Boards›Player Behavior

The punishment system and mental health

Ginsanchou·2/16/2018, 9:09:49 PM·1 votes·698 views

This thread has a context. And it's my recent chat restriction and the overwhelming feeling of suicide creeping over me. By posting here, I am getting out my thoughts and hopefully staving off an action. I will be getting support tonight to handle my mental health.

the thread: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/wbtd3a7d-another-it-can-happen-to-you-thread

I have to wonder , out of the hundreds if not thousands of people penalized/banned from league of legends, how many of them went on to self harm/kill themselves? Or how many salty assclowns drove someone to suicide and are still playing today. How many people could not just take this as a game, depended on it for support, and were let down.

I'm going to posit that this ifs system may be "Working as intended" but isn't "working as it should".

I feel like no actual weight is given to the individual in question: how often they get bullied by other laners, how often they offer constructive chat, how often they support other people getting bullied by others. How often they mute and move on.

I feel like all we have is a "negativity score" based on how often we are reported and the severity of our chat. And the higher that negativity score creeps, the more likely we'll catch a penalty for something minor. For defending ourselves. For playing into a trolls plan to get you to say something stupid.

I feel like the concept of a "POsitivity score" was supposed to be the honor system, but it's total seperation from how the IFS works causes undue pain and frustration in people.

This isn't anything that hasn't been said before. BUt Right now, as I stare at the weapons in my house, the knives in the kitchen drawer, the blank sketchbook page I have open and the empty cannabis vial I have on my desk, I feel like a very important discussion has yet to have taken place..... a discussion which might actually improve the IFS system for the better than some of the other cases I've seen made on here.

How people feel getting penalized when they get bullied so often in game. HOw people feel when they have hundreds of positive/constructive games and one troll managed to catch them penalty. How it's impossible to see BEFORE YOU CATCH A PENALTY just HOW CLOSE YOU ARE to catching one.

I made a thread about a week ago wondering if Riot did manual audits on accounts on request to share with the player in question. No one really answered that question in a good way. MAybe it's time to suggest that a toxicity meter or some sort of visible metric could be visible to people . Exploitable, yes, but would it help people?

Maybe its time to implement some sort of in-game/client warning when an identified positive player gets close to catching a penalty.

No one knows how it feels to lose a person to a video game until it happens to them. And it's happened to me. For every , lets say, 10,000 salty buttholes penalized, 1 of them is deeply affected to the point of self harm. I will never get my friend back, but I can at least help to prevent others from feeling how I/they/everyone else who knew them felt. That's what I do when I report people for typing K%%. And it's what I'm hopefully doing now by bringing this up

22 Comments

MagicFlyingLlama2/16/2018, 9:32:46 PM7 votes

You are not going to guilt riot into unbanning you. People not following the rules is their problem, and riot is not here to babysit them.

Also, on the off-chance this is serious and not a guilt shitpost: look for professional help or advice, you wont find that here. Also, people dont like someone that constantly threaten suicide or overreact dramatically for insignificant shit. That can swiftly cause a feedback loop to the bottom of the depression pit.

PEEWEE783682/16/2018, 10:08:40 PM5 votes

OMG plz National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Call 1-800-273-8255 Available 24 hours everyday There you go now plz stop.

Malak2/16/2018, 9:20:55 PM5 votes

I highly suggest you take a break from online gaming in general

Jo0o2/16/2018, 10:39:59 PM4 votes

Sure, I've lost a friend to suicide. They were bullied in a variety of areas in their life, including online gaming. I blame plenty of people. I sure as hell don't blame the game.

Riot bans folks encouraging suicide aggressively. There's no realistic preventative measure to take; it's all reactive.

ModUlanopo2/17/2018, 12:29:22 AM3 votes

I feel like no actual weight is given to the individual in question: how often they get bullied by other laners, how often they offer constructive chat, how often they support other people getting bullied by others. How often they mute and move on.

I don't think you're giving enough weight to the negative things people experience. If I'm in a game with someone being an absolute asshat, I don't really care about games in which that person wasn't an asshat. I'm not in those games and that behavior - or, more likely, nothing more than a lack of negative behavior - doesn't change anything.

Moreover, I don't think it's fair for the reward for positive behavior to be not being punished for negative behavior. Positive - or at least neutral - behavior should be the baseline expectation.

Ginsanchou2/18/2018, 6:10:43 PM1 votes

Can a script be coded to evaluate your chat and rate your toxicity? An opt-in button you use post-game?

Ginsanchou2/16/2018, 11:13:53 PM1 votes

This is an emotional appeal to put the conversation in a different perspective, nothing more. I have related my personal experiences for emphasis, and I have never wished for a revocation of my penalty. I have support. You people do not have to worry about my physical well being (nor would I want you to)

I feel like this conversation is always had in the context of "I crossed the line and this isn't fair" and never how penalties make people who are otherwise positive feel. And how the extreme margins of this subject can cause harm to real people

Ginsanchou2/17/2018, 12:19:02 AM1 votes

Let's start simple, :

What more could be done to warn people close to getting penalized?

What does the system teach us about what we think we know about the rules and what we don't?

Is a lack of penalty inadvertent positive reinforcement of problematic behaviors?

Could "Soft Reform" cards be sent out before a penalty?

Is a Penalty always needed?

Ginsanchou2/17/2018, 12:55:04 AM1 votes

Is the system giving /enough/ feedback to people whether they are positive or negative?

Ginsanchou2/18/2018, 5:43:21 PM1 votes

Am I still being treated as just a shitposter? This issue caused me genuine emotional distress. Being "right" in League was all I had while my mind worked on something better. Proving my strategies were useful became everything I lived for. I can see ways my situation can be avoided. And I don't really know what I want with this topic anymore... maybe just to know I wasn't ignored again and that my story is really being taken into consideration?

It comes to mind that lots of people judged me for this post. But again, the lukewarm response to what I had to say and silence after I poured my hear out is just disappointing.

Maybe some part of me is doing this for attention. Maybe I've convinced myself I'm doing it for attention because I feel people jujdging me and am trying tobe humble. Maybe doing things like this is actually all I have to distract myself from the painful reality I live in. I do not have the answer, honestly.

But for my sake and others, as I ACTUALLY WRITE THE WORDS, I wanna try and do sOMETHING so that we can avoid needless punishment and escalation. MAke the rules clearer to people who /never come to the forums/. Avoid the phenomenon of "well I act this way all the time must be ok". Use the system to give feedback not in a aggressive manner, but a helpful one. Turn the systems purpose around.