Boards›Player Behavior

Reform and Why It's BS

FreeLobsterMan·11/29/2016, 1:44:39 AM·3 votes·650 views

My third account got suspended. Just going to preface this and set up this little review of the video game League of Legends, and Riot's own staff. First off I love this game. It gets dull and it's not a game with loads of variety but it does deliver on a graphic and entertaining scale, which I appreciate. I'm going to miss it, kind of.

So what did my account get suspended/banned for? Verbal "abuse". Not intentionally feeding and running down midlane, calling for the opponent mid laner to get free kills. I was reported and suspended by Riot for verbally riffing my team for being idiots, for not warding, for overextending, for defending myself for calling lane when I was matched up with a four-man who didn't want to be flexible, and for general banter. Sure not all of what I said was nice, and neither was what was said back to me. Which is what the video game community and frankly mankind does. We riff each other, trash talk and banter when we're frustrated or attempting to help others. This is normal behavior, not toxic or abusive.

When my first account was suspended I was upset and wanted to "improve". What I failed to realize is you can't improve. You can suck it up, and play the game of dancing on eggshells when your ADC ignores your pings and tries to solo drag. You can mute the guy who's calling you out for sucking at Darius toplane and insulting you. I can list a dozen or so situations where you're drawn into a verbal chess match, and there are multiple ways of resolving or confronting it. But that's just it, Riot doesn't want you to confront or to react normally. We're supposed to just hit the report button when our feel-goods gets hurt, when our egos get bruised, and our jimmies get rustled. But I have a solution.

Remove the report option for "verbal harassment". Because it's not like somebody is standing in your house, screaming in your face to gank for them. You can always mute, you can ignore chat (which is another ironic offense) but you aren't being harassed. Because internet bullying is a facade, it's for special snowflakes who get "triggered" (can't wait to see when Riot introduces a trigger-induced report system) and can't handle criticism because their parents never told them they were just a person, and not a perfect uberhuman in their failed helicopter parenting method. You can always shut it off, go read a book or let some steam off, or simply confront the issue and deal with it.

I wish I could take back every report I wrote (for verbal harassment, not for intent feeding or ignoring team), because they're pointless. That person can make another account, or just go play another game. I can't change them as a person, and neither can Riot, though try as they may (referring to their presentations on player "reform"). Reporting people for verbal abuse is reporting them for being an "internet bully", which is a joke. Perhaps it's not my job to tell you that your feelings don't matter, but it's not our job (the community, fellow peers) to dance around them when you make mistakes in the game. You're not entitled (or right) to special treatment because League is your escape, and thus the idea that you can be reported when somebody feels like League is their safe space is laughable at the least.

Verbal abuse is criticism, however rude it can be. Even "attacking" somebody is just typing out aggressive words on a chat that can be blocked by pressing mute, if you can't handle it. And frankly Riot, we aren't children. There's no need to create a system to ban people because a minority can't handle criticism or banter. No amount of social justice warrior-attitude can change the fact that banning players like me only reflects your misplaced judgement and ideology. Frankly I'm sorry for you guys, you have a great game. But the way you handle your players is mediocre and it will effect League of Legends negatively in the end.

This is not my attempt to sway or change Riot's collective mind on their system, merely an honest reflection of it being a failed system. Truly I hope they adjust it, but if not meh. It's a good game, but there are others that are equally as entertaining.

GG, it's been fun.

13 Comments

Deep Terror Nami11/29/2016, 1:50:43 AM12 votes

And frankly Riot, we aren't children.

Then act like it.

Once someone is forced to mute you you have likely already become a problem. You are responsible for controlling your behavior, not them, which is why you can be punished for continuing to create a negative environment for the other players.

I'll quote Ghostcrawler here;

what do you think of Leagues "harassment" policy? A player on your team making a "stupid" mistake at 40 min, causing you to lose game, wasting 40 min for 4 other people. why does riot take the side of the person who lost the game for his team? what are your thoughts on the language used in Games?

Everyone makes mistakes. Faker makes mistakes. Sometimes. I don't feel that justifies giving someone a lot of shit. If they are truly being careless or taking dumb risks, I would point that out in the interest of helping them to get better, but err on the side of being conservative here. In my experience, players tend to think innocent mistakes are not innocent, or think that accidents could have trivially been prevented. I think we all expect more forgiveness as players than we are willing to give out to others.

There is no excuse to harass anyone in League, period. Nothing someone can do in a game can justify you trying to use verbal (or spoken if they can hear you) language so harsh. There is a reason nearly every sport in the world adopts some kind of sportsmanship mentality.

The advice I frequently give players is to pretend that other player is a student in your class or a coworker at school. When you're face to face, you're unlikely to unload on someone who you are going to frequently see or work with again. Why should it be any different online? If your answer is because you'll never have to see them again, then you're kind of arguing that you're only ever respectful to people for pretty selfish reasons rather than because it's the human thing to do.

Kei14311/29/2016, 2:00:25 AM4 votes

i think you finally get what Riot is trying to say to you: They don't want you in their game.

Sarutobi11/29/2016, 9:10:30 AM1 votes

While I do agree to some extent about this whole ordeal you cannot just leave the game since youll get punished by leavebuster. With that said there is a mute button for a reason, but that shouldn't justify your behavior. Just like in real life we have rules. You break them and you get punished simple as that. Yet we still have crime. The fact of the matter is just be nice to people. When people say act like it they mean to act mature. How many people do you know act like how they do in league? I would hope not since I would never want to meet people like that!

With all that said there is a different between being critical and being toxic. Telling them to die, wishing cancer, using every single racial/homosexual/derogatory slurs in the book is uncalled for and not needed to help you win the game. So why bother doin it?