Riot updates behavior systems to better fight toxicity in LoL

In a new post on the League of Legends website, Riot Games have previewed upcoming changes to the game’s behavioral system which includes LP loss mitigation for players with AFK teammates.

In a bid to tackle toxicity, Riot developers have now outlined their intent to reduce disruptive behaviour by League of Legends players. The developer has presented five scenarios which they wish to decrease in frequency, with their ultimate goals being to “reduce occurrences” of these behaviours and “mitigate the impact to players when they experience disruptive behavior.”

The disruptive behaviour highlighted includes:

• Intentionally feeding opponents
• Sabotage through disruptive gameplay actions (“griefing”)
• Intentionally leaving the game
• Going idle in game
• Game disconnects

Riot seeks to lower toxicity in LoL

Improvements to AFK detection have already been added in patch 10.15 and Riot Games now expect a 100% increase in the number of occurrences found. With greater detection, they are also working towards preventing, deterring, and mitigating the impact.

A key short-term change mentioned in the post concerns LP mitigation for those with AFK or inting teammates. This means that a match lost due to such disruptive behaviour will not necessarily lead to the same LP loss as a regular defeat, greatly reducing the negative impact on players victimized by these behaviors.

Other changes mentioned include an update to early surrender options, stricter queue lockouts for AFK players, and warnings for “those that have disrupted games previously.”

Finally, an update on champion select reporting has been given in which the developers have announced that the feature will not be removed after the initial “two-patch experiment.” As this feature is sticking around, further updates to ban confirmation and penalty integration are also expected.

Ban confirmation aims to “make it clearer when your ban choice overlaps with what a teammate wants to play,” preventing accidental bans which could then lead to a player being reported.

Penalty system integration aims to punish players for their champion select behavior, with Riot adding that it is “looking to find and implement the best post-game actions we can to common issues.” This means that, while no punishment will be carried out in the middle of champion select, penalties can still be applied to the player once the game has concluded.