My Thoughts on Reformation

Reaper Review··10 votes·1,588 views

(Foreword: This isn't about the still-vague system Riot uses to determine eligibility for Hextech Crafting, but it could prove useful to people looking to get back into that game. This is about general reform, and improvement not just of individual players, but of the players they meet as well.)

When someone thinks of reforming, they might think of putting on a happy face and just taking whatever other people say. That's only partially right. Reformation is about looking at what bothers you, and coming to terms with how to remedy or avoid it in a productive manner. Show that you've learned not merely how to ignore the problem, but also how to chip away at it elsewhere.

If teammates are arguing over something or other, let them know that they're only hurting their own chance to win the game by doing so. If this doesn't convince them, don't press the issue any further or you'll just be falling into the trap. If you happen to lose the game in question, rather than let it get to you, take pride in the fact that you did what you could and that those players lost to both the enemy team AND themselves. If you win, be sure to let them know that future wins would come easier without pointless arguing.

If you don't say anything factually demeaning or personally offensive, you don't need to worry about reports. Being reported for "constructive criticism" will hold little weight, and if you somehow DID get into trouble, that's what chat logs are for. In that sense, the report system is like a sharp object. It does useful things when used properly, but you won't get much use out of it if you're too paranoid about it cutting you.

If you find yourself with a ban, use that time to think of productive and unobtrusive ways to combat the problem rather than spending days/weeks griping about "that player" or "that team". You're not doing yourself any favors and defeating the entire purpose of the ban if you dwell on the negative.

Obviously, just one person doing this doesn't make much of a difference. However, one bolt doesn't make a working machine either. The more people that get in on it, the more bolts you have towards that working machine. It's a slow process, and you don't know for sure if it'll work out in the end, but it's better to move forward than to go nowhere or even backward.

Humans are a social species that thrives on interaction and building off of one another. Don't let this game take that away.

20 Comments

3rd Age3 votes

everything i agree with heavily

but it's hard to control your emotions when failing to obtain the goal of ranked gameplay (lp) while teammates are bashing you. takes a lot of experience to grow that thick skin

Reaper Review3 votes

[{quoted}](name=3rd Age,realm=EUW,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=yoriUqxk,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-03-25T08:48:48.342+0000)

everything i agree with heavily

but it's hard to control your emotions when failing to obtain the goal of ranked gameplay (lp) while teammates are bashing you. takes a lot of experience to grow that thick skin

One of the goals of ranked gameplay is showing your personal ability (this is part of the reason people want Solo Queue back, after all). The way I see it, handing adverse situations in the game like this falls under "personal ability", and working towards it is much the same as improving your play.

Every sport has a mental aspect to it, and for a game like League, that includes knowing how to keep your emotions in check.

Ada Wong3 votes

Good Luck with players reforming a perfect example.

Have to play mid vs a counter, instead of waiting till 6 like players said to do in chat "Amumu" Runs in my lane doesn't follow the 3 second gank rule stands there watches me die does nothing gives the enemy team Red/Blue buff completely ruins the lane phase.

To make things worse his pre-made troll friend Teemo comes mid in an (Unapproved Lane Swap) Starts taking all the Farm/CS completely ruins game.

All they can do is argue the entire game about it and refuse to listen that they were the problem in the game so only choice /mute all

End Game they still didn't learn their lesson and continued to harassment/troll chat?

Good Luck reforming the said players if they aren't going to accept responsibility for fucking up something in the game good luck reform them.

Reaper Review2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ada Wong,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=yoriUqxk,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2016-03-26T00:26:40.094+0000)

Good Luck with players reforming a perfect example.

Have to play mid vs a counter, instead of waiting till 6 like players said to do in chat "Amumu" Runs in my lane doesn't follow the 3 second gank rule stands there watches me die does nothing gives the enemy team Red/Blue buff completely ruins the lane phase.

To make things worse his pre-made troll friend Teemo comes mid in an (Unapproved Lane Swap) Starts taking all the Farm/CS completely ruins game.

All they can do is argue the entire game about it and refuse to listen that they were the problem in the game so only choice /mute all

End Game they still didn't learn their lesson and continued to harassment/troll chat?

Good Luck reforming the said players if they aren't going to accept responsibility for fucking up something in the game good luck reform them.

If other people don't want to reform, you really can't force them to. What's important is that you don't let such people drag you down to their level. Isn't it already enough that they messed up your game, why let them mess you up too?

Sorry if I come off as a bit of an optimist. I was able to start reforming myself, though, and I'm convinced most anyone CAN do it if someone as stubborn and self-deprecating as I am can.

Vistha Kai2 votes

It'd be great if that's how it actually worked.

Reformation in practice makes as much sense as getting S rank for 6/5/0 Darius game with 12% kill contribution.

Until somewhen mid-last year I've been chat restricted for 16 months straight. I went through all phases of possible behaviors with 2-3 months for one type of it and none of it mattered.

When after like 3 months of pleading in the Player Support for even one chat log, I laughed at what they showed me. I basically had one of my restrictions justified for saying something like "Playing melee aganist Annie is bullshit".

In the end I had my restrictions lifted for being sarcasting, rude prick with no regards for anybody in the game, since being positive, kind, helpful and never picking or continuing a fight for 150 games only earned me a 625-games long punishment.

Reaper Review2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Vistha Kai,realm=EUNE,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=yoriUqxk,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2016-03-25T15:33:33.266+0000)

It'd be great if that's how it actually worked.

Reformation in practice makes as much sense as getting S rank for 6/5/0 Darius game with 12% kill contribution.

I've been until somwhere mid-last years I've been chat restricted for 16 months straight. I went through all phases of possible behaviors with 2-3 months for one type of behavior and none of it mattered.

When after like 3 months of pleading in the Player Support for even one chat log, I laughed at what they showed me. I basically had one of my restrictions justified for saying something like "Playing melee aganist Annie is bullshit".

In the end I had my restrictions lifted for being sarcasting, rude prick with no regards for anybody in the game, since being positive for 150 games only earned me a 625-games long punishment.

Didn't they completely remove that chat restriction system because it wasn't working at all?

Vistha Kai2 votes

I'll tell you how it's been since the very beginning of that system.

When it was released the first thing that happened was a great number of people previously with at least acceptable behavior being outright restricted. The best part of it was that restrictions were overlapping and/or replacing each other at the rate of 5 changes per hour. I think I still have a picture after opening the game with "You got 49 games left" in the background, "You were restricted for 2 games" as a pop-up and after playing one game "You have 1 game left" in the background and "You were restricted for 30 games" as a pop-up. It took Mr. Jeffrey Lin quite some time to fix it, at which point people started getting piled up restrictions up to even a few thousand of games. My personal record was 625 games. Then after nearly a year and a half - about 2-3 months after I somehow managed to not receive another bullshit for a restriction - the system was again changed.

This time it's, I believe 5->10->25 games chat restrictions, then 7 day ban, then 14 ban and finally a permanent ban. According to sources on the Boards rarely anybody goes through even half of them, some people even getting outright perm.

I'm just fucking glad, my case broke the system and had my account cleared, before it was updated to the current state. Maximum of 6 offenses before permanent ban? Ha, I got like 20 chat restrictions durning the first week, thankyouverymuch.

Reaper Review2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Vistha Kai,realm=EUNE,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=yoriUqxk,comment-id=000200000000,timestamp=2016-03-25T15:54:21.279+0000)

I'll tell you how it's been since the very beginning of that system.

When it was released the first thing that happened was a great number of people previously with at least acceptable behavior being outright restricted. The best part of it was that restrictions were overlapping and/or replacing each other at the rate of 5 changes per hour. I think I still have a picture after opening the game with "You got 49 games left" in the background, "You were restricted for 2 games" as a pop-up and after playing one game "You have 1 game left" in the background and "You were restricted for 30 games" as a pop-up. It took Mr. Jeffrey Lin quite some time to fix it, at which point people started getting piled up restrictions up to even a few thousand of games. My personal record was 625 games. Then after nearly a year and a half - about 2-3 months after I somehow managed to not receive another bullshit for a restriction - the system was again changed.

This time it's, I believe 5->10->25 games chat restrictions, then 7 day ban, then 14 ban and finally a permanent ban. According to sources on the Boards rarely anybody goes through even half of them, some people even getting outright perm.

I'm just fucking glad, my case broke the system and had my account cleared, before it was updated to the current state. Maximum of 6 offenses before permanent ban? Ha, I got like 20 chat restrictions durning the first week, thankyouverymuch.

I've seen the silliness the old system caused, yeah. Kinda hard not to if you paid any attention to this game's social media. I wasn't affected by it too much, though. It was only afterward that I ran into the problem that eventually got me perma'd. (Though I'm not sure I did all the steps in order. I know I had a 1 or 2-week ban back during the Bilgewater event, then last month I got my perma. My support ticket told me it was final, though, so I don't want to press the issue any further. Considering the things I had said, though, I don't have much of a leg to stand on in my defense anyway.)

Thanks for sharing your insight, though.

USMC81C2 votes

Riot's biggest problems remain lack of clarifications and a lack of understanding of why their game stands out among many for problems with hateful, trolling, spiteful,etc people. Hopefully season 7 is the season people finally start to see a change in that.

Reaper Review1 votes

{quoted}

Riot's biggest problems remain lack of clarifications and a lack of understanding of why their game stands out among many for problems with hateful, trolling, spiteful,etc people. Hopefully season 7 is the season people finally start to see a change in that.

It's not an easy problem to fix, really. It's mainly due to how huge and diverse this game's playerbase is.

The best you can realistically manage in the meantime is to get more people to set a decent example.

USMC81C2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Reaper Review,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=yoriUqxk,comment-id=00050000,timestamp=2016-03-26T03:16:04.081+0000)

It's not an easy problem to fix, really. It's mainly due to how huge and diverse this game's playerbase is.

The best you can realistically manage in the meantime is to get more people to set a decent example.

Just because it's a big problem doesn't mean that Riot has approached it the right way.

PijemSamoVodku1 votes

I have been semi-toxic since I started playing 4 years ago, and I finally got banned in january. Since then I decided to stop and reform, and I havent been flaming for 2 months AND IT FEELS GREAT ! And then WTF RIOT?? I get no skins? I am extremely poor and I could never afford even the cheapest of skins, and now I get nothing even after reforming. It really feels bad. Do you know if I will ever be able to get the crates, like ever ?

Reaper Review3 votes

{quoted}

I have been semi-toxic since I started playing 4 years ago, and I finally got banned in january. Since then I decided to stop and reform, and I havent been flaming for 2 months AND IT FEELS GREAT ! And then WTF RIOT?? I get no skins? I am extremely poor and I could never afford even the cheapest of skins, and now I get nothing even after reforming. It really feels bad. Do you know if I will ever be able to get the crates, like ever ?

As long as you're not permanently banned, you CAN start to earn hextech chests again. It might take a while, but it CAN be done. The most important thing is that you have reformed, then be sure to stay that way. Last I knew, Riot was working on a way to display players' progress towards being able to earn chests again.

It might seem discouraging to not have a set time-frame, but you gain nothing by just abandoning your reform either.

PijemSamoVodku1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Reaper Review,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=yoriUqxk,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2016-03-25T15:03:58.489+0000)

As long as you're not permanently banned, you CAN start to earn hextech chests again. It might take a while, but it CAN be done. The most important thing is that you have reformed, then be sure to stay that way. Last I knew, Riot was working on a way to display players' progress towards being able to earn chests again.

It might seem discouraging to not have a set time-frame, but you gain nothing by just abandoning your reform either.

I got banned for 14 days which ended on 3. of February, since then I have reformed and have flamed perhaps ONCE in few hundred games which is extreme improvement since I used to flame in 90% of losing game. But if I have to wait for all my ban steps to go backwards, I would have to wait 7 more months which is the same as waiting for season 7 and just getting the crates anyway. I really hope it will happen faster and that RIOT will see my improvement... :(

Reaper Review2 votes

{quoted}

I got banned for 14 days which ended on 3. of February, since then I have reformed and have flamed perhaps ONCE in few hundred games which is extreme improvement since I used to flame in 90% of losing game. But if I have to wait for all my ban steps to go backwards, I would have to wait 7 more months which is the same as waiting for season 7 and just getting the crates anyway. I really hope it will happen faster and that RIOT will see my improvement... :(

Let me ask you this. Since you've reformed, have you found the game more fun to play? If you have, then that should be good enough for the time being.

Also, unless you're getting tons of S ranks or actually buying a lot of boxes, you actually don't get THAT much content from hextech crafting. I think some people who don't plan to spend money on it slightly overrate the feature, TBH.

0f04J0X1YO1 votes

Ive gotten 5 S rank games in a row that I didnt get loot for, if anything it makes me more prone to tilt and in game rage to miss out on the rewards for my excellent performance.

Reaper Review1 votes

Something else to add.

If you think a player is intentionally doing badly to try and provoke you, don't fall for it. If you do, you're just giving them what they want. Even if you end up losing that game, trying to chew them out will only get you a pyrrhic victory at best.

Just ignore them, do the best you can, then report them after the game. Even if you don't think it'll do anything, it's still objectively the best answer to the situation.

0f04J0X1YO1 votes

"Just ignore them, do the best you can, then waste your time because the report system is worthless unless they curse at you them after the game. Even if you know it won't do anything, it's still objectively the best answer to the situation because to do anything to express your frustration can only result in Riot punishing you. "

Fixed.

Remlap12231 votes

I'll just be blunt. Riot doesn't want players to reform. I'm being dead serious. In the company's twisted monetary scheme, they'd much rather bar toxic players from ever getting chests (good luck squeezing what "reform" is from a "player behavioral specialist") so they can be FORCED to spend money on an account that they'll just ban and hope they make a new one. Nevermind that this is 99% of why the new player experience is dogshit, and that they're losing probably millions in the long term.

Before you call me a tinfoil hat wearer, answer me this. What game besides Call of Duty and the other "dewbros" games have a toxicity level on par with League? Smite doesn't have it. DOTA doesn't have it. So why does Riot have it? Because they want it to be. It's an extremely easy fix, but it isn't in their business venture.

Reaper Review1 votes

{quoted}

I'll just be blunt. Riot doesn't want players to reform. I'm being dead serious. In the company's twisted monetary scheme, they'd much rather bar toxic players from ever getting chests (good luck squeezing what "reform" is from a "player behavioral specialist") so they can be FORCED to spend money on an account that they'll just ban and hope they make a new one. Nevermind that this is 99% of why the new player experience is dogshit, and that they're losing probably millions in the long term.

Before you call me a tinfoil hat wearer, answer me this. What game besides Call of Duty and the other "dewbros" games have a toxicity level on par with League? Smite doesn't have it. DOTA doesn't have it. So why does Riot have it? Because they want it to be. It's an extremely easy fix, but it isn't in their business venture.

The reason I'm here passing along wisdom instead of just playing a new account is for almost this exact reason. Trying to make an account fun (not just playable, but actually fun TO play) takes far too much grinding. Want to play with my friends again? Oh, their normal MMR is fairly high, so I'll need a bunch of champs and runes just to stack up again. I'd be looking at probably over a year of grinding (mostly by myself) because I don't marathon the game, I just play in short intervals. That would likely end up getting me banned again anyway since trying to do everything myself is WHY I got banned in the first place.

I digress, though. The business model does have some unsavory angles to it, but trying to use my ban to call them on it is kinda dumb.

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