Remember when League of Legends was infamous for having one of the worst player communities of any game out there? And remember when Riot vowed to turn things around and show that LoL can have a friendly and helpful community? Well, it seems like the company managed to keep its promise of not tolerating player toxicity anymore because things have changed in a big way this year. Riot recently announced that 95 percent of all active League of Legends players have never received any kind of punishment in 2014, which suggests that most of the toxicity actually comes from a small minority of players. Riot has ways of eliminating the toxicity however by issuing chat restrictions, ranked restrictions, game bans, and even permanent bans.
As for the positive League of Legends players, the company is rewarding them with Influence Points that will start rolling out next week. The first step is awarding anyone who hasn’t received restrictions or bans of any kind this year with a 4-win Influence Points boost. “We’ve recently been focused on addressing extreme cases of verbal toxicity, and will soon be testing additional systems that address gameplay toxicity like leavers, AFKs, and intentional feeders,” Riot announced. “However, it’s important to keep in mind that players engaging in these behaviors really are not welcome in our community. Fewer than 1% of players have been escalated to a 14-day ban or permanent ban or even received a chat restriction.”
So, is it safe to play League of Legends now without having to worry about the chat going up in flames when you mess up? The answer seems to be yes for the most part, although you may still run into a couple of bad eggs from time to time. Still, the League of Legends community has come a long way this year and Riot seems to be keen on improving things even more in the near future. The company is encouraging positive players to post their recent chat logs in the comments section for an additional mystery reward.