League of Legends has been one of the most popular games in the MOBA genre for years now but despite that, the online experience has been a tough one for some to handle. Not only for the complexity of the game but rather than the toxic experience that many players can experience when exposed to the other players who engage with them in the public chat. While this has always been the risk for players of all ages when it comes to online games, League of Legends has decided to put an end to the toxicity in the game by disabling the public chats.
The decision to ban chat in League of Legends comes from negativity
This move is pretty much unprecedented in the online gaming community as it now completely cuts you off from talking with other strangers in the game and while some might not care about that, others thrive on the social aspect of online gaming and in turn, the community response has been extremely negative because most of them insist that the toxic game chats take place on their own team chat as opposed to public chats. It would make sense considering you’re usually scolded by your team chat in games rather than the League of Legends public chat.
An announcement from League of Legends game director Andrei Van Roon and Lead Game Producer Jeremy Lee says ” While all chat can be the source of fun social interaction between teams, as well as some good-hearted banter, right now negative interactions outweigh the positives.”
While the developers acknowledge in the announcement that there is also the possibility for toxicity in the team chats, they have decided to keep that in the game because the team chat is too valuable when it comes to coordination during a game so disabling it would effectively ruin the teamwork that the game is built on.
It’s important to note that this restriction will only be effective on public match-made games. Private games between you and people invited to the game will still be able to engage in public chat, so it’s basically a measure being put in place to prevent abuse from strangers, rather than severing communication between you and the opposing teams in all facets.
Restrictions could be removed as Riot monitors the situation
Despite the move, Riot claims that it will continue the monitor the situation more to see if either additional action is needed with League of Legends’ public chat or if the restriction could be removed somewhere down the line. The player base has not taken a huge hit to this point, but the numbers will be worth monitoring with this huge change to the game.
League of Legends is available now on PC and Mac products.
