Over the last few years, League of Legends has struggled to manage the in game behavior of some toxic players. In order to fix this issue for some players, the game is looking to different solutions than some may expect.
In a post on the game’s website, behavioral systems product lead Hana “TimTamMonster” Dinh acknowledged that there is a problem within the game. Dinh said that the majority of their solutions thus far have come “behind the scenes.” Dinh continued to address the problem and said that they will shift their focus to the 95% of players who are not disruptive in the game. In order to help this issue, Dinh said that they will attempt to fix this issue “by building solutions that directly impact you and by partnering with you, our players, to create a stronger community together.”
The post continues and says that behavioral solutions should not only come with punishing the toxic players but instead reward the players who are not toxic. They will give out these rewards based on the Honor system the game uses.
At the end of the season, Riot will reward players who reach Honor 5 based on their in-game behavior. The reward will include a brand new skin and also a new and special recall animation. These rewards will come at the end of the season and be given to any player who reaches the Honor level.
Another issue that the game is addressing is the increasing verbal abuse. The game will be implementing new detection technology and is expecting to see improvement by up to 10x their current progress. Verbal abuse is an issue that is increasingly affecting nontoxic players.
Dinh finished off the post by reminding the community that everyone is still human and saying that “With your feedback and support, we can shape League’s future together.”