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Questions for Riot and Summoners about Community and Appeal of LoL

Clouded Harmony·5/3/2017, 2:58:35 AM·5 votes·695 views

Hi guys!

I'm currently taking a creative nonfiction writing class, and for my literary journalism essay, I wanted to discuss the mechanics and community of League of Legends. Answering these questions will be really helpful to me, and is greatly appreciated.

To RIot: The community of LoL has been referred to as "one of the worst" and a "toxic" community. What are your thoughts on this? What is Riot doing to improve community relations, both among players and between the players and Riot? The tribunal has been down for maintenance what seems to be three years. Does Riot have any intentions of putting it back online? If so, what changes should we expect from the new tribunal? Is there anything that you would like to let me or others know that is not covered by these questions?

To Summoners: How long have you played League of Legends? What made the game appealing to you, especially compared to other games? The community of the game has been referred to as “toxic” and “one of the worst”. What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever been toxic to a fellow player, and/or received verbal harassment from a toxic player? Can you recount the incident? What were your thoughts while playing that game at that time? Have you heard about the tribunal? Did you take part in it? What would you like to see from Riot in terms of repairing communal relations? Is there anything that you would like to let me or others know that is not covered by these questions?

Thank you so much!

11 Comments

ModThe Djinn5/3/2017, 3:12:22 AM4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Clouded Harmony,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=iUjTQj7E,comment-id=,timestamp=2017-05-03T02:58:35.742+0000)How long have you played League of Legends?

Since Pre-Season 1. About seven years, I think?

What made the game appealing to you, especially compared to other games?

That it's a deep, tactical, team-based game that never really plays out the same way twice.

The community of the game has been referred to as "toxic" and &"one of the worst". What are your thoughts on this?

That it's slightly undeserved. The slower pace of the game encourages more opportunities to type than something like, say, Overwatch or CS:Go, and the effort Riot has put into raising player awareness of toxicity serves to make players more likely to notice it and remember it in-game. The community has, on average, IMPROVED over the past few years -- it's just that many well behaved players don't chat as often, so the human tendency to remember negative occurrences more strongly makes those toxic instances stand out.

Have you ever been toxic to a fellow player, and/or received verbal harassment from a toxic player? Can you recount the incident? What were your thoughts while playing that game at that time?

My own "toxicity" is fairly limited to the occasional dark sarcasm or constructive criticism, and I'm not really sure that qualifies as toxic. Slightly negative, perhaps, but I suppose it depends on the mood and personality of the recipient. As for receiving verbal harassment? Of course -- I've been playing for seven years, after all. In the game it usually just amuses me, and I either respond with humor or simply mute the person and get on with my game. A few times it throws me a little off if I'm in a bad mood for other reasons, and then I simply finish the game and take a break. No single instance has stuck with me enough to merit remembering.

Have you heard about the tribunal? Did you take part in it?

I have taken part in it. It was a decent solution at the start, but the community has outgrown the functionality of the Tribunal.

What would you like to see from Riot in terms of repairing communal relations?

I ultimately think all Riot can really do is offer incentives for good behavior (which they're working on) and disincentives for bad behavior (which they have). It's not their job as a company to attempt to "fix" people's behavior -- and I think the problem is more about how people interact with each other under the veil of anonymity and the knowledge that they're unlikely to ever play with that person again, let alone meet them. That's not Riot's fault -- they just have a product where tensions run high, people take games seriously, and players have the time to type.

This Is Your Dad5/3/2017, 3:35:32 AM3 votes

The one thing I will put here is response to all of this is: When I first started playing the game I enjoyed it very much and was very friendly. I decided to rank up too soon and was placed in bronze 3. Ever since then I have been shamed and ridiculed in my normals matches about my rank. I have had my rank associated with the value of my life countless times. I grew annoyed by this and started caring about my rank more and more to the point where I only played ranked games and could not climb due to frustration making me a bad team player. I started becoming toxic in response to toxicity. I was sick of seeing how terrible people could get, and I lost a lot of my faith in humanity, knowing that anonymity allowed people to express themselves in what I'd consider their true form. Hatred, belligerence, arrogance, all-consuming and all-encompassing, I started to resent humanity as a whole. Very rarely have I met a decent person that's stayed on my friends list for more than 4 ranked games. They'll go from calling me a good teammate to spitting in my face. I love the champions; I love the design. What I hate is the toxicity creating a snowball out of early leads. Someone gives first blood? Time to rage at him for the next 20 minutes. It doesn't seem to get better, and now, with league at it's worst, trolls are enjoying making kids rage. They get on and troll games for the thrill of watching humans degenerate into pond scum. They love invalidating your plea for and end to toxicity by making you respond to them in a toxic manner. It's not Riot. It's the community.

elduris5/3/2017, 4:30:31 AM3 votes

How long have you played League of Legends?

I've been playing since before the first competitive season.

What made the game appealing to you, especially compared to other games?

I started playing because I moved to a new area and met some new people and they all played. I didn't have a good computer at the time and it would overheat constantly so that inspired me to build my own from spare parts they had. After that it was a way for me to keep in touch with my friends.

The community of the game has been referred to as “toxic” and “one of the worst”. What are your thoughts on this?

I think the more vocal members give it that kind of name, but I disagree that League's community is one of the worst. SivHD raised 1.9 million dollars for Save the Children [x]. The community once banded together to help pay for a player's medical bills and raised nearly $20k. [x] That's not something a "worst community ever" would do.

Have you ever been toxic to a fellow player, and/or received verbal harassment from a toxic player? Can you recount the incident? What were your thoughts while playing that game at that time?

Never through text, but I have been known to get ragey in Skype sometimes haha. I have been harassed in game but honestly, I don't remember what it was about. Probably something about me being bad or whatever but the specifics escape me.

Have you heard about the tribunal? Did you take part in it?

I was very active in the tribunal, reviewed nearly 6000 games before the system was shut down, and was one of the top 15 most active users. I look back on those days fondly, but not having to deal with looking through chat logs is something I'm thankful for.

What would you like to see from Riot in terms of repairing communal relations?

Repairing? I would like to know how you think they're damaged. Personally, I do sometimes see a disconnect between Riot and the community. Riot's gotten a lot better about it recently.

Is there anything that you would like to let me or others know that is not covered by these questions?

I think it's important to take a step back sometimes. League is a highly competitive game and a lot of people take it very seriously. Grounding yourself in moments of high tension is really important. And getting outside from time to time is refreshing. :)

Magical Player5/3/2017, 5:31:38 AM3 votes

How long have you played League of Legends?

Preseason 1, I think. But def season 1

What made the game appealing to you, especially compared to other games?

Free to play, my friends player The community of the game has been referred to as “toxic” and “one of the worst”. What are your thoughts on this?

Every community is referred to as toxic and "one of the worst", You'll never find something wrong somewhere. League by far is not bad

Have you ever been toxic to a fellow player, and/or received verbal harassment from a toxic player? Can you recount the incident? What were your thoughts while playing that game at that time?

Yes/Yes, No, in different Have you heard about the tribunal? Did you take part in it? Yes, Yes What would you like to see from Riot in terms of repairing communal relations?

Can't think of any, riot has done a good job IMO Is there anything that you would like to let me or others know that is not covered by these questions? FIND A PERFECT COMMUNITY ONLINE that still exists

DarkDeamonDragon5/3/2017, 7:26:04 PM2 votes

How long have you played League of Legends?

I've been playing since the beginning of season 3.

What made the game appealing to you, especially compared to other games?

A lot of my friends were playing at the time, and since we never really got to see each other in person it was nice to be able to play games together.

The community of the game has been referred to as "toxic" and "one of the worst". What are your thoughts on this?

Since starting back in Season 3 I've actually noticed a decrease in toxic behavior in my games. Sure there are still toxic people that play, but, at least in the games I've been playing, it's not as common. In my experience, people tend to only highlight the bad and say nothing about the good unless it's above and beyond expetations.

Have you ever been toxic to a fellow player, and/or received verbal harassment from a toxic player? Can you recount the incident? What were your thoughts while playing that game at that time?

I try my best not to be toxic. There have been plenty of times where I wanted to flame back or vent my frustrations at another players gameplay, but I'm not one to get into arguments about stupid stuff. I just step away when the game is finished and play with my dogs for a bit before going into another game. I've been flamed more times than I can count. I'm a support main so it happens. When it does happen I mute the toxic player and keep playing. There's really no point in engaging someone like that. Admittedly, there have been a few times when I get my little piece of revenge during the game by choosing not to step in and save the flamer from a gank.

Have you heard about the tribunal? Did you take part in it?

I did take part in the Tribunal when it was active. It was nice to think that I had an impact over who got punished.

What would you like to see from Riot in terms of repairing communal relations?

In my opinion, Riot's doing what they can to keep toxic players from ruining games, but there's only so much they can do. They offer end of season incentives for players, and if a player has had action taken against them they lose out on the rewards. Unfortunately, that'll only go so far. As awesome as it would be to have no toxicity in the game, it's not obtainable and it's not fair for players to expect it. Honestly, I don't know how relations are broken. League has a huge player base and to think Riot can communicate to each player on an individual level is insane. They could probably put out surveys as to what players want to see/expect, but they can not please everyone.

Umbral Regent5/3/2017, 1:13:37 PM2 votes

How long have you played League of Legends?

I admittedly haven't ever kept track, but the furthest I can recall was that I was playing back before Lucian got revealed, and he was being teased as "The Gun Templar".

What made the game appealing to you, especially compared to other games?

Ironically, nothing besides my own initial difficulties with the game. I've never been a fan of isometric games, and when my brother first got me into it, I had difficulty playing even Garen right. However, back then (and even now) I was bullheaded, stupid, and wanted to git gud at League. It has been a long, very long climb since then.

The community of the game has been referred to as “toxic” and “one of the worst”. What are your thoughts on this?

I'm sort of half-and-half on it. I definitely don't think it's one of the worst communities, but it's just bad enough that I'm apt to warn anyone with a fleeting interest in the game that the people are probably going to be pretty bad to deal with. I've seen my fair share of toxicity, but lately, it's been getting to the point where toxicity is rare, and general bad players are about 40% present.

Have you ever been toxic to a fellow player, and/or received verbal harassment from a toxic player? Can you recount the incident? What were your thoughts while playing that game at that time?

Never really been toxic myself, but I have gotten snappy. As for receiving harassment from players, yeah, but it's mostly just them calling me trash, an awful player, "go back to bots", that kinda stuff, and as mentioned, it's gotten rarer nowadays. My general thoughts around those times are "just tough it out, open a surrender vote, get to the end of the match, report them, and quit playing for the day".

Have you heard about the tribunal? Did you take part in it?

I have, and I have. It was a pretty cool thing when it was still around, made me feel like I was helping the community and stuff, but I think the system Riot's got now with the manual review is a lot more reliable.

What would you like to see from Riot in terms of repairing communal relations?

I guess for them to just keep doing what they've been doing. They've been improving the playerbase steadily over time, so what they're doing is working, they just need to keep at it.

Is there anything that you would like to let me or others know that is not covered by these questions?

Nothing that I can think of.

Hope this helps you with your essay!

SecondAirbane5/3/2017, 4:11:22 AM1 votes

day by day only making the community worse