Riot will run “two-patch experiment” to test Champion Select reporting and muting in League of Legends

Riot Games will use League of Legends Patch 10.13 and 10.14 to experiment with the upcoming Champion Select report and mute system, the company explained today.

The feature will start on North American and Korean servers and expand to other regions afterward. This will allow players to mute and report griefers and trolls before the game even starts.

“We’re running this experiment to see if champ select muting leads to changes in behavior related to negative chat in champ select and in-game,” Riot said.

With numerous complaints of game-ruining behavior in League solo queue, Riot is attempting to curb toxicity through various tests. Muting a player in Champion Select will transfer in-game and in other matches. Muting won’t extend to the post-game lobby, however.

Related: League’s toxicity falls on Riot and the community, and Hai believes the “problem needs to be fixed from both ends”

Reporting griefers before the match starts will also kick off in Patch 10.13, allowing Riot to “gain a clear understanding of how often different types of negative behaviors occur in champ select.” The company will use the report data to analyze the impact negative pre-game behavior has on the chance of winning and the rate of in-game reports. But this first iteration of Champ Select reporting won’t be tied to any penalty system.

Once the two-patch experiment ends, Riot will go back to the drawing board to plan the second iteration and a penalty system.