Reformed Players Ask Riot, How You Like Me Now?

Welcome to Ask Riot.

This is a space where we focus on your questions and give you answers.

Dealing with reformed players, club sizes, and Championship Riven are on the menu this week.

Have a question (or two...hundred) yourself? Head over Ask Riot and sign into your League account. Check out the Do’s, the Don'ts, and then ask us something. We’ll archive the answers once we’ve accumulated a few of them.

Ask Riot

We’re committed to reading every question but can’t guarantee we’ll answer them all.

“Okay, why not?”

Some questions may already be answered elsewhere or won’t be right for Ask Riot. For example, we won’t typically be launching new products or features here or talking about issues we’ve already gone into more depth elsewhere (but we can clarify individual points!). Even if your question isn’t the one being answered, we’re listening, and we’ll be sharing your questions with the Rioters who are working directly on the things you’re curious about.

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Are you going to increase the club size cap?

We imagine hitting the club size cap can be pretty rough for large communities, like university clubs that want to include all members. We do have plans to raise the limit, but for now we’ve prioritized making clubs accessible across all of League.

Now that we have basic clubs available in the client we want to make sure you have access to this feature no matter where you are. So we’re working to put it in into the new client and the League Friends app ahead of feature improvements. Moving to the new platforms means translating it to a completely new tech and experience. Club chat can’t be exactly the same on your phone as it is in the client so we’ve had to do work to port this feature over in a quality way to the new platform.

Once we’ve got clubs in all the places, we’re gonna shift back to improving the overall feature, and that includes doubling the member cap to around 100. We will continue to look at the club cap to see if it meets player needs.

– Riot Martlet

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For Player Support: How is it dealing with toxic players on a daily basis?

To be honest, it’s not always easy. Sometimes, it’s very difficult and emotionally draining - nobody reacts great when given harsh feedback or punishments, at least not at first. Can you imagine being very passionate about something, and then suddenly being told you are doing it wrong, and you are no longer allowed to do that thing? Well… doesn’t sound pleasant, does it?

It’s most difficult when a player is so furious at you, at the system, at their teammates, that it feels like there’s no getting through to them on why what they did was wrong. The conversation becomes a tricky situation where someone is upset at you, blaming others for every outcome, ignoring what role they played in things. No matter what happened, you and only you are responsible for your reactions to the circumstances, regardless of how unpleasant they can be. Nobody wins a flame war, and if someone can’t accept responsibility for a pattern of negativity, it’s hard to go from there. I try to remember that sometimes, people just need to vent. And it’s very rewarding when you do connect with someone and help them find a plan to succeed.

What’s both fascinating and concerning to me is how relatable the frustration can be. Nobody is immune to tilt from flamers, feeders, or AFKs, and recognizing that truth is important when telling someone not to fight fire with fire. Turning those real, raw emotions into something positive that doesn’t harm the experience for nine others is a strange, and awesome daily perk.

League is a competitive game, which means it can also be stressful. We’re aware of that stress and recognize it’s part of the experience. That’s why we continuously try to improve it. But we also know letting that stress give way to negativity, verbal abuse, flaming… win or lose, it’s never OK. I’ve personally stopped playing games I loved because of their communities, and so have very good friends of mine, and that just sucks. Rioters love gaming, and we all love League. We don’t want to say “Oh, that’s just gaming culture, get a thick skin.” We are part of the community, and we want to see it thrive; we want to log in and have an incredible time with everyone else.

And that’s why we come to work and tackle the sometimes complicated and emotionally draining experience of dealing with negative behavior. Every time we see the “(I’m a reformed player)” achievement unlock, just like you mentioned in your question, I want to yell: F*$# YEAH! Because even though, as I’ve mentioned, we don’t want this to be part of the experience, we know that it happens anyway. And when someone is reformed, it means another player will still be able to enjoy the game they’re passionate about, and we’re building an even more awesome community. ;)

– Profeta and Westbroke

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Will you ever bring back Championship Riven?

Yes, we are working on a plan to bring Championship Riven back for Worlds this year.

Specifically, we are looking for a solution that satisfies both existing owners and players who love the skin but were unable to get it the first time around. This is tricky because while players love the skin for the content, while others value it more because she’s rare.

We've discussed a handful of options but haven't settled on one. Would love to hear your ideas and feedback on what solutions could work for both groups.

– Riot BuboBubo

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