I wouldn't consider it bait. It could be said that, in general, there isn't exactly a whole lot of clarity or communication as to what Riot considers to be "Competitive BS'ing" and what they consider over the line, but, in my honest opinion, it's less of a lack of communication on Riot's part, and more an inability on the playerbase's part to understand the line separating competitive BS and senseless shit-talk.
And, I say this largely due to a fair enough number of punished players I've talked to here on the boards (even some non-punished players trying to speak in defense of those getting punished) genuinely have no clue what "banter" is. I don't know where it started (I'm gonna guess Tyler1? I dunno.) but for whatever reason, toxic folks try to pass off their toxicity as "just banter".
And I've seen plenty of straight-up shit-talk get the "banter" label slapped onto it as a cheap defense. For those wondering, this is the definition of "banter":
Banter
noun
- the playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks
verb
- talk or exchange remarks in a good-humored teasing way.
And that was hardly even a quick Google search away. And yet I've still seen people try to pass off blatant insults and attacks against people as "banter". "you're trash", "worst (x champion) NA", etc.
Beyond that, though, there's also the fact that people even try to raise "competitive nature" as an excuse for toxicity. "if someone's passionate about the game, they're bound to get frustrated and explode on someone", "shit talk is just part of competition", and so on. And it's even more ridiculous when they raise arguments such as "if E-sports are ever going to be considered a real sport, they need to stop the chat policing and let people trash talk each other".
As though vulgar and senseless vitriol go hand-in-hand with competitive spirit.
(it doesn't.)
So, on top of people generally not understanding the difference between "banter" and "shit talk", we also have people who act like competition is supposed to be a vitriolic, hateful, spit-in-your-face kind of affair, and can't possibly fathom a world in which competition involves peaceable respect and dignity.
(fun fact, the original Olympic Games were held in an armistice, with people from everywhere putting their wars and negotiations on hold to watch the splendor of athletes playing games of skill with one another. And the Olympic Games were and, inarguably, still are, competitions. But people respected the games, regardless. No vitriol, no shit-talk, no senseless vulgarity, etc.)
So, to wrap this up: I don't think for a second that the loading screen tip about Competitive BS'ing would be bait. Sure, Riot would be glad to weed out people who don't understand what Competitive BS'ing is, but the concept of trying to trick people with a misleading loading screen tip is pretty low, so I doubt they'd even consider that.
One could argue that Riot should provide more clarity on their definition of Competitive BS'ing (rather than expect players to figure out what's in line with their interpretations of the rules), but, on the other hand, I can also say that the community in general should probably make the effort to mature a bit first and realize that shit talk and banter are two different things, and that competition and vitriol aren't as closely related as they think.
