Toxicity is something that doesn't need a definition or an explanation anymore, as most League of Legends players perfectly know what it's all about.
Intentional feeding, AFKing, trolling in champion select, and other toxic behaviors are a common thing in the Rift — especially nowadays. Pointed out by numerous prominent figures of the League scene, including famous streamer Voyboy, the toxicity seems to currently be at its peak.
However, Riot Games aren't staying unsensible to these remarks. In a Quick Gameplay Thoughts article, Chief Gameplay Designer Andrei "Meddler" van Roon detailed some of the solutions that the studio chose.
Reporting in Champion Select
It had been teased a few weeks ago, but the new report tool will allow us to report players during the champion select. This feature should hit live with Patch 10.14 or Patch 10.15 at the latest.
Post-Game Surveys
During the past weeks, Riot Game ran surveys to ask players about in-game behaviors, in order to understand clearly what they were fighting against. Here is the data that summarizes their conclusions:
Thanks to these surveys, Riot Games noticed several things that they needed to change.
- Their approach was focusing on one particular game, rather than judging the toxic behavior of the player over several games. What will be observed from now on will be the repetition of toxic behaviors instead of one isolated spike of int.
- Players leaving the game are only punished via a queue restriction. Riot Games is seriously considering toughening the penalty to a temporary ban.
- In addition, Riot Games will seek to better understand the context of players reported by others. For example, if a player disconnects immediately after their team refuses to surrender, Riot Games should be able to understand that this is a voluntary disconnection, especially if they have threatened to "AFK" in the chat.
The fight against toxicity will definitely be a long and hard one, and Riot Games are only starting. Although no real solutions have been planned yet except the new reporting tool feature, this analysis was a necessary step.
It now remains to be seen if Riot Games' new approach will be enough to defeat the plague of toxicity...
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Original content by Antagoniste.
