Boards›Player Behavior

Voice Chat Being Added to League

A Liberal··3 votes·1,022 views

In the past, our stance on voice comms emphasized the increased potential for negative behavior. We've since reconsidered our philosophy around voice chat and while there are some challenges we want to overcome (keeping it an opt-in experience, for example), we want to do it. We believe League as a team sport should reward coordination, and that voice chat is a valuable tool for getting teams (and strangers) aligned. We'll probably begin deeper investigations once the League Client update is in a stable release so we don't have to build the feature twice, but hopefully this is a clear update on our philosophy and where we stand. We'll also give you further updates when the time comes.

Well, that's it guys.

I for one am excited to get told to kill myself after botlane dies once, told to get cancer, that I should uninstall, get AIDS, die in a fire, that I am literally the shittiest player of X character ever and need to refund my skin, a thousand insults about having sex with my mother, that I am a bundle of sticks, a female dog, that I am completely nice and clean, that I am a dark shade of black, and that I should go back to riding camels as sport.

But really, my biggest concern is for the girls of the league community.

I am gay which really isn't accepted in the gaming community, but you can't really tell it over comms. If you're a girl, you don't have that luxury. Maybe it's just me but in every game I have played with voice chat, girls are SO alienated. Hell, even in text chat the minute someone says they are a girl everyone jumps on them like a pack of ravenous wolves. I can't imagine having to put up with that in voice chat, and it would make me feel horribly uncomfortable.

"You can always mute it! It's going to be an 'opt-in' experience!"

Saying you can just mute voice chat is like saying you can just turn your pings off. Once VC is implemented, playing without it will put you at a severe disadvantage due to the lack of instant communication (Almost the same disadvantage you're all complaining about with DQ)

But yeah, I'm not too ready for VC because I don't want to deal with constant toxic flame, sexisim, and racisim actually being spoken to me.

24 Comments

Kitty Cat Tosha3 votes

I agree with your fears - they are mine also.

If we listen to those fears though and nothing ever happens, nothing will ever change either. For women to become more socially accepted in the gaming world, at least two things need to happen:

  • we need guys to not act like douchebags OR "unicorn spotters" (you know the type, the guys that have a meltdown whenever they find a girl on the internet. "Oh you are a girl? THAT IS SOOO COOL! BE MY FRIEND PWEASE")
  • we need girls to dare to step forward and just act normal. No special treatments, not demanding attention, just focus on the game and having fun.

If we continually oppose voicechat because of what might (and probably will) happen, those two things above will not happen either. If we need to weed out the crap first, so be it, but eventually it WILL be a step forward if league can manage it well.

I have always been reluctant to let my voice hear in game (literally, not figuratively) because of my gender due to bad experiences in the past. Am willing to do the experiment now though. Am older, wiser, and a lot less vulnerable to the crap people vomit out of their mouths these days. And like I said, if people like you and me do not dare to step forward, nothing will ever change and the douchebags win. And they don't deserve to win :)

A Liberal1 votes

Idk. they should make like... An extreme report button that actually has a rioter review the chat or something. Like something out of client you have to fill out a form on the website and a rioter will review it and issue bans.

Idk I just really hate sexism and I know that gamers in general are one of the most sexist groups out there

Narvuntien2 votes

People would get banned for that just like for the text chat use.

The voice chat is really needed to be able to allow for organisation of solo teams compete to a similar level to premades in dynamic queue. Voice chat will help elevate some of the problems with DQ.

I understand your concerns and I am particularly worried about the behavior of some people towards women. I want there to be a diverse gaming community and the abuse some people inflict on others is just not acceptable. It will take people, people not in these groups, having a 0 tolerance policy on douchebags, "just joking" just isn't going to cut it.

It is hard of course because you don't want to piss the people off that you need to work with to win a game with, but if people don't stand up to these low lives they will keep doing it.

For example

{quoted}

We can't stop talking to each other just because the mentally weak can't handle it. Improve your social skills and you will have less problems.

HEY JERK BAG! Its not "mentally weak" to not want to be abused while you are trying to play a game. Part of becoming a well adjusted adult is realising you are responsible for your words and how they effect people. You are responsible if someone gets offended or hurt, you are in fact the bad guy in that situation. Not them. People have different life experiences to you and have different responses and feelings about the words you use, typically it is not weakness but the power of the word and its associations are simply stronger than it is for you

scazzman2 votes

{quoted}

People would get banned for that just like for the text chat use.

it would be impossible to enforce. without a rioter manually reviewing every single case. a bot wont be able to detect negativity in voice chat

A Liberal1 votes

The first paragraph I completely agree with, but I also don't like dynamic queue. Voice chat will make dynamic queue a lot more equal between premades and solos, but frankly (cliche I know) I would rather just have solo and team q back.

Mister Punches2 votes

This is a terrible idea.

71883083DEL12 votes

THAT'S IT GUYS! TIME TO REVOLT

Stasis6911 votes

Don't opt-in.

A Liberal1 votes

And suffer a huge penalty to gameplay because of it

ShinkoMinori1 votes

If you are gay I can tell by your voice, its really easy.

A Liberal1 votes

Thank you for buying into stereotypes! While a lot of gay guys have a lisp or the "gay voice" there are plenty of others (myself included) that don't do whatever they do. Tbh I'm not really sure why they do that? I think its intentional? In any case plenty of gay people don't have a lisp.

ShinkoMinori1 votes

{quoted}

Thank you for buying into stereotypes! While a lot of gay guys have a lisp or the "gay voice" there are plenty of others (myself included) that don't do whatever they do. Tbh I'm not really sure why they do that? I think its intentional? In any case plenty of gay people don't have a lisp.

I dont know if its the "gay voice" as you call it, but it's really easy to tell either by the way they say things or the things gay people say. Sometimes are subtle differences but if you pay attention you notice the difference relative to non gay. Like it or not being gay makes you behave in a certain way that some people can tell.

A Liberal1 votes

Yes, you're right. I say a lot of subtle differences that show im gay, such as "My Boyfriend", "I like men", and "I'm gay".

Seriously though there are plenty of gays that you never know of because they don't fit into the stereotype.

archerno11 votes

Why would girls have problems? AFAIK girls are widely accepted in League community.

Shadowatom2 votes

Eh... it's a toss up. Girls in several other games are harassed up the flagpole when they use voice comms, just because people can tell they're a girl. In league currently, the only way you can know if someone is a girl is if they tell you, and even then people may or may not believe you, so they ignore it and write it off as a troll pretending to be one.

Only time can really tell whether girls will be accepted, but if we use other games as reference points, it doesn't exactly look too great from what I've come to see, but that's just me.

A Liberal1 votes

Idk, I feel like toxicity towards girls will be much higher in voice comms rather than in text, since most games guys don't even know there is a girl in the game.

Kim Chi Vendor1 votes

We can't stop talking to each other just because the mentally weak can't handle it. Improve your social skills and you will have less problems.

A Liberal1 votes

Well first of all, you can't stop something that hasn't started. Second of all, my social skills are fine, I'm worried about the uncivilized ape gamers who will start making al-quedaesque death threats because someone missed a skillshot.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

Riot's doing this because Overwatch was released with Voice Comms and it's kicking Riot's ass.

A Liberal1 votes

Overwatch and league are two completely different games and genres, still not sure why people are comparing them.

PrinceTiklêNips1 votes

Litterally any insult used in voice chat is the same insult that would be used in text chat.

A Liberal1 votes

Yeah but its a lot different to have to hear it vs reading it.

EVG Mike1 votes

{quoted}

We believe League as a team sport should reward coordination, and that voice chat is a valuable tool for getting teams (and strangers) aligned. We'll probably begin deeper investigations once the League Client update is in a stable release so we don't have to build the feature twice, but hopefully this is a clear update on our philosophy and where we stand. We'll also give you further updates when the time comes.

Well, that's it guys.

I for one am excited to get told to kill myself after botlane dies once, told to get cancer, that I should uninstall, get AIDS, die in a fire, that I am literally the shittiest player of X character ever and need to refund my skin, a thousand insults about having sex with my mother, that I am a bundle of sticks, a female dog, that I am completely nice and clean, that I am a dark shade of black, and that I should go back to riding camels as sport.

But really, my biggest concern is for the girls of the league community.

I am gay which really isn't accepted in the gaming community, but you can't really tell it over comms. If you're a girl, you don't have that luxury. Maybe it's just me but in every game I have played with voice chat, girls are SO alienated. Hell, even in text chat the minute someone says they are a girl everyone jumps on them like a pack of ravenous wolves. I can't imagine having to put up with that in voice chat, and it would make me feel horribly uncomfortable.

"You can always mute it! It's going to be an 'opt-in' experience!"

Saying you can just mute voice chat is like saying you can just turn your pings off. Once VC is implemented, playing without it will put you at a severe disadvantage due to the lack of instant communication (Almost the same disadvantage you're all complaining about with DQ)

But yeah, I'm not too ready for VC because I don't want to deal with constant toxic flame, sexisim, and racisim actually being spoken to me.

Riot will never implement this for a couple reasons.

1: Ever hear call of duty voice coms? A constant slew of racial and sexual harassment by kids with squeaking voices.

2: The option to not participate would create a massive rift in dynamic queue. Imagine a premade on coms vs one without?

3: This community is host to some of the most toxic and ego-maniacal individuals in the long sad history of online gaming personalities.

4: Riot has made it CLEAR they do not tolerate toxicity in games. How could they EVER monitor a voicechat?

I have been a part of several teamspeak communities for various games and league tournys, here are my experiences.

-Guy claims to be a diamond smurf. What he doesnt realize is that nobody cares, true or not. -Guy claims to be 80% winrate. What he doe...nobody cares. -Guy claims to win with his master strategies. Wh...nobody cares. -Guy says "trust me." No. -On the rare occassion a female was present, she was immediately verbally pounced on by the thirsty kids in the room. -Player makes a mistake in game, another player in the game decides blasting him over it and typing /ff every few minutes was a better solution than playing the game. -People play the game under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Does this sound fun for anyone?

A Liberal1 votes

The quotation in the opening post was a quote from riots new ask riot article.

So.

Yeah?

More from Player Behavior

The indefinite banning of Tyler1
Player Behavior4,799 comments
2,942
votes
14 day ban because playing Nunu Support with Smite is "stealing other people's roles"...?
Player Behavior1,525 comments
1,086
votes
Riot should add monthly status cards
Player Behavior241 comments
843
votes
Reminder that we haven't gotten our Summoner report cards yet :/
Player Behavior145 comments
619
votes
I'm not "triggered" by you throwing insults.
Player Behavior361 comments
548
votes
Black Alistar, King Rammus!!!!
Player Behavior462 comments
503
votes

More by A Liberal

FINALLY, riot gives us some ANSWERS
Memes & Games84 comments
315
votes
What do you call a Vayne with Ardent Censer?
Memes & Games31 comments
70
votes
To get in spirit of season 6 marksman changes....
Gameplay38 comments
63
votes
@Riot Why did events get like this?
Story, Art, & Sound33 comments
53
votes
All I can think about when I see Kled is...
Memes & Games11 comments
37
votes
These boards are so bipolar... (Rant)
[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous19 comments
37
votes