Riot Games announces new penalty system

"League of Legends" has been plagued by "toxic behavior" among players for many years. Now, Riot Games has finally announced that it will launch a new punishment system and is determined to "strike hard."

The news was released by League of Legends chief game designer Matt Leung-Harrison on the social platform X. He said that Riot Games’ goal is not only to punish inappropriate behavior, but also to “punish evil and promote good” and create a “healthier and more vibrant League of Legends.”

“Today, I want to talk about our philosophy on player behavior and punishment, as there has been a lot of discussion and confusion recently about systemic punishment,” Leung-Harrison wrote.

“Our ultimate goal is not to simply punish negative behavior, but to create a positive ecosystem that encourages good behavior and behavior correction.”

He said that compared to the traditional "heavy penalties", Riot will be more inclined to influence player behavior through "timely reminders". Data shows that heavy penalties have not effectively reduced violations, but by clearly informing players that their behavior has been identified, it can significantly reduce the possibility of their re-violation, with a recidivism rate of less than 10%.

At the same time, he also called on players to use the reporting system more rationally, rather than using it as a tool to "vent anger" against the enemy. Riot believes that instead of punishing innocent players, it is better to tolerate some violations that are not discovered in time.

“We rely heavily on high-quality reporting,” Leung-Harrison said. “If you report all five of the enemy team every single round, we’ll lose confidence in the effectiveness of your reporting.”

He further explained that reporting itself will not directly trigger punishment, but it will significantly increase the system's probability of identifying certain behaviors and may speed up the process of escalating penalties.

Regarding the shocking malicious behavior, Leung-Harrison made it clear that although such players only account for less than 0.1% of the total number of players, they will continue to violate the rules until they are permanently banned. Riot plans to give such players the treatment of "permanently leaving the game", but also admitted that "smurfs" and "account rotation" are still problems facing the system.

He ended the post by writing: "Thank you for your feedback and patience. We will continue to work hard to make League of Legends even better, and thank our team for their efforts on this new foundation system."