Honor System Improvements and Rewards

Greetings Summoners,

About me as a person, and as a player. Skip down if you don't care, however, I feel it is a necessary evil.

Like many of you, I have spent many years gaming as a hobby. As a young kid, I was fascinated by any sort of game. From traditional recess hide-and-seek, to mentally stimulating board games like Monopoly or Chess, and to digital games even as simple as Space Pinball and minesweeper on my grandparent's ancient box computer. That being said, I have never been a competitive person. I prefer to play video games for the enjoyment of it, not necessarily to win every time. I was always the kid that preferred to spend time alone rather than going out to a crazy party or nightly shenanigan-fest through downtown areas. Because of that, I devoted more time to making online friends and escaping from the stresses of reality, namely the stresses of hitting puberty and trying to find your identity and social standing during those tumultuous high school years. As I've gotten older, however, I've had less and less time to devote to my hobby. College, girls, work, friends, and family tends to suck every last second out of my schedule, so when I do have time to boot up League, I can hardly wait to jump into a game and escape for a while.

Now, I'm going to start with a short description of what I am not. I am NOT good at League of Legends. I'm a Bronze 1 scrublord, that still has hardly picked a main even with over 1.2k games played, and hoping and working hard to be in at least Gold by the end of S7, we'll see if that happens or not. Probably not. Secondly, I am NOT the perfect model of what the League community should be. I will preach to my very last breath the concepts that I believe would make the community better, but that does not mean I always adhere to them. I do everything in my power to avoid toxicity, but the simple truth remains that I am as guilty of it as each and every Summoner. I'm here to improve myself, and I hope that you will attempt to grow with me, and offer some input or constructive criticism to my ideas. Lastly, I am NOT here to tell you how to play the game in terms of a playstyle or strategy that I feel is superior to any other. Everyone approaches League in a different way, with a different playstyle, and that is what makes it beautiful.

What I AM here to tell you is that the League community is (in my personal opinion) doomed if something is not done concerning the general outlook and behavior of its players. I have always taken a strong interest in the areas of sociological and psychological study, and believe me when I say that some of the things that I have witnessed being said by one human being to another over in game chat is nothing short of barbaric. These are the sorts of things that would not be taken nearly as well in a real life scenario. Telling someone to kill themselves, or that they have autism, or down syndrome, or insulting other's intelligence and MEANING it is not okay, yet people will do it without hesitation behind a keyboard. Now, here I will undoubtedly receive the counter argument that reporting a toxic player who says such things is fairly effective in having their account suspended or banned, and I would agree with you. However, as satisfying as it is to log into League and see the pop up saying that someone you reported has been banned, it does very little to address the overall problem.

When I first got into League, I had heard that the community was overall very negative. I expected that I would get the usual, "Wow you're trash kid, 1v1 me on Rust," mentality that CoD kids had back in the day. What I was not expecting was a complete strip of even the most basic ethical concepts. Telling someone to kill themselves because they fed lane is normal, and people don't even take notice of it. Blaming other people for your own blatant mistakes just so you don't feel the need to improve is legitimately the name of the game. In fact, Riot should change the name to that. From "League of Legends," to "League of Legend, and Everyone Else Sucks," seems appropriate to me at this point. New players entering the game, who legitimately are just trying to learn the names of the champions and how to use abilities at that point, are turned off from the game because of toxic players who have no concept of what it means to be a teammate or even just a decent person. From time to time, you will get an uplifting person who inspires you to be a better player or helps you out of a hole, but those people come once in a blue moon. So how do we fix this? Is it even possible to fix? I don't have the perfect answer, but I have an idea.

Actual stuff starts here.

I believe that the answer to improving the toxic community exists within the game already, however it is flawed. The Honoring system serves as a way to tell a player that you appreciate them in accordance with certain categories, teamwork or friendliness for example. Any time a player is honored, it will be added to the counter on their summoner profile. Then what? Nothing. Any time you visit a Summoner's profile, how often do you specifically check their honors? Even if you see their honors, do you really even care? And, of course the most important question, do you consitantly take the time to honor a teammate or opponent at the end of the match? Chances are the answer is no. I'm guilty of this too from time to time, I'll admit it. Here's really what people do in the post-game lobby: Talk themselves up if they win, talk the enemy down if they lose because obviously they are the best and the enemy team was playing broken champs, those scrubs. Or they just report their entire team for feeding, which is a totally bannable offense, right?

What needs to be implemented is a new and improved Honoring system that is completely a part of the game, not just a side activity in the event that you even remember. So what would this look like?

It needs define you as a player, much like your MMR. A person with a high Honor rating should be recognized visibly. The same way that your MMR is displayed on the loading screen through your splash border, there should be some sort of banner or feature that distinguishes you as an honorable player. This is a bit of a far shot, and most likely unrealistic, but even having distinguishable qualities on character models would be a great incentive. For example, an honorable Garen player may have a flaming sword, or a golden cape (with no gameplay changes obviously). A more realistic possibility would be an emote to flash, much like LVL 5, 6, and 7 masteries. There could be profile changes that reflect this too, for example, awards and metals that are displayed on their profiles, and also summoner icons based off of Honor rating. At the end of the season, if you are above a certain Honor ranking, much like MMR, you could be awarded skins for certain champions, like "Honorable Poppy" or "Honorable Quinn" etc. This sort of approach would make players much more likely to behave in a way that is honorable, to set them apart from others who are not.

A player who has a high Honor rating will stand out, and be a role model for other players. However, what defines Honor?

A player who will display Honor is a player who takes responsibility. They will admit to their mistakes, without blaming others. They will not let a past mistake dictate the rest of the game, and they will try their absolute hardest to win the game and be a useful member of the team. For example, a dishonorable person will begin to make petty excuses as to why he is losing lane, saying that the enemy's champion is "broken" or "overpowered." They will make no attempt to adjust their playstyle, still set on the assumption that there is nothing wrong with the way that they are playing, and that any shortcomings is the teams fault, not theirs. We've all been 30 mins into a game where the 17/0/0 enemy Darius is 1v5ing and your 0/12/0 Riven one trick Challenger smurf is screaming his head off that his team gave him no ganks, useless team, Darius has no counterplay OMG wtf Rito busted so dumb, etc, but God forbid you try and suggest that maybe he should not have tower dived at LVL 1 with no vision and half health, because then YOU'RE the toxic one, and he's gonna report you, so watch out. An honorable player will take responsibility for their mistakes, and attempt to adjust their strategy to fit their team's plan. They will not rage, or complain that a champion is "busted" especially if they are in an unfavorable matchup. Yea, we get it, Darius stomps in low elo. That doesn't mean he's broken, it just means you're bronze. Yea, we get it, walking through a minefield of Teemo mushrooms right out of base is frustrating, but that doesn't mean Teemo should be removed from the game (even though he is SUPER annoying), it just means you need to get an Oracle Alteration. And yea, we get it, your grandma could play Annie and still get an S+, she's a braindead champ. Just buy an Abyssal Scepter and Merc Treads and try win the game, damnit. "OMG NO COUNTERPLAY, STUPID CHAMP I'M AFK." Like seriously? People who do not take personal responsibility for themselves do not deserved an Honor rating, and will be motivated to change their behavior and earn one.

A player who will display Honor is a player who is graceful in defeat, and humble in victory. We have all experienced the 2/14/5 Yasuo who got trashed in lane and hard carried through the game to victory who goes "ggez" before the Nexus is destroyed. We have all played against the first time Vayne who discovered the magical world of late game Vayne and all the sudden thinks they are the next Faker. "Are you guys gonna FF already?" Like seriously man? An honorable player will do everything in his power to work with his teammates, and if the case is that they carried the game, they will not rub it in. They will feel good about themselves and move on to the next game. They will recognize that they could not have done it without the support of the team. In defeat, the honorable player will not blame his teammates or "broken" champions as stated before. They will recognize that you cannot win every game, and that losing is how you become better. In either a win or a loss, an Honorable player will rejoice in the spirit of competition, praising both teams for their efforts, and expressing their happiness to have been a contender. GG boys, WP to all.

Characteristics like these should be rejoiced in players. They should be displayed for all to see. There should be some who stand above the rest as an example of what everyone should strive for. New players should not feel as if they are alone, being constantly brought down for things that they still have yet to learn. If everyone is striving to be an Honorable player, then League of Legends would be a much, much more enjoyable game. It would attract and sustain a larger community. I for one know many people who stopped playing purely for the reason that they could not stand the toxic community. I know many people who are hesitant to even begin playing at all because they are fearful of the toxic community. They SHOULD be able to recognize players who are Honorable, who they can ask for advice and play with without the fear of being judged or made out to be a bad player, when in reality they are just learning.

Here's to better times, and here's to the game we love to hate, League of Legends.

Let me know what you guys think, shoot my some suggestions, etc. Thanks for reading all the way through if you did.