Scammers Lead to Closure of League of Legends Chat Rooms

[Esmeralda Portillo]

Scammers Lead to Closure of League of Legends Chat Rooms

Riot Games disables their public chat rooms to combat scammers and other unwanted behavior.

On the heels of statements made from another developer about toxic behavior being necessary for games to survive [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135751-We-Need-Toxic-Players-According-to-Orcs-Must-Die-Developer], Riot Games has just closed its public chat rooms in order to combat that same toxicity.

The announcement was made on their website [http://community.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/riot-official/bTUgqAe5-chat-systems-forecast], "As an immediate action we're going to disable the public chat rooms until they're useful and accessible. In their current shape they just don't work and can actively create negative experiences for many players (especially new players)."

Riot Games openly acknowledges their chat room system has its flaws. Currently the only moderation tools available is the ignore button, which isn't enough to combat the spam coming in from scammers and RP sellers.

While private rooms are still enabled, and Riot knows they're in a better state than their public counterparts, the company still needs to work on more tools to "address unwelcome drop-ins and toxic behavior."

The chat rooms are not permanently closed, it's a temporary measure while Riot looks into alternatives to fixing its social space. They want to create a place where players can talk to friends and like-minded players in their community, as well as join mentoring groups and where "community of junglers" hang out.

Permalink

 

[RaikuFA]

So only after a developer agreed with the bullies do bigger guys decide to actually do something about it.

Nothing more than a PR stunt.

 

[Esmeralda Portillo]

So only after a developer agreed with the bullies do bigger guys decide to actually do something about it.

Nothing more than a PR stunt.

Not necessarily. Riot Games is very vocal about banning toxic behavior, to the point that they even ban professional players

 

[Fintago]

The story words the bit about "On the heels of statements made about toxic behavior being necessary for games to survive," very strangely. It seems to make the implication said that Riot is the one claiming toxic behavior can be good.

 

[Maerx]

Quite sad to see how the chatrooms became a gutter. I met most of my LoL friends (great people) through them back in the day. However it is worth pointing out that this has been happening for more than 2 years now, at least they're adressing it.

 

[Scorpid]

Oh god what will I do without the league chatroom?! play league?! Seriously though who even used those?

 

[The Forces of Chaos]

Wow the irony that Dota 2 released new emotes for the Dota chat is not lost on me. Still isn't this a big over reaction? It seems to me this will just cause more issues than rectify this minor issue. I hope Riot rethink this decision.

 

[Shadowsetzer]

Oh god what will I do without the league chatroom?! play league?! Seriously though who even used those?

Bots and trolls, apparently.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

What the fuck, guys. The developer said that toxic players are a sign the game is good because they keep playing even if they hate some things and other players play despite them. I remember no-one saying that the toxicity itself is good. Yet you all seem to be determined to pin on Riot that they support verbal abuse or something. Naturally when I say all I'm generalising.

 

[The Wykydtron]

And barely anyone cared or noticed. Though I do like how Riot actually y'know care about removing as much toxicity from the game as possible. They could just ignore it and still get away with it cuz the game is so popular but they even ban pro players. That's some respectable dedication.

Wow the irony that Dota 2 released new emotes for the Dota chat is not lost on me. Still isn't this a big over reaction? It seems to me this will just cause more issues than rectify this minor issue. I hope Riot rethink this decision.

To be honest I think people will really not care, maybe some popular streamers since I think they might have used it but Riot will have taken that into consideration i'm sure. Especially when compared to them removing the Journal of Justice entirely semi-recently ago as well, people were pretty vocal about that. Riot didn't even need to "address" that we all know they just stopped giving a fuck about the lore for more e-sports.

Does the DOTA client have a public chat by the way? I don't play it much so I must have missed it entirely or did they throw emotes into the actual in-game chat? Oh is it a Steam thing, I hear they added emotes from the Summer Sale or something.

 

[The Wykydtron]

What the fuck, guys. The developer said that toxic players are a sign the game is good because they keep playing even if they hate some things and other players play despite them. I remember no-one saying that the toxicity itself is good. Yet you all seem to be determined to pin on Riot that they support verbal abuse or something. Naturally when I say all I'm generalising.

Tsss, details details. When you're determined to hate on a game no matter what, what's wrong with a little willful misrepresentation of the source?

 

[Esmeralda Portillo]

The story words the bit about "On the heels of statements made about toxic behavior being necessary for games to survive," very strangely. It seems to make the implication said that Riot is the one claiming toxic behavior can be good.

Reworded to be clearer.

 

[XenoScifi]

This is a good stand from Riot games. I personally do not play LoL, but can appreciate developers at least addressing an issue. All in all you will never remove these toxic behaviors from online gaming, but at least you can make a dent in it so those of us that want to be normal human beings and not complete assholes can do so in more peace.

And not to sound completely racist because this is just my small observation, but most toxic players in online games I have come across are from other countries other then the one I live in. This is not saying I do not get my fair share of asshole US players, but there are a few countries where it just erupts from more. (not going to name them)

 

[Strazdas]

This is silly. this sounds as logical as banning roads because some people drive drunk. ban the scammers, not punish fair players.

 

[Atmos Duality]

On the heels of statements made from another developer about toxic behavior being necessary for games to survive, Riot Games has just closed its public chat rooms in order to combat that same toxicity.

Forgive me for being pedantic, but that's the first time I've seen the usual assholish rage-trolling in gaming lumped in with those looking to commit fraud.

Yes, they're both awful things going on in a video game community, but to me, describing both with "toxicity" seems a bit like equating rioting sports fans to stadium ticket scalpers.

Both have dickish behaviors and are linked by a common element (sports) but their motivations are completely different.

 

[scotth266]

It's funny - I sent in an application letter for Riot's PR department roughly two weeks ago, and one of the things I mentioned is that they needed to clean up their public chat rooms.

Now, two weeks later, Riot descends on their public chat rooms like the wrath of god. So even though I didn't get hired by them, maybe someone actually read that letter, and realized what a god-awful mess those rooms were.

 

[milijanko]

Gullible Kids Lead to Closure of League of Legends Chat Rooms

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

What the fuck, guys. The developer said that toxic players are a sign the game is good because they keep playing even if they hate some things and other players play despite them. I remember no-one saying that the toxicity itself is good. Yet you all seem to be determined to pin on Riot that they support verbal abuse or something. Naturally when I say all I'm generalising.

Tsss, details details. When you're determined to hate on a game no matter what, what's wrong with a little willful misrepresentation of the source?

Fair point. Machiavelli's teachings remain relevant in modern society.

 

[RaikuFA]

So only after a developer agreed with the bullies do bigger guys decide to actually do something about it.

Nothing more than a PR stunt.

Not necessarily. Riot Games is very vocal about banning toxic behavior, to the point that they even ban professional players

When your tribunal is full of hanging judges who ban people for "feeding"(read:died) then it's not really getting rid of the problem is it?

 

[Redryhno]

So only after a developer agreed with the bullies do bigger guys decide to actually do something about it.

Nothing more than a PR stunt.

Not necessarily. Riot Games is very vocal about banning toxic behavior, to the point that they even ban professional players

When your tribunal is full of hanging judges who ban people for "feeding"(read:died) then it's not really getting rid of the problem is it?

Seeing as most of the people that complain about being banned for that behavior went into the game fully intending to do just that, as well as having to get multiple reports in multiple games just to get to tribunal status, what is the point of your complaint? Not to mention reports at the moment are on an automated in-game chat limitation system at the moment, so the Judge Parkers of the internet aren't even in play right now.

Though as for banning pro players, for the most part, it's been more a suspension from pro play for a year, not from the game for life except for like two cases of pro players boosting accounts for money and the infamous XJ9 incident(Which I think was also one of a handful of account boosters).