Suspension and Perma-banning

Well, I don't really know where to begin so let me start with a form of an introduction. My name is Alex. I am a 20 year old that lives in Michigan. I play league between my summers as a construction worker and my winters as a full time college student. For the last few seasons I have played as a 1 trick Thresh main ranking mostly in high silver/low gold. Just this past week I hit 500,000 Thresh Mastery and that is currently my biggest league achievement. For those of you who don't know the struggles of attempting to support Bronze/Silver players, it can be a tedious and occasionally painful process.

 Now don't get me wrong, there are times when all of the time pays off. There is a feeling that comes from predicting a flash over a wall that I can't really describe. The occasional "That Thresh Tho" or "Thresh carry" comments that appear in my team chat grant a sense of fulfillment that I hope every league player has experienced from time to time. I kind of like knowing that I will always get the role I want, and maining a role that not many others enjoy allows support mains to feel significant in a way. I wouldn't have dedicated so much time to one champion if I didn't love playing him.

 Over the course of the last year or so, I have found myself becoming more toxic as a player. I am noticing that it's more difficult to maintain a positive mindset when I feel that my ADC/Marksman is not playing at the average Upper-Silver skill level that I have become accustomed to. I understand that a negative mindset can contribute to the loss of a game and to be entirely honest, my toxicity is probably one of the main reasons I am still such a low ranking. Shortly after reaching 500k Mastery on Thresh, I reached a new low in my LoL career; Account Suspension. Just a few days ago my account was rightfully and deservingly suspended for a 2-week period due to a list of offensive terms and hateful speech that I truly regret. I completely understand my punishment and I'm grateful to the staff that determines punishment that I have not been permanently banned already. 

 I have been playing LoL for roughly 4 years now, and over this time I have been chat restricted at least 50 times. If you don't know what chat restriction is and have never been punished with it, (congrats btw) it essentially limits that amount of messages you can post in your team's chat, and removes your ability to talk to the opposing team entirely. You begin with 3 messages and gain an additional message every 4 minutes thereafter to a maximum storage of 5 messages. (Yes I know this system particularly well) 

 Now, while this chat restriction served as a form of punishment, I began to discover that I won more games while my chat was restricted. There would be times when I was dying to start flaming the ADC for an obvious mistake that I had seen too many times over the years, but I couldn't because of my restriction. Riot was indirectly preventing my from tilting my teammates, and allowing me to make comebacks that probably wouldn't have occurred otherwise.

 This post is not an attempt to end my suspension early, but a shot in the dark with hope that Riot may take the time to read this post. As I was reading the notice that described the cause and terms of my first suspension in my 4 years with League, I read something that shook me to the core; "Further violations of the Summoners Code may result in a permanent suspension of this account." It took me a second for that to sink in, losing my account entirely. It brought me to a sad reality that maybe the League community would be better off without me. I don't think I would ever quit playing LoL, but losing my account would definitely slow me down. In fear of losing access to the account that I hope to one day have 1 million Thresh mastery on, I must ask Riot a favor. My request is for a permanent chat restriction that prevents me from being able to see and respond to the opposing team. A smarter player would turn off [ALL] chat, but I don't believe I will ever become self-aware enough to fully prevent my toxicity through any other means. I know this is a cop out and an odd request, but it would grant me the peace of mind to continue playing League competitively and may even improve my win rate.

 Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely, Alex (That Thresh Tho)