Good news! If you weren’t a jerk to people in League of Legends last year, Riot is giving you a free skin!
When it comes to Riot Games stemming the flow of “toxic players” in League of Legends, not even professional players are immune from the banhammer. But, with most forms of effective discipline, you have to have the carrot as well as the stick, so for its end-of-year celebration, rather than punish jerks, Riot has decided to reward those of us who played nice in 2014.
Over the next 14 days, “positive players” will find themselves receiving a free random “mystery skin”. What qualifies you as a “positive player” you may ask? Well, any player who did not receive a chat restriction, ranked restriction, 14-day ban or permanent ban in 2014, and who are at least summoner level 5 and have at least 10 un-owned skins, are eligible.
Riot has certainly taken a rather unique approach to trolls and toxic behavior in a genre that is known for being the worst of the worst. Last year, it revealed that it was using neuroscience to try and reform toxic players, rather than just sweep them under the rug. Furthermore, LoL‘s “Tribunal” puts the power in the player’s hands, by allowing its massive player base to review cases of abuse and harassment from their fellow summoners.
While it is a little bit sad that we are rewarding people simply for “not being a douchebag”, it certainly is a nice little surprise for those of us who’ve been playing nice all year, and most likely had to put up with the abuse of those who can’t control their tempers.
If nothing else, the promise of free stuff, rather than the threat of being banned, may cause a few toxic League of Legends players to hesitate before they start spewing streams of “GG uninstall n00b” to their teammates.
Source: Riot Games
