Riot Communication and its effects on player behaviour + possible fixes.

Hello. I'm Lilybet and I wanted to share a few things that I've noticed when it comes to League and behaviour. There is an extreme lack of communication when it comes to things relating to what the community finds inappropriate ingame, as well as what is a reportable behaviour.

While I do think that improvements have been made re: reform cards/notifications that someone you report has been punished, I think that we can go further than that.

#**The current problems: **

1: Reform cards do not explain to a person what they did wrong. All they know is that someone found it offensive enough to report it a lot, not necessarily that they were in the wrong.

2: People are confused about what is and is not reportable behaviour. Is "gg ez" something punishable? Is it acceptable to use the n-word when you're talking to your friends in a 5-man?

3: People are not encouraged to report when they see something reportable because they either are not exactly sure what is a reportable offense (I see many people who think "Intentionally feeding" means "dying a lot") or they feel that reports don't matter. I understand that you get a notice if someone you reported in your last game gets punished, but you do not get a notice if someone you reported in a different game gets punished. This leads to people thinking that reports do nothing at all.

4: Lack of rioter presence on forums, helping to clarify misconception and educate players. I see q&a sessions about various stuff, but only a few rioters actually get out there and just talk with the community on these forums, bringing snippets of information and hanging out.

#Proposed Solution:

1: Get more Rioters out here talking to the community about acceptable behaviours.

I know the plan is to allow the community do decide what is acceptable and what is not acceptable via learning machines and reports. However, I think it would be an excellent idea to make sure that people realise that. And keep making people understand that. It's not hard to go "Okay, the learning machines show that saying "gg ez" and "get rekt scrub" are behaviours that they do not want to see in games. " It will then start a dialogue on the forums, and will attract people, who are then, in turn, educated by the discussion.

People also are more willing to listen to community leaders who actually spend time in the community and give reasoning for their actions. This should not be a "Well, we'll wait for Lyte to do it" sort of thing. It should be an ongoing process with Rioters dedicated to doing the task, not just forum mods. Though they could certainly help.

Doing this will not only educate players on what is and is not acceptable, but it will also increase accuracy in reports because people will more fully understand what is and is not acceptable so they don't tank their report accuracy.

2: Enforce the same values on the forums as are done ingame

If people don't want to see it on the Rift, people probably don't want to see it on the forums either. Standardizing language on the forum and language ingame should passively phase certain phrases out of the vocabulary as it pertains to official platforms. With increased viewership from increased Rioter activity in step 1, it should spread fairly quickly.

2a: Explain to people why you removed forum posts. I see there's an announcement for more visible moderation stickied to this board, and that's good.

3: Provide opportunities for people to go through their reform cards with volunteers

A lot of people who get reform card have little idea why they got banned. A lot of League of Legends players are still developing mentally, and it's not always apparent what is and is not okay in greater society (Especially on the internet), when some of the things they've said in chat are things that nobody would bat an eye at where they live. Or people have told them that in other games, so they don't understand that this space does not tolerate that kind of thing, or why.

I think that a volunteer program, rather like tribunal, would go a long way in actually reforming players. My idea for this is to allow people to sign up to go through reform cards, and be accepted based on their behaviour standing or report accuracy. A player who has been punished up to a first ban can choose to go through the reform card review for a decreased sentence. This would not be available to people through second bans and up. A program like this would encourage the community to take a bit more charge and responsibility for shaping the League community.

Mostly, I think we need more all around communication. People are confused, scared and angry. Reasonable people are frustrated that they are not affecting anything. Let's give some validity to people who are working to make the game a better place, and let's try to TRULY educate and reform players who behave poorly. Give people the information they need to teach and lead others.

Thank you for your time.