Boards›Player Behavior

Why do we have a report player for offensive language option?

8PORTHUB··1 votes·559 views

Hey guys, I've been playing on a second account lately and I have been known to get a little out of hand with my language sometimes when I get a bit irritated with my play or my teams play. I was recently reported for Verbal Harassment after one game when I said a few choice words such as "Fuck". Now, I know that this isn't really a great thing to be doing, but I feel this report option is used way more often than it should be and for reasons it shouldn't be used. I get that my language may offend some other people, as sometimes other people's offends me, but it's not Riot's job nor the player base's job to be policing what people say when it really is insignificant to what goes on in the game in a lasting sense. I'm sure whoever reported my isn't going to go and cry about what I said, I think they did it simply out of spite. And that brings me to my point: Players are using this button a as a reason to report someone for something that they simply didn't like, not what it really should be used for. Now I understand reporting someone for telling you to go kill yourself, but for something so minor as a "go f**k yourself" I dont think this should be used. In game there is not only the language filter, but also the option to block a player from chatting on your screen if you don't want to hear what they say. Now I get that there are some people who just use ways of getting around the chat filter by ways such as misspelling words, but there is no way of getting around the mute feature. So overall my main points are these: 1. Riot and the player base should not be police of what people say, that's up to whoever says it (to an extent) 2. People are misusing this feature just to have a reason to report someone for something that they did that they didn't like and 3. People shouldn't be reporting for language when they can fix their own problems with the push of a few buttons. Thanks guys and I want to hear your feedback, and Rito if you're reading this than I'm pretty sure we want to hear what you have to say

9 Comments

Samus729 votes

Society has deemed certain words to be unfavorable. It's unreasonable to see how having the f-bomb dropped on you would be considered a good thing. The filter is there for those who don't want to read profanity. Even if having the filter on pretty much tells you what word(s) a person is using.

The whole "I wasn't swearing AT you" argument is such a slippery slope that I'm not even going to bother getting in to it. But I will say that in online activities, you are making a conscious decision to type out profanity in to a chat based environment. It's a little more difficult to justify that as spontaneous activity. You might be upset and vocalize such a thing accidently. But it's quite another to type it out by hand and claim the same reaction. You're better off yelling at the screen than typing anything in to a chat program. No one is going to suspend you for yelling at your monitor. But type it in to the game client, whatever happens is your fault and there is no way around that one.

There's even a pop up that occasionally appears on the loading screen. "The profanity filter is not an excuse to use profanity" or some other such wording. It's a warning. You might not be actioned for every occasion of profanity. But when you are punished, don't play the "Unfair" card. You won't win.

8PORTHUB2 votes

{quoted}

Society has deemed certain words to be unfavorable. It's unreasonable to see how having the f-bomb dropped on you would be considered a good thing. The filter is there for those who don't want to read profanity. Even if having the filter on pretty much tells you what word(s) a person is using.

The whole "I wasn't swearing AT you" argument is such a slippery slope that I'm not even going to bother getting in to it. But I will say that in online activities, you are making a conscious decision to type out profanity in to a chat based environment. It's a little more difficult to justify that as spontaneous activity. You might be upset and vocalize such a thing accidently. But it's quite another to type it out by hand and claim the same reaction. You're better off yelling at the screen than typing anything in to a chat program. No one is going to suspend you for yelling at your monitor. But type it in to the game client, whatever happens is your fault and there is no way around that one.

There's even a pop up that occasionally appears on the loading screen. "The profanity filter is not an excuse to use profanity" or some other such wording. It's a warning. You might not be actioned for every occasion of profanity. But when you are punished, don't play the "Unfair" card. You won't win.

Point taken

TrulyBland5 votes

Unless you go around shouting the N-word and the likes, language generally won't get you banned. Harassment is what gets you banned.

Quick guide: "Go fuck yourself" and "please uninstall, you noob" both get you banned. "Fuck, I died" and "I died :(" both won't get you banned.

8PORTHUB1 votes

{quoted}

Riot doesn't ban based on language (except for the extreme cases; slurs and the likes) but rather for harassment. "Go fuck yourself" and "please uninstall, you noob" both get you banned. "Fuck, I died" and "I died :(" both won't get you banned.

Unless you go around shouting the N-word and the likes, language won't get you banned.

yeah but that's part of my point: The button is being misused and It's purpose needs to rethought because I shouldn't be getting messages from Riot that say to watch what I say because someone didn't like me.

TrulyBland4 votes

{quoted}

yeah but that's part of my point: The button is being misused and It's purpose needs to rethought because I shouldn't be getting messages from Riot that say to watch what I say because someone didn't like me.

I find your post a bit confusing, to be honest. Your title is about the offensive language report; the post itself talks about being reported for verbal abuse. These are two different report sections, even though they often overlap. I'll just try to cover all the things you might be talking about:

Reporting "go fuck yourself" as verbal abuse is absolutely justified. Reporting "go fuck yourself" as offensive language is the wrong category; a bit of a grey area. Reporting "fuck" as offensive language is a bit overly sensitive (in my opinion) and has never gotten anybody punished. (There's a system in place that evaluates how "legitimate" a report is). Reporting "fuck" as verbal abuse is straight up a false report. (The system I mentioned weeds these out even more aggressively).

dimorphium4 votes

You kind of gave examples in your description of why it's good to have the option... people can report at their own discretion based on what they find offensive. Even if you don't find your use of certain words problematic other people might. My 8 year old cousin plays League of Legends (not very well but still) and that's something that you have to get your head around before you start typing away.

8PORTHUB1 votes

Yes, I understand that but I truly believe that is what the chat filter and mute button are for. While we should be working to better ourselves, I think that it's not Riot's job to police what people say when they have given each and every one of us a in client way to fix the problems we have with other people's language. And I also understand that "the chat filter is not a reason to excessively curse", but should we be trying to prevent people from seeing what someone chats if they don't have to in the first place? P.s.: I'm sure your cousin has the chat filter enabled, and I've already stated that I feel those who try to bypass the filter should be punished.

AJStarhiker4 votes

Ok, are you getting the popup warning or an actual punishment? If it's the popup, all it means is there has been a recent spike in reports against you. It's kind of like those radar speed checks that flash if you're over the limit. It's just a reminder to check your behavior and, if you didn't do anything, there's nothing to worry about.

8PORTHUB1 votes

{quoted}

Ok, are you getting the popup warning or an actual punishment? If it's the popup, all it means is there has been a recent spike in reports against you. It's kind of like those radar speed checks that flash if you're over the limit. It's just a reminder to check your behavior and, if you didn't do anything, there's nothing to worry about.

It's just the popups, but the only reason I get these recent spikes in reports against me is because someone and their buddy decided they didn't like me so they're gonna report me, not because I'm a bad person. I'm not saying I'm perfect because I'm certainly not, but these reports mean nothing and its just a way for some guy behind his computer screen to try and screw with somebody they don't like

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