1. What is the Tribunal and why was it created?
The Tribunal is a system developed by Riot Games, whereby those eligible among the community of League of Legends players have been empowered to dictate what conduct they consider inappropriate to a positive gameplay environment. The objective is to once again reinforce the importance of the tenets proscribed through the Summoner’s Code. Creating a pleasant experience goes beyond preventing serious and obvious harassment. Competitive environments -- particularly in a relatively anonymous setting -- can sometimes foster rude, unpleasant behavior.
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2. What information do I have to help me make a decision?
As a Tribunal member you will have access to a number of materials to help you determine guilt or innocence in a particular instance. These items will include:
* Game statistics for all reports that a given player has accrued.
* The reason that they were reported in each instance.
* The defendant player’s score for each game in which he was reported.
* The defendant player’s inventory for each game in which he was reported
* Chat logs for each of the games that generated a harassment report.
* The player in question’s summoner statistics.
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3. When should I be voting to punish?
When you’re reviewing cases that have reached the Tribunal system for arbitration, remember that your most important resource to make the right decision is the Summoner’s Code. The Code is a blueprint for positive player behavior, and outlines the proper response to most situations that you will encounter in game. In general, when a player is in clear violation of these guidelines, and it is damaging someone else’s enjoyment of the game, you should feel empowered to punish them for it.
Generally speaking, a punishable offense must be a deliberate, malicious act that is intended to spoil another player’s experience. Here are some examples of situations that might constitute punishable offenses:
* Explicit use of hate terms, racial slurs, cultural epithets, etc.
* Players who deliberately and viciously insult other players.
* Repeatedly negative, unconstructive attitudes
* Players whose teasing crosses the line, and who persist after being asked repeatedly to stop.
* Deliberately disruptive gameplay, such as intentional feeding.
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4. When should I be voting to Pardon?
Here are some examples of times where reported players should be pardoned.
* Players who are celebrating, but not intending to be offensive.
* Players who are playfully quipping at one another.
* Someone who is reacting to another player’s repeated badgering or insulting behavior.
* Players who are not responding to other players or do not speak the language, but otherwise aren’t displaying any negative or strange behavior.
* Players who display poor performance, but do not appear to be intentionally feeding or otherwise disrupting gameplay.
* Players who cease their negative behaviors and/or apologize when another player informs them that they have taken things too far and asks them to stop.
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5. If found guilty, what will the punishment consist of?
Reported players, if found guilty, will receive a warning or be temporarily suspended from the game. Each time a player is found guilty, the maximum suspension duration may go up. Before any severe punishment is imposed, the offending player’s report/account will be automatically escalated to a customer service representative for review. Depending on the severity, the representative can take action up to a possible permanent ban.
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6. How many votes are required to result in a suspension?
Currently, we are deliberately keeping the specific number of punishment votes required for disciplinary action a secret. However, in the interest of fairness, players must be subject to an overwhelming majority of guilty votes to undergo punishment.
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7. How are the reports that I am allowed to view selected?
The reports over which you will be presiding will be selected and assigned randomly by the Tribunal system. You will not be able to choose which cases you review.
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8. Will players be able to see who voted on their case?
No. We feel that it is extremely important that a certain level of confidentiality is maintained.
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9. Can I expect a reward for assisting the Tribunal?
Yes! If your recommendation matches the final verdict, you will receive a reward in the form of Influence Points (an indeterminate amount, but likely comparable to that gained by a few hours of gameplay) for your civil service. However, if you vote on a case, and the majority disagrees with your assessment, you’ll receive no rewards. The system is designed in this manner in order to create an incentive for Tribunal members to render thoughtful, intelligent decisions on each and every case that they evaluate.
We will also be taking into account the frequency with which a Tribunal member votes against the majority in order to weed out those players who are either voting excessively erratically, out of touch with the general will of the community, or deliberately attempting to disrupt consensus.
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10. I have multiple accounts. Can I earn my daily IP on each of them?
Certainly. But bear in mind that you must be at least level 30 to serve as part of the Tribunal.
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11. Can I vote on reports that I have submitted?
At present you can, but an upcoming update to the system will prevent players from being randomly assigned their own reports. You will never be able to vote on a case where you are the reported player.
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12. How many player reports can I vote on each day?
Currently, we are limiting the number of cases that a player can vote on to 3 per day, but this number will be subject to review and change based upon our early observations of how players are utilizing the system.
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13. Can people who don’t like me repeatedly report me?
This could only be the case if you find yourself repeatedly matched into games with them. Players are limited to one report per player, per game.
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14. I just got reported. Does this mean I will be reviewed by the Tribunal?
It depends, but not necessarily. Players are only reviewed by the Tribunal if there is significant evidence to support a need for their behavior to be reviewed. Our system takes a variety of factors into account as player reports roll in, so simply getting reported once is unlikely to land you in front of the Tribunal. Here are a few of the factors considered before you find yourself on the docket:
* Accounts that accrue a large volume of player reports are much more likely to be reviewed.
* New accounts are judged more stringently than veterans.
* The reputation of the player who is reporting you will also be taken into account. Reports made by level 30 summoners with clean record will be weighed more heavily than those submitted by newer accounts and/or those whose reputation has been tarnished by frequent harassment reports.
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15. What are the most common reasons for a summoner to be reported?
The most common reasons cited for player reports are either harassment or disruption of gameplay (intentional feeding, etc.). Bear in mind that the definition of harassment can range from direct, overt verbal harassment, to intentionally creating an unpleasant gameplay environment.
Generally speaking, if you’re abiding by the Summoner’s Code, you’ll find that other summoners will enjoy playing with you.
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16. Will my account information be available if I'm reported?
Riot Games will never share personal information such as email addresses, billing addresses, personal names, etc. with The Tribunal. However, your chat logs, statistics, summoner name, and other in-game data directly relevant to judging your case will be available for review. In general, it is safest to always assume that anything that you say in public game chat could end up available for review by Tribunal members. Please be careful what personal information you disclose during your time playing League of Legends.
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17. What if I think I was incorrectly reported? How will the Tribunal know I’m innocent?
Like any trial that employs a jury system, once you are selected for evaluation by the Tribunal your guilt or innocence will be determined by your peers. However, with your game data as evidence, if you have in fact been incorrectly reported, it is our sincerest hope that you will be pardoned.
Like any democratic system, however, the Tribunal is only as good as its checks and balances. As such, a member of the Riot Games Customer Support Team will be assigned to audit the system, paying particularly close attention to cases that are ripe for more severe punishment and confirming the verdict before allowing the punishment to be carried out. Moreover, except in the most extreme of cases, first offenses will almost always be warnings. In the event that you receive such a warning, just consider it a friendly reminder to observe the Summoner’s Code.
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18. Can I vote to pardon myself if I'm reported?
No. The system will never assign you to review a case against yourself.
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19. I was suspended by the Tribunal. How long am I suspended for?
Suspensions that happen as a result of The Tribunal review work on a graduated system, carrying progressively harsher penalties for repeat offenders. In almost all cases, the first offense is a warning rather than a ban. Following that, additional appearances before the Tribunal might carry penalties ranging from a single-day ban to several weeks.
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20. I'm permanently banned, is there any way to appeal?
You always have the option to submit an appeal to our Customer Support Team, but it is extremely unlikely that we will decide to rescind a permanent ban. This is largely because all permanent bans are distributed manually, after careful review of all the evidence, which is generally pretty conclusive.
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21. I'm a paying user and was suspended. I feel like I should be given a bit more leniency than free users.
We want League of Legends to be an enjoyable experience for all Summoners and we see The Tribunal as a way to help achieve that goal. Once The Tribunal has spoken, you’ll have to live with your punishment. To provide a fair and impartial system, we cannot give leniency only to certain users simply based on the money they’ve spent.
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22. How else can I be suspended or permanently banned?
In extreme cases, if a member of the Riot Games staff witness’s poor player conduct, they may make a judgment call to issue an immediate suspension or ban. With over a hundred Riot Games employees who play thousands of games a day, you just never know when you could be playing with a Rioter!
Additionally, various violations of the EULA and Terms of Use (such as intentional feeding) sometimes carry penalties that may include suspension of a player account, and do not require in-game reporting to be detected. Also, remember that even if you are not explicitly reported, leaving or going AFK in games may still net you an automatic ban from our LeaverBuster system!