Riot is looking to make games cleaner and better in the future. One of their methods will be through player monitoring. What does this entail though and in which elos is such a method feasible? Let's find out everything we know about this new banning system in League of Legends.
Riot is going to test out a new banning function on high MMR players in NA. Riot Auberaun sent out a few tweets on November outlininig this new initiative to keep players in line and to stop them from disturbing high elo plays in the region.
If their tests work well then similar changes could be rolled out in other regions, and eventually also in lower elos as well maybe. So, what exactly is Riot trying to do and how does this new reporting system work?
New Report Path for LPP Players
This new banning system will be rolled out in a high MMR setting and will affect high elo players, as well as players that are part of the League Partnership Program (LPP). Basically, players that are part of the LPP will be able to directly report players who are soft inting, win trading or disrupting games in other ways.
It is important to note that the League Partners and streamers won't be able to get anyone banned right off the bat. Having a single bad game also shouldn't warrant them getting banned. Riot Auberaun does go into more detail on that point stating that "every match has to have a winner and loser, every time someone pops off someone has to get stomped and that variance is one of the things that makes League so fun. Be kind to the humans on the other side of the screen."
Following up on what I mentioned about high MMR moderation trials in NA: we're starting reviews this week. For these, reports matter, including champ select reports! Please use them, we need to know there's a problem to address it and we're not watching every stream or game.
— Chris Roberts (@RiotAuberaun) November 10, 2022
Since there are only a few games happening at one time in high elo reports from trusted sources are easier to monitor and with the LPP players making the reports as well and overseeing this, there will be actual footage and proof of a player's bad behaviour. This means it'll be easier to spot repeating offenders as well.
The direct report path for LPP has been active for about a month and around 70% of the reports have resulted in some form of action from Riot. It seems like Riot is trying to work out a solution to player behaviour one step at a time. When something like this will be rolled out for all elos and all regions is not yet known though.
So, will something like this improve gameplay and is it feasible in lower elos? Riot had tried a similar system before called tribunal but got rid of it in 2014. But this system seems eerily similar to tribunal. Hopefully Riot works out a way to make games less toxic.