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Why Permabans under the current system make no sense for Riot

KRVHWH47oD·1/20/2017, 1:28:12 AM·8 votes·3,267 views
Ask Riot: Banished to Prisoner's Island - Nexus - League of Legends

Hello community,

I am a former toxic player who has been playing since season 2. I was permabanned for constant flaming a year or two back and have continued to play the game since. I am here today to explain why based on Riot's own words, their current permaban system makes absolutely no sense. For those who don't know Riot will take your account after 3 other punishments, thought it was a bit different before the ladder punishment system came out. But they freely allow permabanned players to make new accounts and re-enter the community despite citing their reason or taking the account as "Having no other choice but to remove the player from the community due to ignoring the warnings" now if you think about what I said about them not caring about making new accounts you will see the first flaw and instance of hypocrisy in this system.

In the past Riot allowed "perma'd" players a trial period to obtain their accounts again which apparently had not been very successful so it was taken away in favor of the current system of permabanning just the players account for the sake of hoping this severe punishment will finally fix their behavior, but if you think about it this will clearly never work as the shock of losing their likely valuable account whether in time/money will not lead to a positive attitude for the players. I feel as though the previously system will never be perfect as lots of toxic people are just going to be toxic always, but this trial period is not made to save all extremely toxic people, it is in the place for the true few who are willing to reform and it should be in place in my opinion for just this reason. Riot claims in the article I linked they claim reform is their undying core value, and their main focus is player experience. Tell me how this system of taking accounts from players so they can be toxic on new accounts over and over sounds like either of these values?

I have asked for ages for answers to these questions and only finally now did a support team member actually answer me, he told me in his own words that they really have no argument to these points and cant change the system from the player support team so I should come here to see the community's response, I think if people look at the game they will see there will be no real change for the majority of players, the game is toxic either way and this change will only effect the few people who's accounts are banned for good and truly want to reform. The change I am suggesting is to once again allow permabanned players after say 6 months of ban time to have a monitored trial run on their accounts and if they are toxic even slightly, in the eyes of Riot not certain players, they should be rebanned for a year or longer till their next chance, similar to a parole hearing in prison, because if even hardened criminals deserve a chance at redemption why don't people who said mean things in a game? Please give honest opinions based in reality and not disgruntled ones because a guy int'd in your last game or called you an idiot, this is for the players looking to truly reform, not just every idiot who wants to be toxic for life.

TL;DR: Riot's stance on reform and player experience should allow players who have been permabanned to have a heavily monitored, by instant feedback or by support members, trial period after 6 months of ban time, and if they are toxic they will be rebanned for however long, similar to a parole hearing.

51 Comments

AeroWaffle1/20/2017, 1:30:29 AM7 votes

But they freely allow permabanned players to make new accounts and re-enter the community

Explain to me how they would prevent players from creating a free account?

The change I am suggesting is to once again allow permabanned players after say 6 months of ban time to have a monitored trial run on their accounts and if they are toxic even slightly

This. Was. Tried.

You even mention it in your post.

In the past Riot allowed "perma'd" players a trial period to obtain their accounts again which apparently had not been very successful

Not very successful is an understatement. Less than 5% success rate for the perma-banned players to reach level 20 without another mark on their record. And this is after Riot only chose the players that showed the most promise.

OnlyYouCanHearMe1/20/2017, 2:02:57 AM4 votes

I'm a bit torn on this one. For the most part (~75%), I tend to stand firmly on the "You know the rules, Abide by them or face the consequences" side of the matter. But I also understand that a considerable portion of our player base is young, and a portion of that lives in less than ideal circumstances. And with all young adults, they make mistakes, they learn from them, and they grow up. For many of the kids who play this game, League is their escape, and no, that doesn't give them the right to take their frustrations out on everyone around them. But there probably is a middle ground between permaban and perma-chat-restriction that would actually help teach these young people how to express their anger and frustration in a safe, productive manner.

I would like to see something in place that would help the people who are genuinely concerned with reform. It seems like every day, I read 15 posts from people who do nothing but KLAJFHKJDFH WHY ME>@?@?@?@? and 1 from someone who is incredibly well-spoken, and has obviously put thought into his comments. And when I see that, just that one post is enough to make me want to support something in the system that measures/monitors reformation. (LOL I just had the most hilarious idea. Totally not serious. They should let the potentially-reformed-players play... wait for it.... in matches filled with the people who spend too much time lurking in the PB&M Boards.)

But in all seriousness, people are capable of change, and yes, it's a great punishment to lose access to some of the skins and champions that some of those players had, especially the ones that are limited and not going to be released ever again. So, while it is great that the players are allowed to make new accounts, in some cases, if they have truly changed, I would be willing to entertain the concept of lifting a permaban. I guess I'm just a softie! But I would seriously sit down and sob if something happened to my skin collection. Between my 4 accounts, I've got over 350 skins, not counting the loot ones awaiting essence. So when people mention losing skins... I shed a tear for them.

Dynikus1/20/2017, 1:46:21 AM3 votes

it is in the place for the true few who are willing to reform and it should be in place in my opinion for just this reason.

For the level 20 challenge, they hand picked people who had the most genuine sounding stories that sounded like they actually wanted to reform. It was still almost a complete failure.

And there's no way to actually prevent someone from just making another account, short of going the korean route and requiring a ssn to make an account.

Sarutobi1/20/2017, 11:57:50 AM3 votes

So your suggestion is basically the same as it is now, just giving the players yet another chance? I mean with how things work now it's basically the same. Riot keeps an eye on you once you hit the 14 day ban and once they see even a slight toxicity they permaban your account. So how is your idea any different?

With that said you seem to not understand that there are other means to get punished. Toxicity is just one of them. What you are saying is that you want people who have cheated, boosted, trolls and intentional feeders to get their account back as well? Or is this strictly just for toxic behavior? With that said what makes toxic players different than anyone else who broke the rules? Why not just follow the damn rules?

All in all people should really be happy because while it's not perfect Riot at least has the decency to give you chances. I played some games that flat out ban you with no warning what so ever, and even contacting support won't get you an answer. It's just disgusting how some people feel like they should be allowed to say what they want. Like how people want to be racist or call people names over a video game. Play and have fun that's the point of it. If you cannot handle playing with other people maybe online games isn't for you especially if that's your excuse. Like do you act like this at work, or with your parents?

DlCKS1/20/2017, 1:33:46 AM3 votes

I feel you on this

Swagnarok1/20/2017, 11:01:18 AM2 votes

The argument could be made that they don't really care about toxicity, but money. They permaban too easily.

This Is Your Dad1/20/2017, 1:33:35 AM1 votes

Why can't you just use your fresh account? The permaban is a constant reminder that you screwed up. If you're waiting for 6 months to get your account back I highly doubt you'd be spending that time reforming.

SchmidttyGames1/20/2017, 1:32:28 AM1 votes

While they often ban accounts for a myriad of reasons, they very, very rarely ban actual people. Look at it this way. They take away your toys when you screw up, and they make you earn them all over again.