JUSTICE

Disclaimer: No, I have not been banned. I simply feel compelled to point out injustice when I see it. Edit: I am not asking that the permanent ban for inting/cheating/leaving be removed. I only ask that people be punished for them after actually doing them, not under the slippery assumption that because they were rude in chat they might do those things later. Edit 2: When I say "chat ban", I do not mean a "chat restriction." The difference is, a chat restriction still allows the punished player to say 3 messages during the game. What I'm asking for with a chat ban is that they not be allowed even that. No messages at all, every game.

Since people are so eager to compare the anonymous, inflectionless chat of this game to real-life encounters where your livelihood or well-being are at risk, consider this. Graffiti does not put a person away for life. Even multiple accounts of graffiti do not add up to a death sentence. This is an example of justice, where a crime is met with a reasonable punishment.

Why, then, can chat in this game be equated to such things as intentionally ruining the game for others by running down mid, using scripts to cheat the game, or leaving constantly? Those things which actually ruin the experience of playing the game in a way that the victims have no power over. I cannot have a friend replace a leaver. I cannot play around someone using scripts, and the more clever ones make it hard to even prove a script is being used. And I'd have to be several skill levels above everyone on the enemy team to overcome an ally running it down mid. Those are worthy of a permanent ban from playing the game.

But improper use of the chat function does not warrant a ban from playing the game. The first punishment for that offense is a step in the right direction; you get a chat restriction for abusing the chat. But that may ramp up to a permanent ban from play despite the offense having nothing to do with gameplay.

The ultimate punishment for chat-related offenses should rightfully be a permanent ban from chat.

Come on, Riot. Where's your sense of JUSTICE?

I know that the strongest argument for the current system is this belief that all players who are rude in chat will become in-game trolls if they're chat-banned, but we have no evidence to support that notion. Even if it does so happen that they become feeders/leavers/scriptors because of the chat-ban, they can still be permabanned for that after the fact. But unless they actually do commit that worse offense, there is no reason to ban them on unfounded belief that they will commit it because of the prior, lesser offense.