If you’ve played a decent amount of League of Legends, you’ve probably had more than just a few games ruined by toxic behavior. Riot has committed to try and monitor this behavior. Today, the company revealed an update on its plans.
Riot’s plans
In the July update, Riot states that it will attempt to minimize game-ruining behavior. This behavior includes intentionally feeding, griefing, harassment, going AFK, or leaving the game entirely. Such actions ruin games for all other players, and currently, Riot doesn’t have a good way of telling who’s trying to ruin a game and who’s just playing bad.
So, Riot is working to develop ways to automatically detect this kind of behavior and punish game-ruining actions. Riot will also update the Summoner’s Code (terms of service) to include how engaging in game-ruining behavior could lead to punishment.
What’s been done and what comes next
In June, Riot added a way for players to report and mute other players in Champion Select. This helps prevent toxic behavior before a game even starts. In many cases, players would hold a game hostage in Champion Select if they didn’t get the role or Champion they wanted. Now, affected players have a way to deal with that. It also lets players take advantage of the mute button right from the start.
Riot’s next step will be to continue monitoring negative behavior and work to improve its automated systems. It will continue to give monthly updates on their progress and how things are improving, starting with efforts to punish those who ruin games by attempting to make their team lose.
Hopefully, this means that players will have more to fear from ruining games. One of the worst feelings in League of Legends is trying your best only to have the game thrown by a bitter teammate. These changes should help in the future.
