First of all, I want to state upfront the following belief:
Throne of Lies is a paid game. It costs money to enjoy the service, it is not provided freely.
If you pay to participate in the game, and are them deprived of your ability to play said game, you should be entitled to a full refund. If you are not refunded, you have been robbed.
In very plain terms, banning players is theft. I find it entirely unconscionable. You have taken their money and decided, for whatever reason, to stop providing the thing they paid for. If you do not compensate them for this, you are a thief.
This is my stance and it is quite hardline. I would also note that i have never been banned or warned in this game at all. I’ve merely seen reports from others who have, and it doesn’t sit well with me
Now, all of that said, i do understand that there is some value in maintaining a certain quality of experience. That certain players - especially those who refuse to play the game correctly - drag down the quality for everyone, and there must be some way of ensuring that quality for a majority.
My proposed solution then, is not banning, but tiered play.
Allow two modes of play. The moderated and the unmoderated queue.
The moderated queue works as normal, it is what we have now.
The unmoderated queue is a wild west. No rules, no holds barred. Nobody is allowed to report anyone else in those games,whatever happens, happens. Total freedom. Anything said or done in those games will be ignored, no action taken against such players
Only in the moderated queue will reports be allowed and reviewed
Instead of a ban, someone would be forced to play in the unmoderated queue only, for X number of games, before they can then play in the moderated one. “Play” in this case means participating until they complete their objective or die, as per usual. Then they may leave and play another
This should be a wholesale replacement for banning. At no point ever, should anyone be banned from playing the game that they played for. Only restricted in exactly who they can play with.
The unmoderated pool will be populated not only by those being punished, but also by those who, for whatever reason, can’t tolerate rules and oversight. Racist names will be common, fools will spam their websites, gamethrowing will be commonplace, people will experiment with unusual and probably poorly advised tactics without fear of reprisal, some people will play it just to learn, without any worry about failure.
Whatever happens in the unmoderated pool stays there. It will act as a containment zone for all the most chaotic players and behaviours, leaving the normal moderated pool as a quality-assured experience of fair play
