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Permabans are the reason this game is so toxic...

L e e r a·7/17/2019, 5:17:04 PM·2 votes·2,412 views

I think permabans need a better solution. Perhaps maybe have an option to permaban someone’s chat restriction so they can’t say bad things anymore. I can’t believe how incredibly toxic this game has become. Sure, competitive gaming has always been toxic, but I can’t seem to play a single game anymore without toxicity in the game. And being in Silver is a joke because EVERYONE is a smurf.

My friends get permabanned because they say cuss words. Yet there’s all these players who actually script and cheat in the game. And they still play on multiple accounts.

Permaban is obviously not a good solution, if it was, the games would be less toxic and it’s not. It’s worse now than it ever was. New players are not playing league of legends. It’s all old players making multiple accounts. On average, I get about 1 every 10 players, who is extremely toxic, rages, and then when you threaten to report them they say, “rofl this is my 5th acc. as if i give a fuck.”

I really think the better idea is to IP ban or chat restrict forever so these players stop making new accounts and making it harder for low levels.

9 Comments

Umbral Regent7/17/2019, 5:43:25 PM7 votes

Permabans are the reason this game is so toxic...

I sincerely doubt it. With toxicity being a problem in games that are more lenient with punishments/permabans (WoW, SMITE, etc.), you'd have to have a hell of a lot of evidence to support the argument that permabans are the reason that League is toxic.

Perhaps maybe have an option to permaban someone’s chat restriction so they can’t say bad things anymore.

Riot has tried what amounted to permanent chat restrictions before; moreover, indefinitely scaling chat restrictions. People under these longer-scale restrictions either used all of their allotted chat for extreme toxicity, or resorted to trolling or intentionally feeding because they couldn't say bad things anymore.

And I genuinely doubt you'd want to risk an uptick in trolling/feeding cases just to spare a scant few toxic players from being permanently banned.

My friends get permabanned because they say cuss words.

Correction; your friends got permabanned because they harassed and flamed and were generally toxic. Swearing is fine; leveling swears at other players isn't. It's the difference between "aw fuck, that went bad" and "you fucking piece of shit".

Yet there’s all these players who actually script and cheat in the game. And they still play on multiple accounts.

Scripts and cheaters are typically punished in vast ban-waves so that the people who make those scripts/cheats can't figure out what tripped the detection system. Keep an eye on the PB board long enough, and you'll typically see the aftereffects of a ban wave.

Regardless; other people breaking the rules is not a valid excuse for anyone to go breaking the rules themselves. Unless you can find a clause in the ToU that says something along the lines of "the presence of these rules is void if found and proven to be broken by another player first".

Permaban is obviously not a good solution, if it was, the games would be less toxic and it’s not. It’s worse now than it ever was.

I've frankly seen toxicity decline over the past few years. I don't know about you, but League used to be downright awful a few years ago, and now it's tolerable. There's still of course ample toxicity, which sucks, but that's doubtless because of a slew of issues, rather than it being because Riot permabans accounts.

I really think the better idea is to IP ban or chat restrict forever so these players stop making new accounts and making it harder for low levels.

Neither of those solutions would work - as mentioned before, permanent chat restrictions would just result in more trolls and intentional feeders, whereas IP bans are easily circumvented, and they could cause serious collateral damage considering shared networking spaces (like college dormitories, internet cafe's, etc.)

R107 Games7/17/2019, 5:22:02 PM2 votes

Better solutions:

  • After a permaban the account is unbanned after 1 year, but the IFS is strict and one punishment will lead to an actual permaban.

  • Bans and chat restrictions should be exclusive to the offense; only chat restrictions for chat related offenses and bans for gameplay related offenses

Imperial Pandaa7/17/2019, 5:34:50 PM2 votes

Considering you can actually opt completely out of game chat now, we shall wait and see. You still have to deal with lobby chat though.

New players do actually still make accounts. My buddy just started to play couple weeks ago. Sure, that is anecdotal evidence but it shows there are still new people joining.

What would not permabanning do? It wouldn't change the toxicity level. People would flame without consequence.

IP bans are stupid, useless, and cause collateral damage. Dorms and computer cafes get hurt while people can just change their IP. Forever chat restricts used to be a thing, but apparently it just led to more people trolling.

Agent Corgi7/17/2019, 5:39:48 PM1 votes

Funny that you mentioned the option of permanently muting one's chat, they added a way to Turn Off Allied Chat in Patch [9.14]. It removes the ability to both see your Ally chat feed & the ability to respond to it.

However the way Permaban's are handled isnt going to change. There will always be that ONE guy who is going to keep Allied Chat on & is going to be a turd in chat for whatever reason (Calling people out, "Defending themselves", treating teammates like trash, etc.)

Permabans for Toxic Chat aren't going to change, but the Allied Chat Removal might actually go a long way to alleviate the problem with toxic chat.

Aladoron7/19/2019, 2:03:44 PM1 votes

Perhaps maybe have an option to permaban someone’s chat

Rito fanbois: "PeOpLe WhO hAs PeRmAnEnT cHaT bAnS wIlL tUrN iNtO mInDlEsS fEeDeRs SiNcE tHaTs ThE oNlY wAy FoR tHeM tO rUiN tHe GaMe!"

So while permanent chat bans are a good and totally sane idea, Rito won't do it....

ModPrandine7/19/2019, 2:13:39 PM1 votes

From Riot Tantram:

It really breaks down into two categories.

1.) Helping players reform 2.) Shielding others from the behavior, at a cost.

We used to issue chat restrictions that essentially scaled indefinitely.

We were able to determine that after a certain point the penalty no longer helped with reform. The 10-game and 25-game counts for chat restrictions are based on data that they were both light enough, and felt strict enough to encourage people to understand their behavior is unacceptable in game and change it.

We also saw that the players in this 'large restriction' category defaulted to gameplay altering means of harassing their team. It caused an increase in feeding and trolling.

The sample size of this population and time frame is huge. Essentially the time spanning from the introduction of chat restrictions to the introduction of IFS.

So my question for you is, would you rather have more feeders and less negative chat?

This was just with infinite chat restrictions, so if it didn't work with those then it stands to reason that it wouldn't work with actual permamutes either.