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Riot Games has introduced a new set of rules for the professional League of Legends community based on feedback and analysis from the past year.
Announced on Tuesday on the League of Legends site, there are to be three initial changes, these are the creation of a global penalty index, a penalty tracker and looking to ensure an increased level of dialogue with pro players and owners.
The new penalty index is the most intriguing. The announcement on the site, made by Riot’s Director of Esports Whalen Rozelle, stated that the introduction of the penalty index was “to create consistency and set clear expectations around penalties, we (sic) are releasing a “penalty index,” or list of common offenses and their associated penalties, to make penalties more predictable and transparent.”
The penalty tracker will show the public all rulings made throughout a season, and Rozelle highlighted the underlying motive behind this was that Riot values transparency. In the statement he also discussed the LCS Pro Player Panel, and said: “All of this is part of a larger effort to incorporate more dialogue with pro players and owners into the league disciplinary process and structure.”
He added: “Since one of our goals behind league rules is to encourage teams to behave professionally and exhibit good sportsmanship, it makes sense to engage in a more consistent dialogue with players and owners about what exactly that means.”
Rozelle concluded by noting that the new LCS ruleset and penalty index is not a “stone tablet”, it’s a young league which is learning and improving all the time. It’s clear that Rozelle and the Riot team are strongly in favour of transparency and dialogue with all those involved in the community, which can only be positive going forward.
