TLDR
The current model is a player-punishment model, with heavy handed punishments which often miss the source of the toxicity.
The source of toxicity is griefers, the flaming is often a response to griefing.
To make the community better, we need the following:
A blacklist regardless of its effects on queue times.
A simplified and limited report system with lesser punishments that can be handed out more freely.
Lesser consequences for leavers, not to reward the leavers but to prevent the consequences of them choosing to stay. As well as reducing the frustration for those who genuinely do not choose to leave.
I want to discuss how bad the community has become, why, and how itās making people angry to the point that they flame out of frustration.
I am a player who was introduced to the game in beta by a friend, and recently came back. I collectively have a staggering number of hours into this game.
Back in beta and pre-2.0 a lot of the problems we are seeing now didnāt really exist. The community was a lot better. Flaming and throwing werenāt unheard of but they were rare.
Back then I never felt the need to yell at my teammates.
Now, hardly a day goes by that I do not feel the urge to flame my teammatesā¦ But why? This is a question that is addressed in a lot of these posts but has never been acknowledged in any meaningful way.
The fact is, now people exist in the game who are actively trying to destroy our gaming experienceā¦ and they do not do it by flaming. They do it by griefing, and they go unpunished.
The current player-punishment system is flawed in that it is both abused by the players griefing and actively punishes the natural response to that griefing.
I am not saying that the people who flame are in the right, they are not, and I am guilty of it myselfā¦ However it is a response to the underlying problem and that is that a player can grief with impunity to destroy your gaming experience, and you often get paired with these players multiple games in a row.
Think about that for a second, please. The current game rules force us to decide between playing with people that actively destroy our experience, or to not play at all. Imagine if chess could only be played while handcuffed to a person who flips the board.
It has gotten to the point where I have had to disable my chat and unbind my enter key just to preserve my sanity.
However, there are things we can do to make change.
These are not new ideas, these have been presented by both me and players before me, time and time again.
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We need a Blacklist - A list we can put players on and never be matched with them again. We understand it will affect queue times. It is okay.
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Report/Consequence Change - Instead of the various reports it needs to be simplified, each player should get a griefer token. Where this token can be used only once a day to tag a griefer. Collect enough tags and the player is temporarily limited to only AI battles.
By simplifying the report system and adding a limit, it will endorse proper use and limit abuse. By reducing the punishment it will permit a wider use of the punishmentā¦ Right now part of the reason why the grieferās arenāt punished is because itās not feasible to gather evidence, and I suspect this disallows account action against griefers. On the other hand the people flaming, a response to the griefing, are suffering account action because the evidence is there.
- Leaverās Games Change - We get it, leaving a game is bad and it ruins the game for 4 other people. Players leave the game for any number of reasons. To grief, Connection Issues, To Dodge (Draft), To Dodge (Player, see Blacklist), Life. Some are reasonable, some are wrong.
I canāt think of anything more clearly showing how ineffective the current player/punishment model is. The current system is effectively farming out āleaversā to the general population. Since when has any games model revolved around making its players miserable? The current punishment model has an adverse effect on draft tooā¦
The current punishment model is effective at keeping players from dodging, but instead they will choose to grief the match that they did not want to play in the first place. A lesser punishment is needed, not to ease tension on the players that choose to dodge but to ease the consequences to their teammates if they choose to stay.
In closing, I want to say that what prompted me to write this in the first place was the presence of a griefer in my last 3 games today. The same griefer on my team each time, doing just enough not to be flagged AFK but noticeably choosing not to play the game. If I am being honest I felt rage, that same rage that causes me to flame. If I had my chat on, or my enter key binded, itās likely I would have lashed out.
I know that rage comes from the knowledge that he will continue getting away with it. That rage comes from the fact that I will queue up after writing this and run into him again. What heās doing canāt be proven in chat but is clear as day to anyone playing with him.