Please listen

Good morning Riot Games, I could rant on and on about the incompetence of the banning/reporting staff at Riot Games, and I wouldn’t be wrong, but, instead, I want to present some constructive criticism and some evidence. I’ve been playing League of Legends for many years. I have nearly 3,500 hours on a number of accounts in the game(nearly half a year), and while I have noticed the community growing worse and worse over the years, I haven’t really noticed any change in the way things are done at Riot Games. I’m sure there have been changes(new programs, bots used for banning, etc.), but there has been no change to the decency of the community. I’m surprised it’s not one bit alarming to Riot Games that they breed this sort of toxicity. Players do these things knowing they will not be punished, because Riot Games fails to do so. In fact, I’ve done many tests myself(AFKing, intentionally feeding, large amounts of toxicity, etc.) over a large number of games. I’ve found that I am only punished for intentionally feeding, which I am sure is the work of a human worker. Unfortunately, automated systems fail to detect the intentions of a player like people do. Bots fail to understand what people are saying, instead just picking out words they seem unfit for for chat. Sure, the reporting system may give a few people the usual low priority queue(if that still exists) or a 5-15 minute ban. It may offer a chat restriction or even the 2-week ban for the worst offenders, but Riot Games just does not crack down like they should on players, and, now that I’ve seen it myself, I feel more inclined to AFK in a game I feel is over or trash-talk my teammates in a rough game.

My criticisms are as follows:

1. Riot fails to employ the necessary number of human staff. Humans are far more important than programs in this area, and not wanting to spend the extra money is wrong.
2. Riot fails to treat every case equally. Whether or not they believe they do is a different matter.
3. Riot fails to use an iron fist when cracking down on players with bad behavior. The punishments given are just not enough. If it is because Riot is afraid of losing their large player-base, they should not be making a game such as League of Legends, where quality matters more than quantity.
4. Riot fails to remain accountable for the awful community they have bred. At the end of it all, if Riot found it worth the extra bit of money to fix the community, they could. I believe League of Legends is one of the easiest games around to police despite such a large player-base. Instead, Riot blames the toxic players they refuse to remove from the game for (sort of) unknown reasons.

Now, criticisms aside, I would like to suggest some solutions that may not have been brought up.

1. Marginally increase the number of human staff on the Riot Games disciplinary team. I believe that with just a bit of extra help, the employees at Riot may be able to fix the issue. Search maybe for people who have played the game for long periods of time and who understand the ins and outs of the community.
2. Create penalties for the staff at Riot Games who play the game with Riot usernames but don’t work to better the community. I can’t tell you how many Riot employees I’ve played horrible games with who have done nothing. I’ve played countless games with Riot employees where bad behavior has not gone unpunished. If I owned the company, and I hired these people to inspect the game for me, I would fire them if they failed to do so.
3. One report should be enough. I went on a large losing streak a few days ago due to a lack of discipline on my team, each game ending in a report. I never received the message that a player received a punishment despite the honest nature of the reports. One time, not 5 or 10, should be enough to get a player in trouble.
4. Grow some balls. The community will not get better unless you show them what you are capable of. Even a 15 minute timeout for a first-offense toxic player is enough to help them cool off. In all of the time I tested the toxicity banning, I wasn’t punished a single time. I was toxic in maybe 8-10 games, and nothing happened to me. You MUST increase your punishments. It will make it easier on the employees there now. Don’t choose the maximum number of players over a loyal and worthwhile set of people.
5. Blame yourselves, not toxic players. I spoke to a few Riot employees about this matter. In a number of tickets, I asked about toxicity. I was met with answers like “we can’t control the community” and “players may burst out at any time”, yet, neither of those claims goes without a rebuttal. Controlling the community is the job of the disciplinary staff, is it not? Their job is to punish, at least it should be. Players who burst should be punished, so they don’t do it again. It’s that simple. It is up to you, not the players, to fix the community. We are both aware they will not do it themselves.

I believe that every problem I have presented is a serious one, but I also believe that every solution I have presented will fix those problems. I am aware that you can’t do anything on this topic, but I would appreciate if you forwarded this to someone who can. I spent a lot of time thinking about the better future of League of Legends, and I believe that a strong community is important so League of Legends doesn’t die. Valve does a very good job with toxicity in their community(they just have to worry about hackers), and I believe Riot is just as capable. Thank you for your time.