League of Legends introduces automated 'player reform' system
Riot Games is determined to purge League of Legends of its toxic elements, and a new automated system takes a step in the right direction. Basically, any chat logs containing evidence of harrassment will be evaluated by a system, which will email the relevant text to the offender along with the applicable punishment.
It works like this: teammates or opponents report a toxic player, whereafter the automated system sends through a reform card to the offender. The system also determines the severity of the punishment, ranging two-week to permanent bans.
The system is rolling out for testing in North America today, and Riot's "player behavior team" will personally vet the first few thousand cases to judge the systems viability. If it works, it'll go global. Eventually the system could be used to reward positive player behavior, too.
It's the latest in a long line of recent moves to clean up the League of Legends scene: fresh disciplinary measures were rolled out in July last year, including denying toxic players from joining ranked queues.
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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.