Riot took Tribunal offline this weekend. The metaphorical cages housing League of Legends’ most toxic players sprung open, and their chains fell miraculously to the floor. But it was all in the name of a more robust justice system, which will deliver swifter punishments and better recognise positive behaviour in the lanes.
Restricted Chat and an enhanced LeaverBuster will stand in for Tribunal while the system is upgraded.
“Tribunal is a powerful way for the community to decide what behaviors are acceptable during a League of Legends match,” wrote Riot on Saturday. “We’d like to take some time to upgrade the system with new features to ensure it’s an effective way of combating unsportsmanlike behavior in game.”
Anybody who owns a dog knows you’ve got to give the ticking off immediately after the crime, or your subject won’t learn to associate the two events. Riot are aiming for a similar system: players can expect restricted chat punishments and game bans “within a few hours” of the negative behaviour that prompted them.
Riot are newly adding the ability to review and reward players who “exemplify the best sportsmanship” in League of Legends – while tuning their existing LeaverBuster system to ensure “severe consequences” come to those who threaten the competitive spirit of ranked play.
“We’ll be rolling out additional experiments throughout the Tribunal upgrade and depending on the results of these experiments and the impact they have on players, we’ll incorporate these lessons into the upgraded Tribunal,” added Riot.
Riot believe that League of Legends players are “in general very sportsmanlike”. Does that match up with your experience of the MOBA?
Thanks, Reign of Gaming.