League of Legendsdesigner Ezra “Phlox” Lynn circulated a screenshot on Discord of him receiving a 14-day ban for intentionally feeding with the accompanying message “I guess I shouldn’t have played Ryze.”
The offending games from theRioter’s match historyappear to be a streak of Ryze games where Phlox performed particularly poorly. With KDA’s of 0/4/1, 8/14/6, 10/21/4 and 7/16/5, it’s no surprise that the account was flagged for an automatic suspension.
Suppose a player appears to have an exceptionally high death toll for multiple games. In that case, there’s a chance that they’ll be flagged for an automatic ban as the system believes they are intentionally feeding. For those unfamiliar, feeding is a MOBA term for giving the opposing team gold by continuously dying to them.
These bans are usually manually reversed by Riot’s support team if it’s evident that the player has just been having bad games, rather than intentionally ruining the game for their teammates. Phlox wasted no time getting his ban reversed, promptly returning to Summoner’s Rift with his signature Ryze pick.
RELATED:G2 Hel Wins League of Legends Women’s Tournament Rising Stars
Amidst the current community criticism of harsh automated suspensions for minor chat toxicity, Phlox’s situation provided a humorous example of alleged Riot hypocrisy. Of course, in reality, accounts that have been wrongly suspended for intentional feeding are usually reinstated relatively quickly.
However, Riot’s failure to reverse frivolous chat bans remains a topic of discussion within the community. There have been numerous examples of minor sarcasm, light bantering and any expression of annoyance or frustration resulting in punishment for the player. This has only been occurring since the beginning of preseason when Riot implemented new systems to crack down on in-game toxicity.
As the preseason continues, it’s unclear if Riot is planning on tweaking the automated chat systems to be less harsh or if they are committed to the current course of action.
