First, I would like to thank anybody who reads this post, especially Riot Games. In this post, I will speaking mainly about the extreme toxicity of League of Legends, and a possible solution.
If anyone knows something about League of Legends besides it being such a great game with frequent updates, its their exceedingly toxic community. As a college student, I play League of Legends as a hobby or during my free time for enjoyment, but this is ruined occasionally due to other players becoming so furious with the game that it leaves them one option: ruin the game for others since it is ruined for them in their mind. Many examples of players like this have been seen such as "tyler1", "IWILLDOMINATE", and "darkwinjax". However, these players are only noticed because they are either famous streamers, or famous in much higher elo ranking because it is fewer people, making them more noticeable among other high elo streamers. What about the toxicity among the players below challenger or master? I understand bronze or silver because they are mostly filled with beginners or people who don't exactly care about the game as much as people in gold and up. But after Gold, we can see that people are really dedicating time to the game's ranked system and are seriously attempting to be in the top percents of ranking. Then comes the players who utterly ruin that. Simply giving first blood can make them turn into an intentional disaster for a team, and even if they get reported, all they get is a temporary mute or suspension that is not even worth while because they will simply do it again.
Now Riot Games, I understand that you like giving MANY chances to those who ruin the game for others, but what about the people who do try to reassure victory and do not resort to toxicity? What about them who try so hard to win, but lose because of that one teammate who heavily refrains from trying to work with the team because they believe their team is "worthless". Riot Games, please remember that League of Legends is a TEAM game. That means that teamwork heavily influences the outcome. With toxic players, teamwork is difficult to attain, and with these weak, easy going punishments, they will stick around. That is one of the reasons League of Legends is known for its extremely toxic environment.
However, if executed harsher, punishment can be more effective, with tyler1 being an exemplary example. tyler1 is easily in one of the most toxic players in League of Legends history, but he changed because of one ban because he knew that if he did not change because of it, he would never be able to actually enjoy the game again. Riot, why waste time with repeated, unsuccessful punishment, when harsher punishment is much more effective. Remember, tyler1 was receiving punishment after punishment, and never changed until the indefinite ban was about to be laid upon him. I am not saying to instantly indefinitely ban any player who is toxic.
I understand that some players make mistakes and become mad at their team, but intentionally feeding, grief ing, that is no mistake, its intentional, they know what they are doing. If there is proof of a player intentionally feeding, they should be punished harshly the first time. Players know that intentionally feeding is wrong and that they should not do it, but do so to tilt their teammates and make them lose lp that THEY do not care to lose. What about those on the team who tried? They are to simply just lose lp and get over the tilting experience they went through while the intentional feeder feels good or "accomplished" for literally ruining the game for others? Riot Games, once again, I understand that you do want to be harsh with things, but there are times that you must become serious for the future of your game. As said before, toxicity is a symbol of League of Legends. I will use myself as an example. Before I began playing League of Legends, I was pulled by the game because all of my friends in a Skype group chat who played "LaTale" played League of Legends. Me wanting to join my friends, downloaded the game. However, they warned me of the toxic environment of the game. Saying things such as "League is fun, but if you cant endure the toxicity, just don't play". I am a HEAVY gamer, and in all of my years of gaming, I have NEVER been warned to not play a game because of how toxic it was, and turns out he was indefinitely correct about how toxic it is.
To conclude this post, I would like to again, thank anyone for taking the time to read this, I dearly appreciate it. Riot Games, I would like to thank you for providing me with such an amazing game to play. I enjoy learning to play champions and watching videos on how to play them. Every champion to learn is another learning experience, making the game have so much to offer, and the endless amount of updates show that you care for your community Riot, having something new to always look forward to. Thank you Riot Games.
