Riot: What are you doing to fix the toxicity in the DNA of the player base?

5 Dollar Holler·9/11/2018, 2:17:02 AM·4 votes·3,659 views

I am genuinely curious who is thinking outside the box over at Riot to fix this game's community. I play so many multiplayer games. Overwatch. Dota 2. You name it. League stands alone, not even in the same universe, when it comes to player behavior and how the game draws out the worst in humanity. It's clearly something encouraged by Riot, either implicitly or explicitly. Dota 2, a similar game, has nowhere near the same levels of toxicity.

We know that temporary restrictions and even perma bans don't work. We also know that "honor rewards" are a huge joke that no one cares about.

What are the other carrots and sticks? We are at the point where people are being punished for defending themselves against cyber bullying (perhaps too vehemently and sinking to a level that they shouldn't.) We need a complete lobotomy of the game's player culture.

15 Comments

R107 Games9/11/2018, 2:48:29 AM5 votes

toxicity is not an issue tho. they just need to improve on punishing trolls/inters

Aneirin9/11/2018, 2:18:53 AM4 votes

We also know that "honor rewards" are a huge joke that no one cares about.

The regular threads complaining about missing out on ranked rewards would disagree.

iDodgeBardLobbys9/11/2018, 2:19:01 AM3 votes

DoTA has in game voice chat and more people are afraid to say things, but you still hear it, still better than league

overwatch games are shorter, less time for anger to grow, and they know they're not stuck there for 30 minutes losing fucking HARD when some idiot is inting 1 kill per 1-2 minutes

A Fish With Legs9/11/2018, 6:13:14 AM2 votes

You can't really get rid of the toxicity at this point. It's ingrained in the League of Legends culture. Because of the way the game is designed (long games and competition), as well as the majority of the player base (Male players around the age of 13-18), it would be more of a surprise to find out that League wouldn't be toxic.

Over the years, League has gotten a very accurate reputation for fostering a toxic behavior due to the above as well as others in the community who allow others to perpetuate toxicity. Riot knows that it's impossible at this point to rein in the toxic players without making themselves look like the bad guys at the same time.

Riot should honestly consider talking with other gaming companies and getting advice on how to make their community better. The League community is synonymous with the term "toxic community". They should consult with other companies with communities that are considered "non-toxic" in comparison, like DE's community on Warframe, or even consult Valve on how they deal with their community effectively if we were to keep it within the same game genre.

Kei1439/11/2018, 11:36:31 AM2 votes

S9 ranked will have position MMR match making to help lower a bunch of those autofill toxicity games where the autofilled can't play at the same MMR as their main role. Less people bad at the game, less toxicity.

They are also adding new divisions between bronze/silver and diamond to curb how players can make leaps and bounds in skill, but not enough to carry the whole team, thus not proceeding in the rankings. Goes back to less bad people, less toxicity.

There's also going to be ranked splits within the season to keep people's motivation up so there will be less games of "I dont care if I win or lose this". But that might induce more toxicity as people get more serious and concerned for each win.

Riot Tantram is currently working on something more compelling that monthly status report cards. As to exactly what it is, no one knows.

FurriesAreHot9/11/2018, 1:40:41 PM2 votes

Actually I'd say out of all the games I've played, I've had more toxic interactions on Overwatch than league. For reference, here's the games I play most:

  • Rainbow Six Siege

  • Team Fortress 2

  • Dead By Daylight

  • DoTA 2

  • League

  • Overwatch

The issue with League's punishment system is that 50% of people cry for more punishments and 50% cry for less. I haven't ever been punished so I really don't care either way, but I just thought I'd give my opinion on league's toxicity.