With the option for language filter, and chat muting, and WITHOUT the awareness of toxicity and verbal abuse, it's ridiculous for players to get banned over trivial matters reported by spiteful players.
A language filter or mute button isn't an excuse to treat others like dirt. Even if I did agree with that kind of treatment of others, it's still breaking the rules which Riot has made abundantly clear through multiple sources.
There's a few loading screen tooltips that explicitly state what is or isn't acceptable:
- "Life happens. We get it. But for players who keep leaving games, LeaverBuster will issue a penalty."
- "Games can get heated, but racial slurs have no place in League."
- "Keep the game awesome. Report purposefully unhelpful players."
These are just a few examples of the loading screen tooltips, however we also have the Riot Support FAQ and the Summoner's Code that explain what is or isn't acceptable as well. Players have an abundance of sources to abide by, lack of awareness is not an excuse for toxicity.
League of Legends (LoL) is filled with different kinds of people, but in the end whether we're toxic or not, we're all people.
Players who state terms without context such as "kys" shouldn't be entitled to a permanent ban. Although it does encourage self-harm, these forms of verbal harassment can be prevented through raising awareness of the issue. Not all players are fully invested in the game, therefore shedding light onto the casual player base is also necessary.
It's true, we are all people with different feelings and mentalities.
I understand the argument you're trying to make here but it goes both ways. Some people are a bit more sensitive to the term 'kys' and raising awareness around the term won't stop toxic players from using it. Players will say it just to get under someone's skin.
You're also not given an instant permanent ban, instances of hate speech warrant a 14 day ban. Players who use this language still have a chance to recover their account and get it back to a good standing.
Unfortunately, League doesn't take any action into effective prevention of toxicity.
A punishment ladder is a great step towards preventing toxicity. If you have any more suggestions on what they could do, I'd like to hear them because I do kind of agree with you here.
LoL treats their toxic players with apathy and little sympathy, LoL hopes that a ban will stop their behaviour and prevent the player from coming back.
However, this isn't the case, especially with Tyler1 and his multiple accounts. Also lesser known pro players, enVision and Linak, are also guilty of this.
These are very egregious examples. Most players won't ever reach the point that T1 and those other players have, ID-bans are few and far between. Toxic players should be treated with little sympathy especially if Riot wants to crack down on the issue of toxicity.
I think you make some good points but a lot of it conflicts with itself. You're saying toxic players should be handled with sympathy yet you're also saying League doesn't do enough to crack down on toxicity.
Instead of banning toxic players permanently, LoL should implement a developed communications restriction, or some code of ethics. After all, prevention is better than treatment.
There is a code of ethics in game, it's the Summoner's Code. There's only so much Riot can do to control toxicity, **after a certain point people need to look at their moral compass and exercise self control. **
The urgency of my request for awareness and less harsh punishments are solidified by the decline of the player base and new-player interest.
As far as I'm aware, League's playerbase isn't declining rapidly and I'd like to see your source on this topic. New players will always have to deal with toxicity, this happens in every video game. At lower levels and on fresh accounts, you're guaranteed to have a mix of new players and smurfs/new accounts created by toxic veterans. It happens all the time and there's nothing Riot can do about it.
