Inside the Largest Virtual Psychology Lab In the World 81
bearhuntz writes: Riot Games has been using League of Legends as a psychology lab to run scientific experiments and reduce toxic player behavior for a while now. This article explains some of the experiments they're doing, and what the results have been. "For example, one product is a restricted chat mode that limits the number of messages abusive players can type per match. It’s a temporary punishment that has led to a noticeable improvement in player behavior afterward —on average, individuals who went through a period of restricted chat saw 20 percent fewer abuse reports filed by other players. The restricted chat approach also proved 4 percent more effective at improving player behavior than the usual punishment method of temporarily banning toxic players. Even the smallest improvements in player behavior can make a huge difference in an online game that attracts 67 million players every month."
first to post Clockwork Orange (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm somewhat disturbed at how often we see Westerners, especially ones who should know better (like academics, students, and professionals) so actively supporting and forcing outright censorship on others.
While they have the right to express such ideas, anyone claiming to support Western ideals just cannot support censorship at the same time. It's inherently contradictory, and extremely hypocritical, to do so.
It's bad enough when censorship is used by those in power to maintain or increase their power. But
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Not an AC here. It's still at -1, and I agree, there's a bit of rage moderation going on in here. There are tells on styles of writing that experienced readers will be able to read and say "Oh, that AC is that registered user", which is particularly troublesome when downmodded comments turn out to be the most insightful, on topic gems and very often the least offensive, that get modded to oblivion just because someone's been made to look like an idiot on a forum.
Re:first to post Clockwork Orange (Score:4, Insightful)
Except it's not terribly insightful, nor is it particularly truthful. There's a big gap between "abridging freedom of speech" and "not giving assholes a platform for their bullshit." Let them provide their own, with hookers and blackjack, etc.etc.
It's not any different dropping spammers and that asshole who keeps trying to dictionary attack your SSH teergrube into a blocklist: crying "censorship" because you get smacked down for behaving like a tit isn't "insightful," it just makes you look like a 12 year old.
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And you're exactly the kind of person I'm referring to. If I invite someone over for a dinner party and they decide to piss on my couch "Becuz freedum," then they're going to be removed, bodily, and not allowed back.
Your rights end where others' begin. And I'm not referring to the non-existent "right to not be offended", before you start bleating about that. I'm referring to the game owners' right to decide who they want to invite into their game - aka "Free Association".
If they don't want their game associ
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But this is billed as "the largest psychology lab". How likely do you think the findings about censorship are likely to be applied in other contexts, by government even?
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I doubt the government will pay any attention to it whatsoever. This is already handled quite well in meatspace (at least in the US) unless the target is the government itself - then the fuckers cheat, and that has been going on for 15+ years.
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Re:first to post Clockwork Orange (Score:5, Interesting)
Why can't you just use an /ignore function? Why impose your idea of what is abusive on everyone else? We have the technology to implement censorship at the client, without forcing prior restraint upon anyone.
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Why impose your idea of what is abusive on everyone else? We have the technology to implement censorship at the client, without forcing prior restraint upon anyone.
Because stupid people, I'm afraid.
The (cynical?) entrepreneurial amongst us long ago learned that the quickest and easiest buck to be obtained is the stupid dollar. Fully 50% of the population is at one's disposal if one has a sufficiently guilt-free complex. The work is probably as rewarding as taking candy from a stupid baby and certainly much easier (if you enjoy that kind of thing, that is).
To me it's always been a bit of a cop-out. I'm sure it is easy once one gets past one's moral event horizon, rathe
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Let's work on smart filters. How difficult can it be, to use big data to infer which posts you will probably want to see? If this company doesn't want to do it, their loss. Ultimate freedom for all, simultaneously, without affecting anyone else who doesn't choose to be affected, is the promise of technology. Market pressures are throttling progress towards that goal.
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Re:first to post Clockwork Orange (Score:5, Insightful)
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Why wouldn't they want to implement an "all things to all people" approach, where you could experience only the chat you wanted to see, while they could still rant? Isn't this really about imposing personal taste on others?
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Reddit, HN and even slashdot are not censorship, but democratic rule of the mob. Majority conservative groupthink silencing the outrageous opposition.
Mobs can be smart (delphi method), or dumb (torches and pitchforks).
Sadly its often the case of the latter because people refuse to be rational about their confirmation bias. Exact same thing goes in politics or cultures in general.
But I'd defer dissing democracy as such just because people are so bad at executing it
Not Really... (Score:3)
The largest virutal psychology lab. The scientists have just been conditioned to think it is.
I doubt it (Score:3)
Re:I doubt it (Score:4, Interesting)
A/B testing is using feedback from your users to determine how to configure your product so that it is most useful to them. What LoL seems to be doing is using feedback from their product to change the users to be more useful...
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Back in the good ol' days on freenode, there was a #politics which had a no kick/ban policy, and a ##politics which was like every other irc channel, with active mods. Guess which was more popular? The little girls who run freenode became so jealous of the fun we had in #politics that they had to shut it down.
I loved the freedom of the old #politics, under aksis who set up the no kick/ban policy. I would argue with the bigots and racists and other trolls. I could make them shut up or leave, just with words,
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There is a large medium difference, and if you don't get that, the discussion can not be had.
League isn't a hangout place, its a entertainment medium. You go there to do something, and interaction is a secondary concern.
You describe #politics as a place where you go for the sake of interaction, where the contrast with ##politics also makes it seem that the latter is filled with butthurt banhammers.
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So it just comes out in other ways. (Score:1)
Why not let abuse take place online in virtual environments? Instead, this psychology of banning and throttling likely leads to more offline abusive real-life suffering.
If terrorists spent all their time flaming on message boards, wouldn't it be better than if they were banned and decided to go out and do some real violence?
Real terrorists are born of conditions that game.. (Score:1)
Real terrorists are born of actual life conditions that social media butterflies and game-playing losers could not imagine in their most lethargy-fueled nightmares.
It is amazing how much time first-worlders can waste and still continue to exist, even prosper.
I can't see this absurd status quo continuing much longer.
... Says Guy Commenting On Well Moderated Site (Score:2)
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Well I can set my filter to -1, and hide the moderation scores, even though it doesn't work too well: for example, a post above that was rated -1 (as a response to it noted) was not fully displayed; I had to click on it to read it. I wish slashdot would fix that bug so when I tell it I want unfiltered comments with no moderation scores, I can see everything.
BTW I lost my mod privileges here over a decade ago, after I upvoted this comment [slashdot.org].
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The Toffee Approach (Score:3)
Why not let abuse take place online in virtual environments?
Because it sucks and leads to much more offline abusive behavior by otherwise good people after they have been repeatedly harassed.
Instead, this psychology of banning and throttling likely leads to more offline abusive real-life suffering.
The opposite is true. Because the natural abuser is inclined to fight through any system thrown at them, throttling and other attempts drain their energy more than simply letting them post would, leading to more
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A lot of people act like it's just bad luck that League of Legend's player base is so abusive, or they say things like "Isn't it too bad that MOBAs attract such a bad group of people?" I hardly ever see the community blamed on the game itself, but you're talking relatively high s
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"The opposite is true. Because the natural abuser is inclined to fight through any system thrown at them, throttling and other attempts drain their energy more than simply letting them post would, leading to more relaxed (or at least less) behavior offline.
Not to mention, we all know that trolls online are probably losers who would never in a billion years have the nerve to say or do anything offensive offline..."
Yeah, but I have personal experience with censorship leading to depression. After being banned
Perfect Result (Score:2)
Sounds like the system worked perfectly then. Others were not affected by your miasma, and depression would naturally lead you to interact less with others.
Your mental health is nothing compared to the tens or thousands of mental states you negatively impacted.
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Instead, this psychology of banning and throttling likely leads to more offline abusive real-life suffering.
Factless speculation.
Actually, when people behave better online, and are surrounded by people behaving better online, the net result is better real life behavior.
See I can do it too.
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So do a real psychological study, not like this one which doesn't examine the potential ramifications of banning and throttling.
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Why can't devs who care implement filters for clients, so each person gets a custom view, and no one is censored? Is it too hard, or is this a political control thing?
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What if they were having fun trolling online, and the only harm done was a few thin-skinned squares had to type /ignore? What if they could vent against bullying without any consequences, like being called "toxic"?
But, voice is worse (Score:2, Interesting)
I played derivatives of it like hon or maybe dotA, I forget. But in my brief time playing trying to get the hang of it, I just remember being told that I was a retard and a faggot and that I should kill myself. I think I missed something in mid as well.
I've played fps with voice chat, and people get mad when objectives fail but I think most people are just doing their own thing and try to make up for crappy players by upping their own game. Some don't even care because it's more about having fun than anythi
The research could help there (Score:2)
Perhaps the research could help over time those distinctions exist and pair like-minded people together.
I thought most modern games already had systems to at least try and match players with similar skill levels.
The game mechanics depend on the worst players (Score:2)
The more one of your players dies, the stronger the other team gets. It often literally is that player's fault you lose.
I'm trying to get S2 to reduce that effect because it heavily limits the effect of your own play -- making it approach a game of chance, rather than skill.
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s/bigot/murderer/
You're an idiot who can't differentiate between "existence" and "action," and it's because of simpletons like you that the SJWs you hate so much are able to continue to spread their hate, hypocrisy, and propaganda and keep their credibility among the other idiots, who parrot their own bullshit memes right back in and endless cycle of reality-defying masturbation.
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Misleading headline (Score:2)
World of Tanks (Score:2)
Turning ingame chat OFF does a lot of favours for the game - I don't even see what other players are typing while I'm shooting the snot out of them from clear across the map.
Oh man, I'd hate to see how your kids turn out. (Score:4, Interesting)
...addressing the common theme in the above comments collectively. Trying to make people act less anti-social, in a privately run setting, is horrible censorship and a terrible evil? Trying to get people to act civilly is more unethical than telling people to kill themselves? Are you serious? I hope you don't take that approach raising kids, or managing workers. Jesus Christ.
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It's the forcing that's the issue for me. Try with words, not bans or throttling. Or if your words aren't good enough, just /ignore them.
The implications of this story go beyond the mechanics of the particular game involved. It's branded as a psychological study; you don't think people will try to use the conclusions in other social media settings?
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I see where its going. If you make the assumption that players who just sit around and shout "puta puta puta" at their teammates the entire game, and they can't be corrected. They don't understand what they are doing, or so the assumption goes.
The big question is basically: How many of these people understand they are toxic, and how many can improve themselves? I see why they call it a study in psychology, since the subject here is interisting.
If its valid for a study is a entirely different issue, since i
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LoL game mechanics cause the toxicity (Score:1)