Boards›Player Behavior

Is Toxicity really that big of a problem?

Hirai Alizarin·4/15/2019, 1:28:43 PM·1 votes·2,416 views

I'm perma banned, I'm going to start off by admitting that. But I've also played concurrently on this account since pre-season 2 up until March when I was banned on it this year. Players have always been insanely toxic, and I reckon they always will be. Honestly for the past two years, I wanted a way to just remove the entire chat box, ping, and emote system from my game entirely. There has never been any merit to communication with my teammates, and flaming has always been immensely infuriating and stressful when you essentially have the Riot team looking down on you and saying, "Turn the other cheek." Should we really be expected to just take all the flaming we're given and say nothing back? Is that realistic or even fair to players? I don't really think so, the last two seasons I've struggled to enjoy the game or even reach over honor 2, because I yell back. Additionally now even your ranked rewards are tied to honor, which is so immensely dumb in my opinion. But if that's their choice, then fine. Riot doesn't support 90% of the behavior that happens in League matches, but who takes the real brunt of bans is usually one person from that game even if all 9 are just as bad. The reason for that being that the report system doesn't look at what caused someone to flame, just whether or not they did. I think four of your teammates screaming at you, shitting on your verbally constantly, and trolling you conjointly is an understandable reason to be beyond reason and lose your shit. Riot disagrees with this notion, they think every player should be so happy and joyful that even the negativity of their combined state shouldn't pull them down, and frankly I find this unrealistic and even childish if I'm being honest. This combined with the changes they made this season to ranked, and what feels like an ever further gap between the balancing team and the community, I can't help but think toxicity is Riot's fault more than it is on anyone else, and the emote and ping system don't help with this problem of toxicity at all, but rather just compound the problem.

29 Comments

GatekeeperTDS4/15/2019, 2:07:19 PM5 votes

Players have always been insanely toxic

Not all players. To go against the constant rhetoric here, most people I encounter are either not toxic or neutral (silent).

There has never been any merit to communication with my teammates

Because, as your permabanned accounts show, you aren't using the chat for the intended purpose - to have positive communication.

when you essentially have the Riot team looking down on you and saying, "Turn the other cheek."

This is not just Riot - this is a social norm. Look, I get that the added anonymity of a video game makes it easy to forget this - but if you fight with someone in a bar you're getting your ass bounced regardless of who started it. If you have a screaming match with someone at work, you're both getting disciplined regardless of who started it. Don't escalate situations where it won't benefit you.

Riot doesn't support 90% of the behavior that happens in League matches

You're right. They support nearly 100% of the behavior in League matches, because nearly 100% of the behavior in League matches is by positive players who have never been punished AT ALL. The vast majority of players do not flame their teammates or exhibit toxic behavior.

they think every player should be so happy and joyful

No. They expect you to act appropriately, which is to ignore the horseshit. If you can't ignore the horseshit in a video game, that's on you. "Happy" and "Angry" aren't the only two choices here on the scale. Riot wants you to be Neutral or better.

It really does help to say to yourself, "What would I do in a situation in real life where someone was pissing me off and there are consequences if I retaliate." There have been quite a few times in my adult life where I've wanted to fire off an e-mail to a colleague giving them a piece of my mind for their shit attitude - but that's not my place and can jeopardize my livelihood, so I stop and don't goddamn do it. League doesn't have to be different.

R107 Games4/15/2019, 1:41:11 PM3 votes

Is Toxicity really that big of a problem?

Not really; I'm sure most of the playerbase has caught on the existence of the mute feature, or the fact that the person flaming you is a stranger online that you shouldn't be caring about.

It's mostly just sensetive people that care about toxicity

Oleandervine4/15/2019, 3:21:23 PM2 votes

Yes, toxicity is a problem. A huge problem. I've witnessed a jungler who made a bad play that others didn't respond to have a nuclear meltdown and singlehandedly starting a massive amount of infighting in the team - WHEN WE WERE FUCKING WINNING. We had all of their towers, we had all of the dragons, we had more kills, but because he turned into the most inflamed asshole that not even Preparation H will soothe, his little rage fit caused our team to fall apart at the seams. That's not ok. Toxicity like that is contagious, and when people say things back to someone who's having a shitfit, it makes the situation 1000x worse, and what should have a been a minor set back is now a major clusterfuck because the entire team isn't focused anymore and two or three people are spending too much time having a big dick contest that they can't pull out the win that was practically handed to us on a platter. All of that because a jungler started to rage and because people retorted with the same.

So yes, muting them and "turning the other cheek" is the best approach to this. It promotes civility and keeps the game on course.

Ph03n1xb1rd4/15/2019, 3:14:25 PM1 votes

Have you tried muting them tho? You know when 4 people are flaming you, but they are muted, you don't see it.

"Turn the other cheek."

No, Rito says that you should just not care about them, which is pretty easy with the mute button.

Hirai Alizarin4/15/2019, 1:44:34 PM1 votes

I understand sensitivity, but in that same vein banning players for being toxic feels a bit dumb if I'm being honest. Muting exist to protect players, yet the people who complain most about toxicity can't handle muting. It's even worse when the person who reports you is on the other end of a flaming battle where if I'd reported them they'd have been penalized alongside me.

TheXXXorcist4/15/2019, 5:11:22 PM1 votes

Yeah,......mute everything works really well for flaming and harassing. That's best my friend. For those who intentionally feed and throw the match..there's currently little to nothing available to stop them.

Telephone Booth4/15/2019, 9:46:25 PM1 votes

No, its not. It just depends on your perspective. To you, perhaps, it is a huge deal, because you got banned for it. To me, its a complete non-issue.

Hirai Alizarin4/16/2019, 8:24:59 AM1 votes

I do mute every game from the start now. I don't really have any interest in what people say. Most people have nothing to say, and just ignore chat or completely avoid it. There's a big difference between chat and a bar, you're only ever expected to be beyond reason in a bar, every person there is drinking alcohol. League games I've responded to toxicity, and though I do eventually mute, of course I say stuff before I mute, and even after I mute. I just don't see a reason to be nice to people who flame. I don't think toxicity alone should be the measure for penalty, at least not to the standard we hold it too. League is all around insanely toxic, and racial slurs, insanely offensive things that are trans-phobic or homophobic, should always be penalized, but I don't really think the rest of it should matter. Trolling is trolling, everyone hates trolling and that should also always be penalized. But calling people morons or idiots in any form isn't really something I think merits that.

Hirai Alizarin7/15/2019, 1:44:48 PM1 votes

It's a bit late for me to reply on this, but the reason I can't mute, is because frankly it's not fair. You can mute when someone abuses you, but then what? That's why people quit the game, how are you supposed to take that abuse and give nothing back? How is that fair to any player, to tell them, "yeah is someone calls a you down syndrome %%%%%% r%%%%%" you just have to mute them and take that abuse. Frankly, I just want my chat on the game completely removed, and I don't want players to even have the option of sending me a friend request. That's honestly how bad this games community is, when you call one thing toxic, people just find a new way to be toxic, and the toxicity used to be blatant and common, but it wasn't shit like it is now. Mastery Spam, emotes, pings, and before you mute them, you always take some form of abuse. And your guys solution, Riots solution, is that we just have to take it. And for what? What is the reward for taking? You don't get a penalty.