League of Legends lead game designer Jeffrey Lin caused Reddit to bubble over today after announcing that players will likely not be receiving end of season rewards if they have been banned or restricted in any way. The official ask.fm post reads as follows:
We are still working on the details for the 2015 Season, but the current plan is that players who have been Chat Restricted, Ranked Restricted or Game Banned during the 2015 Season will not receive Season Rewards in Ranked. Players who have had Low Priority Queues won’t be affected unless they have had 20 min Low Priority Queues. Emails and Player Support sites will be updated with this new info when we finalize the details. -Jeffrey Lin @RiotLyte
The news has caused the League of Legends subreddit to (figuratively) burst into flames. Players have been slamming the change nonstop since this morning, and moderators trying to combine the threads into one megathread as the posts spiral out of control.
The subreddit drama thread found here seems to welcome the change, and has found amusement in the self-lampooning League of Legends players. Many of the redditors in this thread believe that many of the League of Legends players who are distraught by this news are the ones who are proving Riot’s need for the system. One such user by the name of Mr_Tulip mocked the angry players in the following quote:
“F*** these as******, I’m leaving and never playing their sh**** game ever again!”
Oh good, looks like everything is working as intended.
While this seems like an unfair judgement of the LoL players who are upset by this change, it is in reality quite accurate. Many of these comments are being taken down by either moderators, Riot, or the redditors themselves as they are inappropriate or crude. However, I did manage to salvage some of the highest-upvoted quotes before they were removed.
“It’s like he [Jeffrey Lin] actually wants me to quit the game, amazing.” -luciellia
“This is actually b******t. It’s like you get fined for something and months later the government comes and takes your house even if you payed the fine (serving your ban or chat restriction). Riot is f***ing retarded” -niqqerslayer
While there are some redditors who are welcoming the change, and pointing out the flaws in the arguments of people against the change, an overwhelming number of players seem to be upset. Even players who have never been banned themselves are worried that the strict policy will include people who have received chat restrictions. This has incited a completely different wave of drama as they believe it to be unfair that chat restrictions get the same punishment as someone who pays to have someone boost their account level.
This isn’t the first time that an online multiplayer game has rewarded players who play fair and avoid getting banned. Valve’s Team Fortress 2 rewarded players for not using idling tools or achievement hacks during their first release of items in 2009, providing players with the in-game item the “Cheater’s Lament”. Valve received similar backlash from Team Fortress 2 players, but in the end it helped make the game a better experience – at least somewhat.
While not the most glorious item in the world, the “Cheaters Lament” was a nice gift from Valve to upstanding players in the community
What do you think? Will this change be enough to get League of Legends trolls to change their ways? Do you think this might be unfair for people who get unjustly banned? Does everyone who gets banned deserve to miss out on the rewards? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below!
