Boards›Player Behavior

League's Filtering/Reporting/Support System is Hot Garbage

Butt Witch·9/3/2018, 3:59:26 AM·3 votes·1,952 views

So, why in this game are there words that, no matter the circumstances, get you punished that are not just perma-filtered. I recently received my 1st ever in game punishment after playing for 4 years because I used a racial slur to tease my friend. We were in a call and had been playfully tolling/flaming each other all night and I called him a n***** (don't want to get in trouble here because people are oversensitive). Despite this not being an insult directed at anyone, not being demeaning to anyone, and not being taken offense to by the person it was directed at it, I still received a suspension for 14 days. After filing a support ticket to complain that in the context in which the offensive term was used wasn't actually toxic in anyway I received an email the next day claiming that "Regardless of the context, and your intention behind saying it, it is never ok to use hate speech in League chat. Just because there is a language filter in chat, does not mean that it is ok to use racial slurs."

So a few things to dissect here:

  1. It was not hate speech as the definition of hate speech is "Hate speech is speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity" which I did not do, simply used an expletive to tease a friend.
  2. Then what is the point of the chat filter if not to allow people to not see words that they are uncomfortable with?
  3. I have checked all official rules for League of Legends and have found no official document or page explicitly forbidding the use of racial slurs so claiming that they aren't allowed despite no clear indication of that anywhere in the game or website is unreasonable.
  4. My biggest issue being, why, if you have the ability to filter words, would you allow words with a Zero Tolerance Policy to be sent/received at all?

Initially, I was upset about such a severe first punishment for what I perceived, for all my understanding of them, to not be against the rules. Now upon further examination of the situation I realize something that I am much more upset over: the lack of a clear explanation as what Riot defines as "toxic" and "racist" and the lack of a personalized filter, something that everyone could have and customize to automatically filter words/messages containing words that they are uncomfortable with.

Overall this experience has revealed to me that the definitions put forth by Riot are so unclear and up for interpretation that being offended/not liking what someone says is, in Riots opinion, grounds for a report.

The terms of use that state:

v. Transmitting or communicating any content which, in the sole and exclusive discretion of Riot Games, is deemed offensive, including language that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, or racially, ethically, or otherwise objectionable;

Have been posted here and I would like to refute them in the OP so that the nature of this complaint is better understood. All swear words fall under this definition. The are all vulgar, obscene, and defamatory. And as I have said the reason my appeal was disregarded was not because it was deemed to be flaming but because it was deemed to be racist. It is the literal definition of a double standard to have two items that meet the exact same definition but one is excusable and the other is not.

Also to anyone who wants to claim the word is harmful to black people I'M BLACK

14 Comments

Aneirin9/3/2018, 4:03:22 AM5 votes
  1. I have checked all official rules for League of Legends and have found no official document or page explicitly forbidding the use of racial slurs

You obviously didn't read the Terms of Use then...

v. Transmitting or communicating any content which, in the sole and exclusive discretion of Riot Games, is deemed offensive, including language that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, or racially, ethically, or otherwise objectionable;

Lesbian 4 Vayne9/3/2018, 4:41:01 AM3 votes

uh yeah just because your friend doesn't take offense to it doesn't mean other people don't. you can easily use discord and speak to each other however you two want. but the fact is you said it in LEAGUE CHAT, not a personal chat, a chat where there are 3 other people and what if one of them was black? he doesnt know that you're "not racist" even though it's weird you're using a word that holds nearly if not all racist history in it. seriously though, re-read everything you just posted. it's so contradictory . --- " ...in the context in which the_** offensive_ term was used _wasn't actually toxic_ in anyway" kinda weird how you admit it IS an offensive word, and yet it's not toxic? "Hate speech is speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as_ race**_ which I did not do, simply used an expletive to tease a friend " like dude it's THE MOST RACIST RACIAL SLUR YOU COULD HAVE POSSIBLY USED WITH ONE OF IF THE MOST NEGATIVE AND TERRIBLE HISTORY BEHIND IT.

breakordoom4449/3/2018, 5:56:43 AM3 votes

just because you are duo-queing with a friend, it dosen't mean everyone knows that.

Riots ToS specifically told you that

v. Transmitting or communicating any content which, in the sole and exclusive discretion of Riot Games, is deemed offensive, including language that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, or racially, ethically, or otherwise objectionable;

soooo dont know what you on about.

its good fun to poke at your friendos, but please, keep the N-word out of a match with random teammates.

Silent Gravity9/3/2018, 4:38:19 AM2 votes

{quoted}

4: My biggest issue being, why, if you have the ability to filter words, would you allow words with a Zero Tolerance Policy to be sent/received at all?

10 If you remove the ability to send hate speech in the chat box, then people who want to send hate speech will just use a spelling variant that isn't filtered.

20 Then, Riot filters that specific variant.

30 The people who want to send hate speech will just use a spelling variant that isn't filtered.

40 GOTO 20

50 Eventually, the overzealous chat filter is blocking essentially everything

R107 Games9/3/2018, 4:30:52 AM1 votes

In reality this is the internet,words shouldn't have meaning unless you are litteraly making death threats. With that said I don't think there should be punishments for chat,it just dosent make sense imo.