How Riot's Social Scientists Fight League of Legends Trolling 116
An anonymous reader writes "There's an interesting interview up today with Jeffrey Lin, lead designer of social systems for Riot, the game studio behind League of Legends. Lin has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. His recognition that most trolls are only trolls because they're having an off day has changed the way that Riot punishes players. 'In other words, you need a carrot and not a stick. Where a punishment would come across as harsh and out-of context, pointing out to players that they're letting their usually-high standards of conduct slide usually results in a change of attitude. Incentivising the good behaviour with an Honour stat which could be affected by conduct in any match also serves to reinforce that good behaviour.' As a result, Lin's seen a noticeable spike in the number of people saying 'GG' (good game) at the end of a match. It leaves you wondering: what if Activision approached Call of Duty griefers on Xbox Live the same way?"
Kids (Score:5, Interesting)
It leaves you wondering: what if Activision approached Call of Duty griefers on Xbox Live the same way?
No it doesn't, because in my experience, most console trolls/griefers aren't "people having an off day," they're foul-mouthed 14-year-olds with shitty excuses for parents.
Is LoL still distributing a virus? (Score:5, Interesting)
Earlier this year I downloaded LoL from their main page, and it installed Pando Media Player as part of the install.
Pando then updated itself, and the update installed a nasty virus payload, including a browser hijacker. This is because Pando closed its doors at the end of last year, and its self-update has sense been hacked and now delivers malware.
All they say on the forums is "just don't install Pando, it isn't actually required, and we plan to remove it someday."
This is totally unacceptable, since they are distributing the virus now as part of their default install package.
I am not at all impressed with their diligence.