I love me some League of Legends, but I think even the most dedicated player will admit the game is known for a seriously toxic community. That's not the image Riot wants for its flagship game, and it is taking some important steps to clean up the mess.
One of the most unfun things you can encounter in gaming is smurfing, and in Season 3 Riot has implemented measures to stop it. From their Season 3 development notes:
Starting in Patch 25.18, League will begin taking action against accounts engaged in smurfing, including boosting—when someone else plays on another player’s account to climb to a higher rank— and hitchhiking—when a higher-skilled player uses a fraudulent account to play with a lower-skilled player to artificially increase the lower-skilled player’s rank.
In situations involving multiple accounts, actions will be taken against all offending parties.
Actions will also be taken against accounts that are botted, sold, purchased, or shared. These efforts are powered by Vanguard’s improved detection capabilities and supported by player-submitted “Rank Manipulation” reports.
Alternate accounts used in good faith will remain unaffected. Riot is further expanding tests for True Skill 2, a new matchmaking system improving MMR accuracy and placement speed, to help improve game quality in the long run. Players can learn more about these updates in a new dev blog.
League of Legends' universe is ever-expanding. Its Netflix animated adaptation, Arcane, was one of the best video game adaptations ever. Riot can't keep its new CCG, Riftbound, on the shelves. It's realistic to expect a few people to try LoL to see where Runeterra started, and Riot wants to make sure these brand-new players have a welcoming experience. These changes are long overdue and I hope they take.