author: Patrick Kubiak
New Rewards for Good Behavior in LoL; Riot Will Update Honor System
Riot Games is planning an update to Honor, a rating system for player behavior in League of Legends. Among the new features are rewards for users who will refrain from spoiling others' gameplay.
- Riot Games wants to streamline the Honor system, a mechanic in League of Legends that rewards and punishes players for their behavior;
- The update is intended to increase regular player commitment to order by offering attractive benefits.
Riot Games is looking for white knights and knightesses. And this is absolutely not a jest. Developers of League of Legends are increasing the importance of in-game behavioral systems to enable players themselves make sure everybody can enjoy conflict-free gameplay. In a special message to players TimTamMonster, the lead producer on the Behavioral Systems team, has spoken out.
Most of us have Honor
As the studio member argues, a significant portion of players who commit "infractions" in LoL are not repeating offenders, but individuals who lose patienece on a case-by-case basis.
"The data shows that only 5% of players are consistently disruptive. These are players we definitely should be punishing, and we will always continue improving our systems for that. But the other 95% are regular players who get tilted every once in a while, and these players make up 86% of our reports.
In other words, almost all reports are on the average player who usually behaves well."
The stats quoted by Riot Games employee clearly show that if we encounter toxic behavior during the game, it's most often the responsibility of a player like us, and not someone who enjoys repeatedly spoiling the fun of others.
The studio wants to learn from this information. With the update, Riot will focus on eliminating inappropriate attitudes among this majority of players. Developers believe that the expansion of the reward system, rather than punishment, will help in this.
BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS IN LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
Behavioral systems have been in place in Riot Games' title almost since its inception. They debuted in 2012, three years after the release of League of Legends. The creators called them Honor. It is a set of patterns of positive and negative evaluation of players both after the matches and after entire seasons.
The last major update of said Honor took place in 2018. Since then, it has seen several smaller tweaks that do not affect the fundamental structure.
The developers themselves indicate in the aforementioned announcement that due to the lack of improvements, the importance of Honor among users has decreased.
Kindness for Profit
So what do the developers at Riot promise for good behavior? The easiest way is to give the floor to TimTamMonster:
"This year, we're upping the rewards with a new special recall VFX for players who are Honor 5 or have received an Honor from either a non-premade or two premades in their last game. Similar to the special Challenger recall, you’ll now have the opportunity to sport a special new Honor recall."
What is Recall? It's a spell that enables a player to return to base during a match. That's not the end of the rewards, though.
"'Riot would never dedicate a specific new skin just for Honor.' Oh, wait... That’s exactly what we're doing! We’re working hard on an exclusive skin just for players who reach Honor 5 as part of the End of Season rewards. These exclusive rewards will give you a new way to show off in-game, in addition to existing Honor skins, chromas, and other rewards."
So for those whose level of Honor at the end of the season is at level 5, a unique skin for the character will be prepared.
TimTamMonster also reports that there will be increased developer interest in verbal abuse in League of Legends. No details were given here, except that Riot expects as much as tenfold "improvement in this area" as a result of the planned actions.
Finally, the producer urges that all LoL players refrain from harmful behavior by "trying to be the kind of players we want to play with ourselves."
