First of all, let me just say that
League of Legends is my favorite video game. So, when I offer my
criticism here, it should be clear that I'm not bashing the game
overall. My issue is with the Summoner's Tribunal which, I believe,
may do more harm to the community than good.
On a cursory level, despite the
Tribunal, it seems that there are still many belligerent and petty
players who actively work to ruin the game experience for other
players. Arguably it could be worse without the Tribunal, but a lot
of people would probably suggest that this is an impossibility
(considering that the League of Legends community is often presented
as one of the worst gaming communities). Again, don't get me wrong,
I think the LoL community also offers some of the best aspects in
regard to online gaming communities -- particularly when it comes to
the forums and people involved with the competitive scene.
Nevertheless... a lot of casual players will never be involved with
those aspects and will notice more prominently the hostile and
obnoxious players they encounter in normal games. And I don't feel
that the Tribunal has adequately worked to quash that negative aspect
of the game.
Part of the problem, I believe, is that
almost every minor infraction of the Summoner's Code seems to be
promoted as worthy of a report. This, in itself, will clog the
system with frivolous and malicious reports that only waste people's
time in the reviewing process. Beyond that, because of the "zero
tolerance" attitude, violations which are egregious (such as
racist/sexist language, intentionally feeding, and incredibly hostile
language) are essentially put on the same general level as minor
infractions ("gg noobs," failure to communicate [perhaps
because of some language barrier], and going AFK when the score is 50
to 3). Yes, the punishments will vary, and judges may be somewhat
fair in these cases, but all those violations are still deemed
reportable and on the same level in that regard. So the problem
becomes that the worst violations will, at best, get buried amidst a
mountain of petty reports.
Next is the issue of punishment...
there is no public standard for how much any particular violator gets
punished for any particular offense. Obviously, some infractions are
likely to earn a player the harshest punishment (a permanent ban).
But what about all of the lesser infractions? I am unaware of any
formal standard for players receiving a particular punishment for any
particular offense. So, when we see unsportsmanlike conduct, and if
you were to punish it, you can't be sure that "GG noobs"
won't be punished as harshly as someone telling another player to
"uninstall and kill yourself." And, of course, there are
even harsher gradations than that.
Now, as an anarchist, I believe in the
right to free association. You should not have to put up with
belligerent individuals causing trouble in your community. And,
along those lines, I believe that shunning and casting out such
individuals is legitimate. If people want to cause trouble for the
community, they can take their antics elsewhere, but personal domain
and affinity groups (arguably like a gaming community), are not the
same as public streets or the wilderness. So... when someone comes
into a community space, in this case the realm of League of Legends
and onto the Summoner's Rift, they must be mindful of the particular
community in which they find themselves. If a community does not
tolerate some particular behavior... they should probably just
respect that or find another community. This is, of course, unless
they want to agitate for change as I am doing now. And yes... people
should sometimes be removed from the community -- at least
temporarily. I'm not saying they shouldn't be free to go elsewhere
and log into other games, but that's partially why casting
troublemakers out is an acceptable response is not the same thing as
locking them up.
The problem however, in the context of
the LoL community, is not as simple as all that. As I've
mentioned... petty infractions may accidentally get punished as
harshly as greater infractions. But that's not the only problem.
For one thing... we are discussing a virtual space. This means that
people generally aren't going to be in any real or direct danger
posed by the violators. So... I'd argue that more tolerance of minor
offenses should be given with a grain of salt. But, more to the
point, is the fact that people can simply create another account if
they are banned -- even if they are banned permanently. And, when
this happens, it simply drives these players to the lowest levels
where they harass new players and have a skill advantage over them.
This can be horribly bad for the game insomuch as it can drive new
players away and/or provides a bad standard of conduct for them. And
this process can be repeated indefinitely.
If someone is behaving very poorly, and
consequently getting banned repeatedly, they may never become too
heavily invested in the game (with unlocked champs/runes/masteries).
So they may simply grow to appreciate the free champs and troll new
players endlessly as each of their accounts gets banned. But the way
LoL is set up... players can become invested in the game (with time
and money). This is a potential advantage in regard to everything
being discussed here! However... it's not an advantage if harsh
punishments and bans are regularly handed out.
The way league of legends is set up...
even a few days of play can allow you to unlock a few particular
champs and other benefits. The availability of such perks makes
players perform better in the game and allows them to play at a
higher level of skill. I don't think anyone would or can deny this.
So, as players invest more time/money, they probably have a better
time playing the champs they like in the way they like to play them.
However... if certain players have a propensity to get banned they
will never come to truly appreciate this benefit (or they will cease
to care about that aspect).
Therefore... I believe that players
should learn to care more about their primary accounts where they
have unlocked a stable of champions and other perks. But I don't
believe harsh punishments or perma-bans do encourage such
appreciation for a lot of players. On the contrary... I believe that
softer punishments and shorter bans, even for some of the more
egregious offenders, will keep people generally more active at their
level (as opposed to constantly trolling the newest players) and more
concerned about their primary accounts. People won't potentially be
throwing it all away to a long ban if they step out of line a few
times.
How I feel a new system would work is,
ideally, like this... each time a collection of games comes up for
review in the tribunal for a particular player, and if the verdict
is for that player to be punished, they should only be punished very
incrementally. The first punishment should be a warning --
accompanied by an explanation of why they are being warned and what
they risk to lose if they are found guilty of violations again. The
second punishment, if another series of games is found in violation,
should be a 12 hour ban. Then 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, etc. for
subsequent punishments. The idea is that the offenders would still
have a reason to be committed to their main account (because they
wouldn't be harshly driven away) -- and as that account continued to
grow they'd be less willing to risk increased punishments associated
with it. I believe such a form of punishment would be best even for
the most egregious violators since, as stated, they would otherwise
simply move on to new accounts and continue to troll the newest
players. What I'm talking about is making even the more belligerent
players come to appreciate their primary accounts and not want to
risk days of play without access to their stable of champions and all
their runes. Because the punishments would be incremental... they'd
have a better chance of learning from their mistakes and would become
increasingly concerned about not risking their account with all the
benefits.
Another thing which I feel would help
the community is if we learned to tolerate some of the less offensive
infractions. Typing "GG noobs" at the end of a game is
obnoxious, but I'm far more concerned about players making far more
hostile comments -- racist/sexist remarks, hollow threats of personal
violence, and wishing their opponent's dog would die. And, to be
perfectly honest, threats of "I'm going to report you,"
every other game, also gets old. The way that the tribunal is
ineffectually set up now... it breeds a culture of tattle-tales who
then clog up the bureaucracy. A clearer delineation should be drawn
between petty obnoxiousness and truly offensive speech or intentional
feeding. This might have more to do with the culture of the game,
but I think it's something which could be cultivated.
Finally, I think that latter idea can
be implemented in the pro-gaming level. In the old Brood Wars era of
competitive gaming, players could only wish their opponents good luck
at the beginning of a match and only say GG at the end. Any other
communication with your opponents could cost you the match. This
largely eliminated unsportsmanlike conduct within the game and
ensured that it was more about skill than psychological manipulation
and putting your opponents on tilt. If this rule were implemented in
all the competitive pro games of LoL... I think it would set a good
example for the general community.
I have some other ideas about improving
the game and the community, but this is the first thing that I wanted
to put out their because I think good sportsmanship and a stronger
community are the backbone of this game and will work to keep it
thriving for years to come. I should also point out that this is
merely one anarchist's perspective and others may have different
positions on virtual space and the punishments which could reasonably
be handed out by the community therein. My intention with writing
this is merely to help make the LoL community become more hospitable
so that more people will feel comfortable in continuing to play the
game. Some may criticize me, as an anarchist, for addressing this
subject at all. But I don't really intend this to be highly reflective of deeper anarchist theory. So, while there may be more serious issues to tackle, it's
good to have some balance and a little bit of fun in your life.
League of Legends is a free game which offers to connect people from
around the world in a game of strategy -- and I don't have much
problem supporting that.
No comments:
Post a Comment