Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn’t an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference.
TNS: "A League of Legends game mode, Arena, will return with some major changes that may breathe some life for a stagnant game."
ESTNN writes: "Hwei, LeBlanc and Ryze stand above the rest as the strongest players in the League of Legends 14.8 mid-lane due to substantial buffs in their scaling, base damage and crowd control (CC) respectively."
ESTNN write: "Our updated guide on the latest champions coming to Summoner's Rift."
That turned out to be a surprisingly fascinating read. I don't play the game personally, but the idea of using a tribunal system to deal with problematic players rather than simple banning is very interesting, and the results were certainly encouraging.
I wonder if other companies would be willing to take up a system like this?
Tribunal is helpful, but it also ends in tons of people threatening to report players for nothing. I can't count the number of times I've seen someone simply get outplayed and then teammates get reported for "trolling" or "feeding".