Help us help you Riot [Report System & Player Behavior]

The TL:DR

Right now the system is broken. I believe the community is willing to help Riot make it better for everyone they just need to let us. I suggested ways to maybe help mitigate the toxicity and ineffectiveness of the report system like vote to kick before 20 minutes and allowing solo queue players to replace them if they opt in to it, a system that will allow players to leave in progress games if they're being harassed or abused, or some sort of Moderator system based on the honor system. Just muting everyone and watching in silence as toxic players sabotage our games isn't enough anymore.

The Problem

The in game community and behavior of players has been a major point of grief for a huge amount of players that enjoy playing League of Legends. So much so that the word 'Toxic' has become a commonplace term to describe the behavior of these people because it poisons the game and the community at large. Who wants to be stuck in a game for 20+ minutes with someone who is steadily wearing destroying their experience? There has been a huge amount of people who bring this behavior up because it is a problem, they give out tips on how to 'Stay off Tilt' and 'Avoid Toxic Behavior' and that's admirable and to a point it does help, but as Riot I'm sure you can understand that patches and hotfixes can't mend something that's inherently broken ( ;) )

My point with this post isn't to just complain and moan about the behavior of other people in the game. I realize that you can't police the conduct of every single player that plays the game and that shouldn't be something you should have to divert hours and hours of manpower to controlling. You don't have to look hard to see that people aren't happy with the player behavior in the game. It's easy to brush this off as focusing on negativity and with as much you're bombarded with threads bringing up the toxicity of players: for example

I can imagine that this is stressful for you all to deal with. I've been on the receiving of hateful comments for taking and Topside. I realize better than anyone that they aren't as viable Top as they are in the Jungle but I thoroughly enjoy those champions and I'm a very unskilled Jungler. It's one thing to have discussion about champion viability, that kind of discussion can lead to whole new builds and breaking the meta that may allow less than viable champs to thrive in locations they might not otherwise. What is an issue however is being called racist derogatory terms or being called autistic for trying to play champions I enjoy. This is just one example in a long list of abuse that we as players are subjected to in our matches. The offensive behavior that we've all come to just have to endure ranges from being flamed for our choices in champions, whether they be seen as bad champions or OP champions or AFKing because of simple mistakes or not being allowed to play a role that the Champ Select didn't queue them for, Intentionally feeding the enemy team to spite their own team, Playing champions like or with the sole purpose of trolling their team by throwing them in to danger, griefing other lanes by taking their farm or jungle buffs, ping spamming, emote spamming and mastery spamming with the intent of aggravating other player. All of that and then the verbal abuse that comes with all of that, it can become incredibly taxing to deal with especially with no way to quickly escape since often times these players will refuse the surrender vote and you'll be forced to stay and be subjected to more abuse or risk punishment for leaving the game.

This behavior is not fun to have to try and deal with while also trying to focus on the game. And yeah, I know. I can just mute everyone. I can ignore the racist, sexist and downright offensive things people post in to the chat. I don't have to acknowledge them. I don't have to use the chat. But doesn't that in of itself reflect badly on our community and the game as a whole? When tips for enjoying the game have 'Mute everyone' on the list, then something is inherently wrong. I've been playing the game for quite some time and since the Honor System has been implemented I've seen a steady decrease in players who have Honorable Opponents, or Friendly Player, or Helpful Player. IT's incredibly rare for me to see those emblems in champ select because who wants talk at all in chat when you type 'GL;HF' in to all chat and you're immediately met with 'Fuck you.'?

The Solution

I said that this post wasn't to just complain at Riot about the shitty behavior of players in the game and I meant that. We want a better community Riot and I propose that you let us help you make that happen.

Why not have in game moderators. For players who consistently demonstrate that they are good players who are dedicated to bettering the community act as in game moderators. Not in the sense of some type of extra power or control in the game because that can be abused and I understand that you're not interested in anything that could be seen as unbalanced to the community on the matchmaking and player to player level. However what if earning a Helpful Player Emblem perhaps even more than once could make a player eligible for some type Moderator program which would allow them to have some insight to the reports that players are making in game and if they see fit they can add some sort of seal of approval so that when the report goes through it's immediately identifiable that the report is something serious if you'd like to maintain that no players have any inherent power over others like banning or whatever.

What about a vote kick system. Typically in a game if a player is exhibiting toxic behavior the entire team is in agreement that the player deserves to be punished and have often even voiced that to the enemy team in all chat. How about a system that would allow the team to vote, similarly to the surrender vote, to remove a player from the game pre-20 minutes? There could be a special queue or even just a tick box in the options that players can opt in that if they happen to be in SoloQueue if they have been matched with anybody they can join a game in progress in the place of the player that was kicked for their behavior. Often times before 20 minutes if a player has fallen behind they can easily catch back up and assist the team. That way players aren't stuck with a potential anchor of a player who will drag your entire team down. It would take tweaking but at least it would help mitigate the frustration of being trapped with someones abusive behavior for more than half an hour.

What about a goodwill system. If a player is consistently given friendlies, helpfuls or honorable opponents by people why not allow them to rack up toward some sort of point system that would allow them to leave a game in progress without fear of punishment. In conjunction with the idea above it would allow people to escape games that are full of toxic behavior without being unfairly punished. Often times people get put in premades of three or for people when they queue up solo and that can lead to a very hostile environment. Nobody wants to be flamed by a group of people and it can be frustrating to make a mistake and be yelled at by a group of people who may even be in voice chat echoing that flame around and then directing it back at you. If a player with these goodwill tokens leaves a game in progress they can leave the game pre-20 and be replaced by somebody if the system mentioned above was implemented.

The End

I realize that my ideas aren't fool proof. They may not even be good ideas after being looked at by people smarter than me, but we can all at least agree that the current system doesn't work. Just the other day I had a ranked game ruined by a player in the Jungle who wasn't happy with our Midlaner and proceeded to buy nothing but and walk directly in to the enemy team repeatedly, effectively throwing our game. And despite that he admitted to both our team and the enemy team that he was intentionally trolling and being reported by at least two people in the end game lobby he was never punished. Nobody likes to lose because of another persons behavior. As much as we tell others to just ignore it or mute everyone or deal with, this kind of thing is inherently out of our control at the end of the day and losing games through no fault of your own can be incredibly frustrating. If you agree with anything I've said here or even if you disagree with what I've said please, I'd like to hear your opinion on the matter. Riot I sincerely hope that this reaches your eyes as well. As much as I grumble about you guys and tell myself I hate this game I keep opening it up and hitting the play button because you've built a lore, a world, characters, a game, a community, that as much as it frustrates the living hell out of me sometimes, I still enjoy and love being a part of. I don't think I'm alone saying that and I also don't think I'm alone in saying that we want to help make the community better, we want to help you make the community better. We can't do it without you Riot. We want to help, you just have to let us.

Help us help you.