Boards›Player Behavior

I feel like I was punished too harshly.

Lilac Soul·9/19/2019, 10:46:37 PM·1 votes·1,847 views

Just a few weeks ago I got chat banned and my honor locked (and eventually reset to Honor 1). I know this is the standard punishment for toxicity, but I feel my case was truly an isolated incident.

(EDIT: It appears my terminology confused some people. Isolated incident means it was the first and will be the last time for me. This behavior isn’t a pattern. It does not mean I believe I’m above the law or better than other players.)

I was engaged in a flame war with another player. I do admit it was wrong on my part. I was triggered because the person was flaming my friend and saying some really awful stuff to everyone except his premade friends and I lost my cool. It never escalated beyond me saying the words “idiot” and “garbage”, however. I never used slurs, never told them to kill themselves, etc. I was shown the chat log which only had lines from that one game. I thought chat bans only take effect after repeated harassment/toxicity but this was not the case for me - there was only ONE game referenced.

I’ve been Honor Level 5 for a very long time, this season, the season before, and the season before, as long as Honor has been around. I’ve been playing since Season 5 and never once have I been chat restricted, banned, etc. I have never used slurs or said awful things and overall been a positive player. I want to say I truly am an honorable player. Every time I log in I receive a key fragment with the message “you have received XXX% more honors than the average person” (I have 29 whole keys now atm). Anyone who knows me would not consider me a toxic player at all.

What most upsets me about this is that dropping from Honor 5 to 1 means I probably have no chance of earning season rewards since the season is almost done. That seems rather harsh considering the severity of my incident, the past history of being a stellar Honor 5 player, and the low chance of being a repeat offender. I really feel like I still deserve the rewards this season as my behavior has been good all season and I slipped up only once.

I guess I’m just ranting or hoping a Rioter or someone else sees this and agrees with me. It’s probably a fat chance my punishment will get reduced (in fact I hear they never do this) but I hope it at least brings to light the problems with the system. For instance, why does it take so long to progress in Honor level? Why do I deserve Honor Level 1 after one incident and being Honor Level 5 for the whole year? Why isn’t there at least a warning system?

EDIT: I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot and taking it to heart. Let me scratch the warning system suggestion, I agree it doesn’t make much sense. I’m very much trying to see things from your guys’ point of view (and Riot’s, I suppose) and I hope you can see it from mine too.

What bothers me is that the honor system seems inherently flawed. People aren’t naturally divided into tiers of honor. There are no good, better, and best people, just people who are overall honorable but still have bad days. How can I be, according to Riot, “among the most honorable of players” one moment, and then among the least honorable the next? Does one slip up automatically make me among the worst of the worst players? If I’m a straight A student and get one C or D, I still have a three point something GPA, not a 2.0.

I guess not many people seem to agree with me that the honor system is flawed, but that’s okay, I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts all the same. I’m trying to remain open minded and am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I don’t deserve the season rewards because of my sudden honor drop. It feels like a ten year sentence for petty theft or something. Lol.

<3, Lilac Soul.

12 Comments

GatekeeperTDS9/19/2019, 10:57:05 PM5 votes

I was engaged in a flame war with another player. I do admit it was wrong on my part.

Good! It's rare we see someone here admit they were wrong for participating in ruining the game for other people.

I know this is the standard punishment for toxicity, but I feel my case was truly an isolated incident.

No. Your case is not isolated at all.

I probably have no chance of earning season rewards since the season is almost done.

That's why it's a "punishment." Punishments, by design, are supposed to feel bad, as a deterrent to the behavior.

Why isn’t there at least a warning system?

Because when you play the game, you are expected to follow the rules. The warnings are clear in the Terms of Service and the Summoner's code. You did not get punished for one single game, but for a pattern of negative behavior. You are not special in this regard, you were not singled out. This is how it works.

MrFawknSunshine9/19/2019, 10:55:33 PM2 votes

the warning is the TOS you agreed to.

you get punished cuz you break TOS then you lose honor/rewards for good behavior.

you are not punished to harshly , you are punished correctly

DarkCaves9/20/2019, 8:41:18 AM2 votes

You only need honor level 2 to earn season rewards. I had a friend get chat restricted and honor locked over the summer (early June, I believe) and is now nearly honor 4. You can definitely get back to honor two by the end of the season, mid-november.