What is considered "trolling" to Riot?

Bot Melvin·6/24/2017, 9:08:08 PM·1 votes·369 views

This is my first season and I know I'm not very good (Silver 4) but I have been struggling with the way bans or lack of bans in league work. When I get trolls (ex. Brand jungle) their excuse is that they have been trying the whole game. I had an urgot top that built redemption first item as well. How does Riot look at these situations and is it even worth reporting? This has been really frustrating as I lost my S3 promos partly due to the brand, I was doing well but even with an actually jg we might have lost. :(((((((

3 Comments

Weathered6/24/2017, 10:15:13 PM1 votes

Unfortunately, things like weird items or picks aren't normally considered trolling, because it's often a grey area in "off meta decisions". If the person is genuinely putting effort into the game with that weird item or champion, it's fine. However, if it is evident that the person is picking or choosing what they do with the intention of ruining the game, or someone else's experience in the game, then it is not alright.

So an example, I've played Swain jungle before and did fairly decent (something like 4/3/6). This isn't trolling. However, if I played jungle Swain and ran into lanes without farming jungle and overall pretty much fed by running at the enemy constantly, lets say going 0/6/0, it could be considered trolling.

It's all about perspective, so unfortunately a lot of times only the explicit and obvious cases are caught, otherwise you would have a lot of unsure punishments given out and a lot of anger from people who like playing off meta. It's a better overall decision to let "eh" cases slide then anger your fanbase by being anal about a Bard mid.

BlueThingamajig6/24/2017, 10:39:26 PM1 votes

If the player is deliberately sabotaging the team, it is trolling.

The problem is that a higher-skill player can still be successful at a less-optimal strategy at a marginally lower MMR. That's not trolling, because they are legitimately trying to win and any discrepancies between skill level and strength of strategy are for the matchmaking system to assess. If a player would be a 8/10 skill level normally, but plays an unusual strategy at a 7/10 skill level, then the matchmaker should put them in 7/10 games.

And its sometimes impossible to tell if that player is an 8/10 player is playing their 7/10 strategy in the game, or a 7/10 player playing their 6/10 strategy.

But if they go 15 deaths in a 20 minute game, they're probably trolling. If their postgame damage dealt is less than the support Janna, they're probably trolling. It can be hard to tell the difference between a 7/10 strategy in a bad game and a 6/10 strategy, but you should definitely be able to pick out a 3/10 strategy.