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How hard would it be to implement an auto-chat restriction?

Barkley··1 votes·573 views

How hard can it possibly be to automatically apply a chat restriction to someone's account INSTANTLY the moment they use homophobic slurs, racial slurs, or culturally derogatory slang?

All it would take is a list of words, and an automatic response to those words. I'm a Senior in college pursuing a CS degree, and I'm pretty sure I could figure it out, given the code for the game. You could probably pay some pimply faced high school student 30 bucks to do it.

I'm getting so tired of seeing this kind of language in chat. I don't know if these kids think they're cool, or they think they're edgy, or what. I swear I see this garbage in like.... 15-25% of my games these days.

Not to mention club names. Every variation of every hateful word you can think of in these club names, and Riot doesn't seem to care. People with club names like %%%%%% and the like. (an obviously exaggerated example, but you get my point)

Riot has made very clear their stance on such language, and yet they leave it to the players to report the behavior.... why? If your stance on the matter is that it is absolutely not tolerated, why not pre-empt the entire situation with an automated system?

You type it in ANY chat. ANYWHERE. Even in a message to your friends, BOOM. Instant chat restriction.

Make it ramp up like any other punishment. 5 games, 10 games, 15 games, 7 day ban, 14 day ban, perma-ban. Or however it goes.

I 100% support Riot's zero tolerance policy on hate speech. I just think they could be doing more to combat it.

19 Comments

zPOOPz5 votes

Because if the 4 (or 9 if all chat) players during that games do not find what you say offensive, then you can throw every single racist, homophobic slur, death threats, etc. comments in chat and I guaranteed you will not see any punishment or even so much as a warning.

It is a fact that if you do not get reported, your game will not be reviewed. You cannot be punished. If those 4 (or 9) players do not report you, they are telling the system they don't mind what you said. The system will response with "okay, moving on".

For this reason, you will never see an auto-restricted system implement in your lifetime because until SOMEONE tell Rito he/she is not okay with what you said, Rito will not auto-punished you.

This is one of the ways the IFS learn what is or is not acceptable based on what people will or will not report a player.

Barkley1 votes

Riot has come out and said they have a zero tolerance policy for hate speech.

As per Merriam-Webster:

Hate speech is speech which attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender.

So I don't think it should matter what anyone is or isn't offended by, or what they do or don't report anyone for. Zero tolerance means zero tolerance, and on the subject of hate speech, I think anything less is a disservice.

Forgive me, but I just fail to see the "Pro-hate speech," or "Sometimes Hate Speech Is Ok" or "Its fine as long as nobody gets offended" side of the argument.

I doubt anyone at a KKK meeting gets offended by the N-word, that doesn't make it any less wrong.

Zezockary2 votes

What he is saying is that if you and the rest of your 5 man premade are ok with it then you can say it. Riot doesn't want to punish people when they are doing literally 0 harm.

The issue is when the other people they are talking to aren't ok with it.

Barkley2 votes

If you're saying it in the company of other uneducated, hateful bigots - then whatever. I personally still think those accounts should be marked, but I understand how someone could treat this as a "no harm no foul" scenario.

But in any other context it should be instantly and automatically punished.

If I had my way about it, it would just be an instant permaban, but I'm trying to be reasonable for the sake of approachability.

There are thousands of words in the English language. There is no excuse to choose words that are purposely hateful unless you are purposely being hateful.

RallerenP5 votes

If you're saying it in the company of other uneducated, hateful bigots - then whatever. I personally still think those accounts should be marked, but I understand how someone could treat this as a "no harm no foul" scenario.

I think you should be careful in choosing your words. Just because I call my friend some slur in private does not mean I hate gay people, or I have any resentment towards them. I am NOT a hateful bigot for doing so, and pretending like I am is watering down the term which harms those hurt by actual bigots.

But in any other context it should be instantly and automatically punished.

It is, if reported. Even if you tell it to friends and they report you, you'll get instantly punished with a 14-day ban or permaban, depending on previous punishments. But if literally no one is harmed or offended in ANY way why should the player in question be punished?

If I had my way about it, it would just be an instant permaban, but I'm trying to be reasonable for the sake of approachability.

Which is why you don't have your way. Because it's not rational, and it's oversensitive (which is a term I VERY rarely use about someone).

There are thousands of words in the English language. There is no excuse to choose words that are purposely hateful unless you are purposely being hateful.

There absolutely is. I can use hateful words in jokes towards my friends in private and it wouldn't make me a hateful person because no one is offended or harmed in anyway. You can't call me hateful, because I quite literally don't carry hate towards anyone.

Barkley1 votes

Wow 4 upvote to a kid who's saying it's ok to use racial slurs and hate speech as long as nobody's offended.

And downvotes to me for saying hate speech isn't ok in any context.

How embarassing.

How utterly depressing.

Umbral Regent2 votes

It can't be quite as embarrassing as turning the conversation from one about hate speech and social groups into one about downvotes and upvotes.

Like, to me, you lost a lot of credibility by focusing on the upvotes and downvotes. Doing so shows me you don't actually care so much about the issue as you do people's agreement/disagreement with you.

RallerenP's point is that, there are some people out there who, in a full, five-man premade, will make such jokes and racist remarks. Some people just have exceedingly crass humor, but as long as they're doing it in a closed social circle like that, without exposing anyone else to it, it isn't really doing any of the damage it otherwise would.

He isn't saying it's acceptable, not in the slightest from what I'm reading, but he's saying that the system (as it is now) roughly works for everyone. Players using hate speech with random people can be (and often are) reported and punished appropriately, while players in a 5-man premade who all share the same crass humor aren't done a disservice as long as they keep their humor to themselves and don't report one another.

Barkley1 votes

What credibility do I need to say hate speech is never ok?!

What a fucking joke

It's not ok with your friends. It's not ok in public. It's not ok anywhere and the fact that people are here arguing "its ok as long as nobody gets offended" or "it's ok as long as everyone involved says it is" is fucking disgusting.

Umbral Regent2 votes

First of all, please calm down. I dunno what it is that's pissing you off, but simmer down and focus.

You don't need credibility to say "hate speech is never okay". However, you do need credibility to pitch ideas like changes to the IFS or something of the like. Shifting focus away from the discussion and towards upvotes and downvotes, as well as flipping your lid, harm your credibility and make it less likely that folks would consider your proposals.

Nobody is saying that hate speech is okay, either. There are just some people out there who play in full groups so that they don't run the risk of affecting other people with their awful humor. They very likely know it's not okay, and they very likely compose themselves differently with random players than they do with their premades.

Does this make it okay? No. Do we advocate this? No. Does it happen and slide under the radar? Probably, yes. As long as they're mindful of us, we are mindful of them. This does not give them a pass to use hate speech whenever - just that they have yet to be reported for it for one reason or another.

Jo0o2 votes

It's never okay in public, sure.

That said, policing it in communication that could easily be private is damn near Orwellian. If I'm in my friend's apartment and we're engaging in offensive jokes, I shouldn't expect the police at my door. Similarly, if folks queue as a team of five, they should be able to say what they want.

Ultimately, it would be great to live in a society where words don't hold this sort of negative power. League certainly isn't the place for that battle to be fought, to be clear. But I think it's foolish to take the power away from the community to determine what is or is not appropriate and just let Riot be the judge. The current IFS system is built upon what the community has stated is inappropriate for the game's communication, and it makes sense to me that we continue to let the people decide.

usul12025 votes

I enjoy very very obnoxiously bad puns. My roommate has lived with it for 4 years now, and we play together. While we're normally in voice, it has happened that he's been unable to talk, and will simply type massive insults at me after a pun. When we have 5 people who are in on the joke this will include things such as telling me to kill myself and other banned slurs. We don't report it, because we're all in on it.

I think requiring a report makes the system much more community responsive.

The Cream Reaper4 votes

or... you... could... just... control yourself!

how hard could that be?

Barkley1 votes

This post isn't in regards to me? Did you even read it?

The Cream Reaper4 votes

and yet my comment still aplies. funny how that happened...

ModUlanopo3 votes

I think the biggest problem with not requiring a report as a trigger is that it takes away the community's feedback. How reliably people speak up to say, "I don't want that" is important in gauging sentiment. That's how "KYS" went from pretty much nothing to a commonly escalated ban.

Strilter2 votes

I mean... they already have several flags that will virtually immediately get you chat restricted. ^^ trust me. The problem with an absolute 0 tolerance policy is everyone has moments of weakness, and with an actual 0 tolerance approach, there wouldn't be anyone left to play the game.

Barkley1 votes

This couldn't be further from the truth. I'd venture to say 90% of players have never used a racial or homophobic slur in their entire League of Legends tenure.

I certainly haven't, and nobody I play with on a regular basis has.

Using hate speech is not an inherent human trait, unless you're just a shit human being.

YerroFever1 votes

Riot has already explored full chat bans and they said it makes player behavior worse because they can't express their toxicity through chat and so they find other ways to express their toxicity.

Pandemic Punch1 votes

This is better than auto-banning for sure. However, if they can detect trigger words, then Riot needs to consider global censorship on these trigger words instead. They think they are weeding out more toxic players with their current system but they are also weeding out a lot of non-toxic players as a result.

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