Not breaking ToS is the only way to ensure not getting banned. The system never 'autobans' people based on the amount of reports they have recieved. The system bans people based on the amount of toxicity.

If i mute all, i get reported for no communication.

Mute all is 100% allowed. As long as you ping and play normally you'll be fine. Chat restrictions wouldn't really work out if you could get punished for not using the chat.

If i type, I get reported for making someone upset by making a call out, or telling them to go back. Apparently that makes people upset, so they report you just to ruin your day.

Once again, false reports can never get you punished. So telling your teammates to fall back is not a punishable offense.

There NEEDS to be a better solution to this.

Nope, your worries so far have been without reason :)

If I ever get a warning, are there stages to bans before a perma ban? How many warnings? Warning first? Then chat ban? Then suspension?

If the system determines you to be toxic you usually follow a punishment 'ladder'.

  • 10 game chat restriction
  • 25 game chat restriction
  • 14 day ban
  • Permanent ban

Or could i instantly be slapped with a 14 day ban like i've seen others get hit with before any warning whatsoever?

You can skip punishments if the system determines you are toxic enough. Even to a permanent ban (very very rare, only for the douchiest of douchebags)

If you get hit with a 14-day ban with no prior punishment you likely wrote something extremely offensive in the chat, or intentionally fed.

If I ever did get banned, riot is such a huge company - I worry they wouldn't care to hear my case. Or really listen.

They wouldn't need to. If you do get banned, they already reviewed your case, just not manually. Reviewing each case manually would be 100% impossible.

The only reason Gripex was unbanned is because he's a popular streamer with a following, so they took time to look into it.

I don't know the specifics of that case so no comment sorry :/

I hope reports reset or warnings fall off after a certain period of time. I haven't had a warning in 3 years, I'd hate my next warning to be a ban. (if ever, i do my best to just stay quiet now.)

They do! If you consistently show improved behaviour, the you will descend the 'punishment ladder'. Depending on each case it takes a differently sized timeframe of a player showing improved behaviour to descend the ladder, so a specific time frame cannot be given. If you do get punished in the future, the punishment will most likely be a 10-game chat restriction, the lowest possible punishment.

and hope this system can be perfected.

A 100% perfect system will never be possible :( (as is true for anything)

But the system gets better every single day. It's a deep learning algorithm that tunes itself based on Riots guidelines and community feedback. Example: Saying GGEZ once was probably not considered negative by the IFS. But the system learned through reports and analysis of in-game behaviour that saying GGEZ is something negative, but not extremely negative.

As time passes, the FeederBuster (unofficial name) will get better at seperating inters from bad players and the IFS will get better at determining what punishments the community would want for each case :)

You will not get permabanned due to a slip up, unless it is EXTREMELY over the top (at which point it is probably no longer just a slip up).

TL;DR: The only way to protect self from punishment is by abiding ToU and Summoners Code. Warnings reset after showing improved behaviour consistently, but it's impossible to give a specific timeframe.

Moooose36/14/2017, 6:47:38 PM1 votes

[deleted]

Koonta Kintae6/14/2017, 6:54:53 PM1 votes

The details of how the system works are specifically withheld by Rito cuz players would use said details to 'game the system' and exploit it for various reasons.

However, you've come to the right place for a wealth of threads with various player theories on how the system works. There's countless moar threads offering suggestions for their own system and how it would be better than wut we currently have, usually without any of the ramifications of their system being too well thought out.

I have my own personal theory on how it works, and I think you are right to be afraid. I routinely report the heck out of people in my matches, yesterday I got the popup message (a player has been punished due to your report) 3 times. I seem to get this message several times on a weekly basis. It's probably cuz my theory is pretty accurate on what the system looks for to administer a punishment and I'm keen about noting instances of said offenses during a match for postgame reporting.

Good luck though, the best advice I can give you is to never use chat. If you never type anything into the in-game chat, you insulate yourself from the vast majority of reasons people get banned in this game.

Xidphel6/14/2017, 6:56:20 PM1 votes

It's alright. If you don't do anything punish-worthy, nothing will happen to you.

Also, fun fact: telling others to report you counts as harassment and you can report them for that.

Jo0o6/14/2017, 6:52:31 PM1 votes

Dude, I get reported all the time. Never had so much as a chat restriction. People want to report you for disagreeing with them, or adopting a different strategy than what they shotcalled, or picking a champ they don't respect, or for making mistakes. Those reports get thrown out.

The stages of the punishment system are as follows: 10-game chat restriction, 25-game chat restriction, 14-day ban, permanent ban. You'd need to progress through all four to get banned. You also gradually fall down the tiers of punishment if you engage in good behavior for many games.

As for protecting yourself: If you have never been punished, keep doing what you're doing. Don't engage in pointless flame wars, don't feel the need to "Defend yourself" rather than just muting if somebody is really going after you, etc.

NinjaGuy696/14/2017, 6:50:34 PM1 votes

TL;DR Riot can someone please explain this system fully to me, how to protect myself.

If someone is falsely reporting you, then you don't have anything to worry about because the system has methods of detecting and ignoring false reports. Also, 1 report has the same weight as 9 reports so it doesn't matter how many people report you. It only takes 1 report to trigger a review by the Instant Feedback System. But again, if you weren't being toxic, then you don't have anything to worry about.

As for your account, as long as you remain sportsmanlike, your account should automatically return to good standing over time. How long does that take? It depends. No one can really tell you that, but you're highly likely to be back in good standing if you haven't been punished for the last 3 years. Don't worry about it. Just mute the people who threaten to report you for no reason and focus on the game.