Hey guys,

Some background about me I have been playing LOL since season 2, and peaked in masters in season 6 (Not trying to flex just trying to bring more weight to my words). I have played in organized collegiate teams in university. After being convinced by a friend to play clash this past weekend and having an amazing experience playing in an environment where I could communicate with my teammates I have been motivated to make this post.

My thesis:

I believe that Riot’s stance on voice chat in the game is flawed and misled by the fear that a properly implemented voice chat would make the game more toxic. When in fact implementing an opt-in voice chat system in a competitive environment would alleviate a lot of the frustration that players would experience and thus making the game less toxic.

My Thoughts and Feelings:

To start off I love this game! But the frustration from the inability to effectively communicate with teammates through just pings and messages in the most popular competitive game in the world, has led me to not longer want to play this game. I live an overall very happy and fulfilled life but when I think about playing a ranked solo queue match of LOL I have to consider whether the fact that I may feel frustrated and unfulfilled after is worth it.

How Riot already sees the value of voice chat:

As the frustrations that come with playing in a team environment, where you have something on the line (in this case LP), are extenuated by the fact that this is the only major e-sport title that does not give it’s competitive mode players the ability to communicate using voice chat. What hurts even more is that Riot Games which created Valorant recognized since DAY 1 that the players would benefit from a voice chat system. In league, Riot has shifted the power for one player to solo carry a game towards a team environment that requires a large amount of coordination and communication. While still believing that in a MOBA where the poor decisions of your teammates have a larger impact on the game state compared to an FPS shooter like Valorant. We are expected to devolve into best-selling authors who for some reason have chosen to write a novel while engaging in an online competitive video game.

Riots most recent thoughts on voice chat:

In this recent address by riot which can be found at this link.

They state that:

Voice chat with random people has some powerful drawbacks–namely, that anyone can say whatever they want to you, and often do. Pair voice chat with a hyper-competitive game like League, and you’ve got a recipe for conflict and stress that some people just want to avoid.

While I cannot speak on behalf of the entire player base, I believe that yes, Opt-in voice will create new problems. Mainly that Riot will have to look into and address moderation which will not be cheap. I believe the benefit will out vastly outweigh the costs.

Riot acknowledges the fact that playing in “a hyper-competitive game like League” will inevitably lead to frustration and conflict. I believe that most of that frustration and toxicity stems from the fact that when playing the most popular E-Sport title in the world, players like myself who are trying to effectively communicate and coordinate micro, macro callouts, and provide general emotional support to tilting teammates. Simultaneously, reacting to other players positioning, abilities, and piloting my own champion. I am expected to do all of this through a chat system.

Unless Riot genuinely believes that their player base are all somehow retired professional StarCraft players that have an APM of over 300, while at the same time having a the mental fortitude of a seasoned therapist, and we are expected to utilize all of these skills with a keyboard when we have vocal chords available to us is mind boggling. Then Riot must have the wrong stance on voice chat.

We could have made voice chat opt-in, but that creates a lot of pressure for players to opt in for the sake of competitive advantage. We’re going to keep voice chat parties-only for now.

In this statement Riot is acknowledging that they are scared to release opt-in voice chat into ranked and have decided to “keep voice chat parties-only for now”. This idea contradicts it’s self as Riot is clearly stating that in one hand they want to foster a competitive environment that values teamwork, while in the other do not wish to give their players the tools to do so. Riot’s logic is that in a game that already has a culture for being “Toxic” would some how be less “Toxic” if everyone had to deal with the frustration of not being able to effectively communicate with their team mates. For the love of my carpel tunneled hands from having to write this essay please explain to me how this makes any sense.

Riot already has a system in place to support this:

Riot has shown that they understand the value of rolling out voice chat in the past and already have the underlying system in place for opt-in voice chat in premade parties. It’s clear to me that they are scared to release it into the ranked game mode out of fear that it would heighten toxicity, when I believe it would actually do the opposite.

Other posts on this topic

If you take a look at this reddit post that was done 7 years ago, roughly 72% of the people that participated in that poll believed that this would be a benefit to the game. Riot’s current implementation is a cop out and does not actually fulfill what the people in that poll were asking for.

Moderation

Every major title that provides voice chat has a system in place to allow the user to either mute a specific person or leave the voice chat entirely if they are not enjoying the experience. Riot is a massive company and can obviously afford to invest in this.

Closing thoughts

I am arguing for implementing opt-in voice chat in ranked, and potentially based on their data and experience adding it to all game modes after. My opinion is that Riot will benefit financially from catering to its most passionate players. Making the experience more positive, players will likely stick around longer, enjoy the game more, and will likely lead to increased sales.

TL;DR

PROS:

• Improvement in the ability of all competitive players to communicate, thus increasing the value of Amateur and Pro players, which in turn will make the E-Sports scene stronger and more engaging, increasing viewership.
• Improvement in the stigma that LOL is “Toxic”.
• Increased cosmetic sales meaning increased revenue that will no doubt surpass the only con I have.
• The author of this post will feel fulfilled and get to enjoy a game he loves again.

CONS

• Riot will lose money in the short term to pay developers and designers to implement a muting, reporting, and moderation system. (This is the only legitimate con I can think of, mind you this is a billion dollar company)