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It looks like Riot might be adding public voice chat to League of Legends, and as a recovering jungler, I'd like to say publicly that I think that's a very bad idea.
I quit playing League of Legends years ago for my mental health. In my many years playing League of Legends and Dota 2, I've found MOBAs to be particularly toxic among online multiplayer games, and League to be especially toxic among MOBAs. I primarily jungled, but I also hopped between roles depending on team needs, and it seemed like no matter how well I was doing, the shit talking was out of control.
I remember seeing some of the most vile, unrestrained vitriol being spewed to and from all directions seemingly regardless of my team's progress, and junglers always got it the worst. They're the easiest and first to blame when things start going sideways in lanes.
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I genuinely shudder to imagine what playing a game of League with public voice chat switched on would be like, but I bet it would be 45 minutes of increasingly frequent slurs being shouted directly into your ear drums by four middle-aged white men simultaneously. Basically, what I imagine the ninth circle of hell being like, minus the literal fire.
But it seems this may soon be a reality, as files have been unearthed on the public build environment (PBE) by SkinSpotlights on Twitter. These files seem to reference a reporting system that includes an option for "VOICE COMMS ABUSE", which I'm sure would be 100% effective, alongside apparent toggles for party and team-based voice chat.
League players have been able to use voice chat in parties for a while now, but if the above files indicate full-on public voice chat is coming, you'd be able to talk to, shout at, and be shouted at, by complete randoms should you have the misfortunate of having that option toggled on. Thankfully, it would almost certainly be an option you could turn on and off, but still, I can't imagine that would do anything but stoke the flames of an already dangerously toxic environment.
I honestly don't see a reason, or even much of a demand, for this sort of thing to be added to a game like League, but until it's confirmed to be true, I suppose there's no use getting all worked up ahead of time. I just worry about my fellow junglers, probably still taking mountains of shit from teammates who can't hold their lanes all these years later.
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After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.
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