So this has been a long time coming but better now than later for this discussion.

I'll be adding a new section to the Guide To Tribunal: Judicial Handbook for specific instances of punishable behavior that the majority can agree on and the reasons why they are punishable.

I'd like everyone to weigh in on the things they find punishable or pardonable and post here to give reasons for these opinions.

I will put a list together here in the original post as data and opinions are considered.

NOTE: This is a list being created by the community, not Riot, but based on the principles of the code of behavior and suggestions given by Riot. This also means that as more and more feedback comes in, the list will become a more accurate view of what is punishable in the League of Legends community.


First, let's dispel a few misconceptions:

"We are voting to ban a player." - FALSE.

We are voting to send a player a simple email warning to watch his/her behavior. The punishment is elevated to suspension only if the player has ignored prior warning(s) to improve and behave more appropriately. THIS MEANS if the case is deserving of at least a simple warning without suspension then you should click PUNISH. Suspension will only occur if the player has dug his/her own grave.


"We should weigh the pardonable incidents against the punishable incidents on a case." - FALSE.

We are being asked to find a punishable incident so that we can send the player a warning about the behavior in that incident. This way the player can use his/her reform card from the case after being punished to ask about what he/she did wrong, and assuming he/she doesn't ignore the community's feedback the punished player will be able to avoid repeating such behavior in the future. Here's a thread with more detail on this. http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/....php?t=2585243


"The incidents shown on a case are the only reported incidents that led to Tribunal." - FALSE.

The incidents shown on a case are only the most recent incidents within the past X days. It actually takes closer to or over five reported incidents (not five reports - people often mix up reports on the same incident with separate incidents) to have a case appear in Tribunal. Since most people will never show up in Tribunal, it would take a lot of reported incidents to make a case appear. Apparently less on a progressive scale for repeat offenders.


"Bad behavior towards teammates is justified if they were bad first." - FALSE.

Players have a certain amount of leeway for being provoked or having a bad game BUT if they cross the line with their retaliation then that becomes punishable behavior. For example, telling a person to "shut up" is a far cry from telling a person to "shut up AND calling them by a racial slur".


"If the report type doesn't match the report we should pardon the accused." - FALSE.

Reporters can make mistakes. This is why the Tribunal is reviewed by people and not completely automated. If you see for example a game in which there are only Intentional Feeding reports but the accused is instead actually guilty of Verbal Abuse, then click Punish.


Here is a list for punishable behavior. Note that this will probably grow larger (and more detailed) as more feedback comes in on this thread (and when I'm not feeling too tired to add to the post).


1. Using any kind of racial slur. [Offensive Language] - Is the player using the word in the context of explaining its meaning in a non-insulting manner or that using it is a bad thing? If not, then that is a blatant disregard for the sensibilities of those who are the general target of that particular slur.

2. Using any kind of homophobic slur. [Offensive Language] - Is the player using the word in the context of explaining its meaning in a non-insulting manner or that using it is a bad thing? If not, then that is a blatant disregard for the sensibilities of those who are the general target of that particular slur.

3. Making lewd references to sexual acts. [Offensive Language]

4. Calling one's allies/team retarded. [Verbal Abuse/Negative Attitude]

5. Calling one's allies/team idiots. [Verbal Abuse/Negative Attitude]

6. Calling one's allies/team dumb. [Verbal Abuse/Negative Attitude]

7. Calling one's allies/team stupid. [Verbal Abuse/Negative Attitude]

8. Calling one's allies/team worthless. [Verbal Abuse/Negative Attitude]

9. Calling one's allies/team useless. [Verbal Abuse/Negative Attitude]

10. Mentioning or calling players by slang or proper terms for genitalia (the body parts that one uses for sexual intercourse). [Offensive Language]

11. Calling one's allies/team bad or fail. [Verbal Abuse/Negative Attitude] - This one could be pardonable based on context. If used to simply insult another player without offering constructive communication, then that will definitely lean the case towards a punish. By the way, calling the whole team bad in all chat is extremely negative and is an obvious punish for creating a morale dip in the whole group.

12. Telling players to die or commit suicide or that they don't deserve to live. [Offensive Language/Negative Attitude]

13. Asking players to trade or begging for Honor. [Spamming ] - It was suggested in a Red discussion that this practice be reported as Spamming.

14. Threatening to declare reports/announcing intent to declare reports on other players. [Negative Attitude]

15. Actual intentional feeding such as running into turrets continuously. [Intentional Feeding] - Sometimes the violator admits it in chat. Sometimes the allies and/or enemies notice it and mention it in chat. Look at the player's kills/deaths/assists (and minion tally) and compare it with the rest of the team. Look at the game's duration. Equipment can also be a clue (for example boots or consumables in all slots by 20 min.).

16. AFK/Leaving. [AFK/Leaver] - The LeaverBuster system won't punish for afk/leaving when it is done sparingly as part of a more varied trend of toxic behavior that includes other types of violations. That is why reports for AFK/Leaver are sent to Tribunal; to punish accordingly to make up for what LeaverBuster is unable to do. It has been a misconception among some players that only LeaverBuster is for AFK/Leaver punishments but the reality is that Tribunal and LeaverBuster are meant to work together as separate systems that complement each other for this type of violation.

17. Saying "GG Noobs" or telling the enemy team that they suck at the end of a match. [Negative Attitude] - If the accused is on the winning team then this should usually be a punish vote for unsportsmanlike conduct. If the accused is on the losing team and this is the only thing that occurred after a rough game, then I might recommend pardoning depending on the context.

18. Blaming allies/teammates for a rough game instead of either keeping quiet or offering encouragement or constructive advice. [Negative Attitude] - The team already likely feels bad about how they're doing in the match. Throwing blame at them is like rubbing salt on open wounds thus creating a rift in morale and cooperation. It makes it much harder to enjoy the game even a little despite the difficulty. Don't expect everyone to play well and try to help those who don't without coming off as condescending or insulting.

19. Telling allíes/teammates that they suck or in other ways that they are unskilled. [Negative Attitude] - Instead of focusing on how poorly a player may be performing, it's best to offer constructive advice and even offer to help out. If one can do this without coming off as condescending or insulting, then it will be much easier to get others to cooperate and even treat a loss as a learning experience instead of a bad match experience.

20. Defamation or mockery of others' religion or culture. [Negative Attitude] - This is a big no no. Wars have been fought over this sort of behavior. This will definitely start fights between teammates and ruin the match for the whole team if left unchecked.

21. Refusing to cooperate with the team. [Negative Attitude] - If the team asks you to play a certain role or to help out sometime during the match and you absolutely refuse without a reasonable explanation that everyone can accept, then it's going to adversely affect the gameplay of the team as well as provoke negative reactions. This is toxic behavior, particularly since it is the sort of bad behavior that spreads negativity.

22. Threatening to feed or throw the match by assisting the enemy team in some way. [Negative Attitude] - Even if you're joking, your allies are not guaranteed nor are they likely to see it that way. This can provoke queue dodging, leaves, and raging so if you do this in the game and don't immediately retract it as a joke, then this little "prank" is worthy of a punish for adversely affecting team morale and provoking negativity in others.

23. Threatening to kill players (in real life). [Negative Attitude] - This can actually lead to a real life jail sentence depending on where you live. Death threats are taken seriously by law enforcement even if you do not.

24. Lying about Tribunal and/or the policies regarding punishment. [Negative Attitude] - Try to be certain of the context when judging this one. Sometimes people are just misinformed. Misinforming others on purpose can lead to others committing acts of toxic behavior.

Here are a couple of examples of what is punishable:
"I'm a member of Tribunal Elite. I can't be banned but I can ban you so you do what I say or else." (There has never been a Tribunal Elite program)
"You can't get punished for saying [racial slurs]." (one very much can and will get punished for using hate language)

25.

I wish those misconceptions were listed on the face of every single tribunal case page, so people actually might glance over them before they press punish or pardon. Especially the first and third misconceptions, which I believe are not fully understood by a majority of tribunal voters.

Yeah. I often see posts where people say "that's not worth a suspension so pardon" but a suspension is the result of more than a single case. If a player gets suspended because of your Punish vote, then there's no reason to feel guilty. Only a handful of players out of thousands ever actually get suspended due to false punishes and they can always contact Riot Support about it. It's hard to get more accurate than that without having the system hooked up to the living brain of a psychic like in the movies.

If the Tribunal programmers could share how many reported incidents it really takes, that would help some understand how bad it gets before Tribunal takes notice but unfortunately that would also help toxic players try to cheat the system by gaming it. The clues we have for now is the stats brought up on players in previous Red posts, and those players were reported in a pretty large percentage of their games; enough to understand why most players will never have a case even form in Tribunal.

Added some help on #15.

Sometimes the violator admits it in chat. Sometimes the allies and/or enemies notice it and mention it in chat. Look at the player's kills/deaths/assists (and minion tally) and compare it with the rest of the team. Look at the game's duration. Equipment can also be a clue (for example boots or consumables in all slots by 20 min.).

You seem very insecure.

Added #16 to the list.

16. AFK/Leaving. [AFK/Leaver] - The LeaverBuster system won't punish for afk/leaving when it is done sparingly as part of a more varied trend of toxic behavior that includes other types of violations. That is why reports for AFK/Leaver are sent to Tribunal; to punish accordingly to make up for what LeaverBuster is unable to do. It has been a misconception among some players that only LeaverBuster is for AFK/Leaver punishments but the reality is that Tribunal and LeaverBuster are meant to work together as separate systems that complement each other for this type of violation.

good list, i hope everyone looks this over before they punish/report. good job JohnnyOmega!

Ahhh...this has cropped up a couple of times. I am wondering, though, if the report shows obvious evidence that the reportee has afk'd would punishing be a sort of double punishment and maybe an overkill.

I say this as I can not tell in reports of a leaver was also busted by the LeaverBuster system.

I don't think afkers should be pardoned but this seems somewhat ambiguous to me.

It actually takes a significant combined total of leaves and afk minutes to even get a simple warning mail from LeaverBuster so it won't end up as double punishment for most cases. For a player to get hit by both Tribunal and LeaverBuster for AFK/Leaver, he/she would have to be pretty extreme in that regard.

If a player shows up in Tribunal for AFK/Leaver, it's often as part of a more varied set of violations so there may be other examples of toxic behavior in his/her case.