Game news Toxic League of Legends players finally really punished?
When we talk about League of Legends, we are obviously talking about these intense professional matches and these stadiums full of fervor. But Riot must also constantly fight against toxic players, and a new measure could have a huge impact!
Riot on deck to fight toxic behavior in LoL
League of Legends no longer has anything to prove to anyone. Over the years, the moba has become one of the symbols of esports, and we no longer count the number of articles or reports dedicated to the Worlds, to the LFL or to other major leagues. It must be said that the game and the competitions generate a lot of enthusiasm around the world. But Riot, along with the players, has long had to deal with toxic players. League of Legends of course knows the lot of many online games, but the important presence of these players who insult, troll, leave games or threaten others cannot be denied on League of Legends.
Developers at Riot have been tackling the problem for years, increasing progressive sanctions at various levels. Penalties for toxic behavior are usually divided into tiers, which range from chat restrictions to temporary or permanent account suspension. Of course, the seriousness of the situation can lead to a heavy and immediate sanction. At the same time, Riot has implemented detection toolswhich should make it possible to intervene quickly and limit the number of reports to be processed.
But overall, players continue to complain a lot about the presence of these toxic players, so Riot is innovating. In April, the studio made the reporting process much easier by adding an option allowing to report a player from the history Parties. At the end of 2022, a text analysis tool mby machine learning was introduced, and it seems to give good results, with 15 times more offensive messages detected. Additionally, the auto-mute feature seems to provide some peace of mind in game chat.
Toxic players soon “deprived of dessert”
Taking all this into account, Riot believes that the processing time has been significantly reduced, but that there is still a lot to be done. And one of the next measures that will be introduced is going to cause a stir! Indeed, Riot simply plans to sanction toxic players by depriving them of ranked matches. Players who have received a sanction for sabotage, game abandonment or posting serious messages in the chat will no longer be able to enter the queue and will have to make do with other modes to regain their privileges. At this announcement, the players reacted quickly, indicating that they did not want to end up with pissed outcasts who will ruin their game. To this, Riot responds:
It might be feared that this measure would only move troublesome players into other modes, but we believe that the particular environment of ranked games considerably increases the risk of infringement. Moreover, this restriction is in addition to the sanctions already in place. Players who behave badly on a regular basis could therefore see their account banned from all modes without distinction for a time. We will monitor the atmosphere of the other queues to verify that it does not deteriorate significantly after the implementation of these sanctions.
In other words, Riot thinks that the majority of toxic players will force themselves to play and behave properly to regain access as soon as possible in ranked matches. As for foul play, it has not been forgotten and will be the subject of new measures, but Riot does not seem ready to talk about it yet. For the rest, Riot plans to continue improving existing tools and undertakes to respond ever more effectively to the requests and concerns of players.
