Riot Games, a Plea for Help

GrettytheGecko·Dec 10, 2016·6 votes·601 views

Let me preface this. I have been playing this wonderful game for around six years. I have played every role and I genuinely love this game at face value, and I love the product and game you have given us as a company. But you see, I am a survivor of multiple suicide attempts, and so is my partner, Poro Goddess. She and I cannot stand to play this game when at least 1 in every 5 games has people telling me or her or the team in general to kill themselves. I have no apparent avenue to converse with you as a company besides this ticket submission -> I am posting this here on the boards as per the support ticket's request. Please hear me out.

Riot Games, you have said in the past that you want League of Legends to be a game that lasts generations. You have staunchly took the position that you do not condone racism or hate speech. Why then, do the people that I report for telling me to kill myself because of any one of the following reasons go unpunished:

Attending a university they don't like
making a bad play
having a bad game
out of nowhere, because THEY are having a bad day and want to take it out on their team.

Telling people to take their own lives is a form of hate speech and should be just as vehemently rejected by you as a company. Having the response to our anxiety attacks of memories of trying to kill ourselves be "lul its just a joke XD" is NOT supportive whatsoever.

This leads me to my main point. If you as a company want this game to last for decades, you need to give people a more reliable form of justice than a report that seemingly goes into a sea of others that doesn't appear to get resolved, so that people aren't left with the option of "well, you can just mute everyone every game". That is not a reasonable solution as this game, via many balance patches (and believe me, I have seen this game slowly evolve into something magnificent) has become a "Team Game". I should not have to trade off communication that is now nearly necessary to success in order to protect myself. You already offer this level of protection to people of color and creed, as well as religious faiths. Can you please expand your stance to encompass statements containing "kys"? Here is a list of words containing this combination of letters in normal words: Skyscrapers, skysail, skysurfing, skyscraping. Aside from these, there is (according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary) no word that contains the usual acronym for "kill yourself". I beg of you. Please at the very least, respond to me or direct me to where I can attain some modicum of peace with this game. I love it. I don't want to have to leave it because of this.

Regards,

Grettythegecko

10 Comments

LF AnnieDec 10, 20162 votes

if only i could remove chat from the game, i would like league 10x more if people were forced to stfu and play, instead of spending minutes shipping shit.

edit: also if people were forced into silence in game, it would encourage group play so you would have voice not just pings. although an expanded ping system could replace chat and nearly eliminate toxicity. [zombie-brand-mindblown]

Yara0Dec 10, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=LF Annie,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=QlTB4Vln,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-12-10T03:46:49.752+0000)

if only i could remove chat from the game, i would like league 10x more if people were forced to stfu and play, instead of spending minutes shipping shit.

i set my chat to the smallest size possible lol

Poro GoddessDec 10, 20161 votes

YOU CAN DO THAT!?

ZT XperimentorDec 10, 20162 votes

I agree that riot should address this kind of hostility. On the other hand I've noticed generally being in a better mood when I take breaks from league. If you still struggle, remember this; suicide prevents things from getting better for you. Black & white comedies from the previous century are also unexpectedly funny.

MatthewRT2Dec 10, 20161 votes

well muting everyone on the enemy team helps and you cna mute anyone on your team who gets toxic, you dont have to auto mute in every game.

Secondly, could ya don't take what people sitting behind a screen type so seriously?

GrettytheGeckoDec 10, 20161 votes

Matthew, with all due respect. Your second point is really insensitive... There's a thousand thousand ways to insult someone and I brush those off like water off a duck's back. I even find some fun in shit talking each other and being told I'm bad and/or salty and/or stupid is all fine and well.... But telling someone to kill themselves is... a step too far. Whenever its talked about even now, the images of the blood on my bathroom floor as I lost consciousness to wake up in an emergency room, crying that I didn't die, come rushing back into my head. It detracts from my ability to play the game.

Muting AFTER someone already puts these images in my head does me no good.

MatthewRT2Dec 10, 20162 votes

you could always not play league if this is what it does to you

Lockyb0yDec 10, 20161 votes

If you've commit suicide or tried to atleast 5 times, perhaps you shouldn't be playing this game when you KNOW you're subject to and affected by this kind of abuse. If it hurts don't touch it right? Riot has no control over play behavior and while they can push players in the right direction with reform through punishments it doesn't guarantee you won't queue next game with the most toxic player on the planet.

Poro GoddessDec 14, 20161 votes

The thing is that this game is not MEANT to be a trigger to those with PTSD or anything like that. It is meant to be a team game with other online people to achieve a common goal. Why are we, as survivors, the issue and not those who are saying "Kill yourself"? Through my training and therapy, we have learned that by facing your problems in a safe and controlled way it is healing. Looking for alternatives and reaching out for help is what we are doing in order to help encourage a positive change. I love this game. It has helped me keep a positive relationship with friends as well as give me a sense of accomplishment that I may otherwise not find. My mental illness and trauma is not ruining the game for me. Toxic people are. And hopefully if there are repercussions for it, it will stop.

fumiefanDec 10, 20161 votes

Surprised to see this upvoted. The behavior system needs redone but Riot lives in their social justice porn echo chamber and unfortunately has too big of an ego to admit to a failing system. They will be the first to burn you publicly but the last to actually address the problem.

This game isn't going to last generations. Last season turned a lot of people off and everyone is going to be banned by next year due to how low the threshold for toxicity is.