🔒 "But he called me toxic first!" An essay on behavior featuring a unique solution

In light of ethics it becomes painfully obvious that Riot has some serious work to do if they want to retain players. You would be surprised how many people quit for their own reasons. The problem resides in players quitting due to Riots actions. It takes an adult to admit wrongdoing. Quite frankly Riot is a child, scratch that. Riot is like a children's choir singing together for the very first time.

So i aced the intro, but more about me. I am a gaming critic, tester, and all around talkative person. lets get straight into it. When you create any environment that has an ethics code there will always be some descent, i mean new players walk right into that wall every time they join LoL. Even if you disagree with everything I am saying right now, remember the first time you encountered the word "toxic". The first time i ran into this LABEL i certainly did not deserve the title. Simply by outlining sportsmanship as criteria for being toxic, Riot has implicated every current player take a moral high ground. This has completely disrupted many real discussions and thus stunted the evolution of this game. I have been playing LoL for a very long time now, yet i play 1 game a day if at all these days. IMO the top reason for players giving the game up are firstly the player community, secondly the moderator community, thirdly and finally abusive behavior.

Firstly the player community is a joke. There are tons of kids playing who feature a lack of respect. Yet some of the older players are even worse, crying out about toxicity at the very first hint of dissent. I mean what is this game now Riot? Lets count the countries where dissent is a punishable offense... This game is very literally a dictatorship in many players eyes. First example; you decide to bring up a very real issue in the community while you are in game (one time i said), "why do i always get the bad team?" The answer (directly from my fellow man), "You are being toxic." I do not have to explain what is wrong with this because everyone will draw their own conclusions. However in that game i intended to get a very simple point across. I was on a losing streak and i felt it was simply less enjoyable (not unfair). How is this toxicity? At that moment it dawned on me how much of the discussion dies to the spear of toxicity, so to speak.

Secondly the moderator community, based on the first reason for dissent that i have listed it is quite clear that there is disagreement about what is toxic in the mod community (singed bot lane roam case). This can only mean one thing in matters pertaining to persona non grata. There is a power struggle and the status quo is struggling, what exactly is toxic? It would appear that the word toxic applies to far too many things at this moment. I am talking science Riot. It is clear to many players that the word toxic is half enigma and half truth, at this juncture toxicity is false. IMO this game is so old in fact that the "toxicity" may be the exact feedback that was to grow this game into something better. Something more valuable to the human condition. Instead of rising to the occasion and trying to meet player needs i feel moderators may have done more harm than good redefining toxicity on a case to case basis. The real question is how many players did not even speak about the matter. How many people left without a real word regarding what does and does not exist in the game, what they want in the game, what made them leave, and i could go on and on. This is where the record breaks and i ask for players in ranked to speak up because i do not play ranked and never will. To the ranked players, Why did you think about quitting? Do you think moderators need to have more check and balances? What is a short, or long (clear, concise) definition for toxicity?

Thirdly lets talk abusive behavior. Where does it begin and where does it end? It began for me very realistically on my first LoL account several years ago, a random stranger said the f word in chat (not that f word, the other less allowable homophobic f word) and i was taken aback. I had not said anything out of the ordinary to the person. The fact is i got mad about it like we all do. But then i had wonder what kind of damn horrors this player was exposed to before he decided to simply blurt the f word at all other players in chat. At that moment i knew it was certainly not the non-toxic game it proposed to be. Over the string of three years of gameplay i ran into so much garbage that i felt i like i was tied to a chair in a wind tunnel with a garbage truck (not the small garbage truck but those giant semi truck sized ones) dumping trash in my face. Try not to imagine that. Result, i play like one game a day (unless the client bugs out, again). Personally i think LoL is in need of a drastic combat ranking overhaul, see < that is how "abusive" i have become XD

Enough about leavers, forget those guys (for real next game sorry). Lets revert the discussion to sportsmanship and toxicity (skip to the end of the essay for my solution). There are way to many problems to count when you want to talk real ethics among this forum community. IMO toxicity is far too broad a label, i think toxicity should be removed as a label and there should be tenants in place of the broad term toxicity. Not even summoners code goes into detail enough. Seriously how long has this game been out and everyone is still talking about what not to do. I think the discussion needs to be guided towards actual positive guidelines.

Take my statement for example. I once said "why do i get the bad team", ironically one the players called me toxic. Is it not perfectly clear that labeling people is rude and power greedy. Lets face it the person could have been positive and its likely in turn that would yield more positive thoughts for me. Instead now we have this power struggle wherein i am accused of being this broad (moronic) term. If being critical of a game that is constantly updating and improving is toxic, what is not toxic?

I feel i was not toxic in any way as i said "why do i always get the bad team" in passing. I have instead spotted a serious case of poor player behavior en masse. If educating players to report a people as toxic is productive lets me know please as i continue to laugh at people who walk up to me and write toxic on a label and subsequently stick it to my forehead... Makes total sense to me, because i am the person with the plan. I am the one actually speaking up about player behavior and player quality. Of course all the toxic players can now simply hide behind the giant spear of toxicity provided by Riot and try to flay me alive. Not sure if any other gamers out there know who Fox McCloud is, but he has a certain ability that happens to be quite comically equivocal to my very predicament.

(solution) Hereby i denounce players who consistently accuse others of toxicity as complete frauds, i propose a simple and easy change to leaver buster system wherein player actions result in direct upvotes and downvotes to an averaged player scorecard. It could be so simple as to vote players down everytime they send consecutive chat messages (we all know the spammers and flamers). Equally the system could issue a downvote whenever the player stands still. i.e. stopping and flaming is now VERY punishable. waiting in the store is now VERY punishable. Flaming and spamming are TOTALLY punished (people i mean those who send two to three messages in a row)

Lets talk theoretical values. like sending a message while moving is -1 point (there will be justice for that one time you stopped to send a message and missed lane by one second). stopping is -1 point a second (while not attacking). stopping and chatting is -2 points a second. keep in mind that was just a very very rough draft. and the real thing would be a whole lot more calculated and calibrated to ensure you at least get a player that participates. or if you are of lower caliber you get stuck with more and more toxic players.

Think about the realtime consequences of this system. We all know the toxic players will make an attempt to downvote this post, after all they are crawling all over these forums(destroying the game and tenants). If we had passive ranking in a smart playerscore card like this we would be faced with people more of our own character. I am not saying this is a perfect solution but at least the best players would shine through: The player who is always moving and issues only quick pings because they are so focused on gameplay. The player who never chats because it takes up too much time. The player who is so clockwork that they buy and move every time they get to the shop. need i say more? You decide because i gave up on your game a long time and could honestly care less at this point, save your community with my simple idea or be my guest. Go deal with the bronze community without my system. Go binge ARAM (my personal favorite) and deal with the trolls. Because guess what i firmly believe that a larger portion of the community is more toxic than ever and i refuse to play.