To many players,League of Legendscan be a polarizing experience. For every veteran of several seasons or newcomer starting out, there’s anotherplayer that exhibits toxic behaviorduring a match. Over the past few years, however, a growing portion of theLeaguecommunity has started to act this way, negatively impacting solo queue without receiving any punishment. As such, many figureheads in the community have voiced their thoughts about how this affects the state of the game.
The latest person to join in disapproval is Voyboy, a popularLoLstreamer and former LCS pro. Known for his positive attitude and patience since the early days ofLeague, Voyboy revealed his current disappointment with the game after being repeatedly targeted by trolls andtoxic individualsthat sabotaged his matches or harassed him in-chat and got away with it. Voyboy’s video has resonated with most players who feel the same way, leaving Riot to find solutions that deal with the growing toxicity.
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After acknowledging Voyboy’s message last week, RiotMeddler posted a summary of upcoming steps that will be taken to address game ruining behavior. To start, anotheroverhaul to the reporting systemwill have a trial run in NA, before rolling out to the other regions in several weeks. Previously, players would only receive a notification that a toxic user was punished if their report was the final one of that type that triggered the system, leaving most to feel that their actions didn’t matter. The new system, however, will notify everyone if a punishment is issued regardless of the report category within the individual’s next few games.
Additionally, behavior during champion select is something that will be addressed in the short term. During late Q2, players will be able to report and mutetoxic members of the communityduring champ select. The initial reports will be used to create a foundation of different types of champ select behavior before implementing a punishment system for what is unacceptable.
Once those changes are in place, Riot will reevaluate the previous stance on automated detection of toxic behavior in-game, like thework it is doing forValorant. Historically the system wasn’t used since some players could be falsely banned. But currently, controlling self-sabotage and subtle toxicity is more important than ever, so a compromise of some incorrect bans depending on community reception will be noted.
While Riot is still thinking of long-term plans, Meddler will provide another update by next month once some of the current fixes are implemented or ready to go out. Furthermore, Voyboy also posted another video in response to the previous one, asking the community to do their part to promote positive behavior in the meantime and help saveLeague of Legends.
