u/AAbattery444

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Hey everyone,

I want to pause for a second and check in with all of you because we are rapidly closing in on 600 members. I'm incredibly glad to see this space growing, but hitting this size means we are running into some pretty typical growing pains with how people interact with each uther in the comments.

We founded this subreddit to be an open, unfiltered space where we can challenge things, share data and opinions, and have real discussions without heavy-handed censorship. But lately, I've had to deal with an influx of rude comments that completely ignore the core issues of a post and just resort to personal attacks.

To be completely transparent, I have a few hard limits that are absolutely non-negotiable. We will always remove NSFW content, hate speech, discriminatory language, and totally unproductive, targeted personal attacks. That stuff is fundamentally bad faith and has no place here.

But beyond those obvious baselines, I want to get an understanding of what this community actually wants to tolerate when it comes to standard heated debates. Because Reddit poll options have strict text limits, I'm breaking down the exact meaning of each choice below so you know exactly what you are voting for:

Poll Options Explained:

• Choice 1: Draw the line strictly at targeted personal attacks.

If you vote for this, you think cursing, heavy swearing, intense tilt, and general rudeness are completely fine as long as a user is talking about the game or a topic. The only thing that gets stepped on beyond our baseline hard limits is when a thread completely derails into targeted, malicious harassment against another member.

• Choice 2: Draw the line at attacks + pure unconstructive trolling.

If you vote for this, you want us to also remove low-effort comments that add absolutely zero substance to a thread and exist solely to mock, belittle, or troll people in bad faith. You want arguments to stay focused on actual points, even if they get heated.

• Choice 3: Draw the line at general hostility (Keep tone polite).

If you vote for this, you want a much cleaner environment. This means filtering out heavy cursing, aggressive call-outs, and intense hostility to protect the general vibe and emotional comfort of the space.

I genuinely want your raw feedback on this because I don't want to run this space based entirely on my own subjective feelings. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below if you want to expand on your vote. Thanks for being here and helping build this space.

View Poll

I'm posting a lot tonight, but I can't stop thinking about how we can actually protest this garbage matchmaking system. If you missed my last breakdown on how these patents operate, I've linked it here.

I believe we can force the algorithm to give us fair matches if we collectively agree to follow three simple rules to poison the data riot uses to rig matchmaking. If the system functions the way the data in riot's patents suggest, these actions will definitively disrupt the metrics Riot uses to manipulate our games.

Here are the three rules we need to test:

1. Stop using the honor system. Don't honor anyone after a game. The matchmaker tracks positive reinforcement to measure your satisfaction. If we stop giving them that data, we create a blind spot in their engagement tracking.

2. Don't report players unless it's an extreme case. The algorithm profiles player behavior to construct specific lobbies. Refusing to file reports starves the behavioral model of the data it needs to sort us.

3. Walk away for 24 to 48 hours the exact moment you lose a game after a win streak. Don't queue up for another match. This is the most critical rule. The entire system is built to manage your churn risk. If you keep playing after a crushing loss, the algorithm learns it can treat you poorly without losing your business. If you log off immediately, you'll trigger a high churn warning. The system will be forced to give you a fair or favorable match next time just to keep you attached to the game.

I know it's a long shot. But we can use our own actions as community to run a real experimental test to prove whether or not this theory is true without anymore guessing. If we all follow these guidelines, we can see if we can successfully poison the data well.

EDIT:

UPDATE: Crucial New Data Found in the Official Patent Claims

I just finished reading through even more of the literal claims section at the very end of the patent document. This is the only part of a patent that apparently actually carries real legal weight and it can help give us answers to the some of the exact questions and pushback we are seeing in the comments.

• They build an invisible social web. Claims 8 through 13 explicitly outline how the matchmaker maps out first, second, and third degree connections between players based entirely on mutual post game honors. When you stop honoring people, you aren't just hiding your satisfaction. You are actively tearing down the data network the system needs to chain compatible players together. This is massive validation for rule one of our protest strategy.

• The behavioral system is live and pre loaded on login. Claim 14 explicitly states that the engine stores your behavioral category scores into a high speed memory cache the exact second you log into the game client. Skeptics keep arguing that behavioral profiling is too resource heavy to run in real time for millions of users. The legal text proves they intentionally pre load your personality data so the engine can query it instantly when you queue up.

• Skill is legally a secondary layer. Claim 16 sets up the baseline structure of the system and states that teams are formed based primarily on personality categories and behavioral vectors. Skill level isn't even mentioned until Claim 17 where it says the matching is based further in part on skill level. Legally speaking, the patent treats behavioral sorting as the primary structure of the engine and skill level is just a secondary modifier tacked on afterward.

(Note: The automod for this sub blocks all links in the body text so I am putting the direct links to the UCLA paper, the Riot patent, and my original breakdown in the very first comment. Please read them.)

I posted a thread a while ago breaking down Riot's matchmaking patent and the UCLA engagement paper. Someone on this sub claimed I didn't actually read the patent text so I went back to dig even deeper. I found something completely insane that everyone needs to see.

Riot isn't just looking at your rank or your win rate. They're actively profiling your behavior and assigning you specific personality categories to manipulate team chemistry.

I want to show you the exact text from their patent documentation:

> "At Action Block 3400, turning to FIG. 8, one electronic process 4000 to create player matches for teams and opponents is shown 4000. In this process 4000, the behavior data in database 1110 are filtered in to a number of pre-defined personality categories, e.g., Leaders, Teammates, Mentors, and Verbal Aggressors (Action Block 4100). A score may be generated for each active user at each category, and each category may have a pre-defined threshold. For example, a player with a high “Leader” score will have received over 500 positive commendations (e.g., by players using the interface 1150 in FIG. 4) over the player's lifetime with at least 25% Friendly Commendations, 25% Helpful Commendations, and 25% Team Oriented Commendations. A player with a high “Teammate” score will have received over 500 positive commendations with at least 25% Friendly Commendations and 25% Team Oriented Commendations. A player with a high “Mentor” score will have received over 500 commendations with at least 40% Friendly Commendations and 40% Helpful Commendations. Further, a player with a high “Verbal Aggressor” score may include over 50 negative reports, such as those shown in Mescon Application, with at least 25% of the reports being related to Verbal Abuse and 25% of the reports being related to Offensive Language"

I think it's wild that they're sorting us into literal bins like Leaders or Verbal Aggressors using a mathematical threshold based on our lifetime reports and honors.

I know some people will argue that this patent is over a decade old and that the old honor categories are gone. I want to point out how easy it is for backend engineers to update an algorithm without filing a new public document. They've simply adjusted the machine learning model to look at your total aggregated honors instead of specific categories like friendly or helpful. We just give generic honors now but the underlying math functions exactly the same way. On top of that, the influence of system reports for verbal abuse and offensive language is still entirely live and relevant today. Riot just tallies those metrics to keep sorting our profiles into these exact same behavioral bins.

I also read through the literal claims section at the very end of the patent document because this is the only part that actually carries legal weight and it shows how deep this shit goes. Claims 8 through 13 outline how the engine uses first, second, and third degree connections between players based entirely on mutual honors after a game. What that means is that the algorithm is actively mapping out a huge invisible social network across the wider player base to link specific people together. I also noticed that claim 14 flat out says that the engine stores your behavioral category scores into a fast memory cache the exact second you log into the game client. That blows up the argument that tracking behavioral profiles for millions of users is too resource heavy to run in real time because they're literally loading your personality data beforehand so it is ready to go. I think the craziest part is claim 16 which explains the entire baseline structure of the system and says that teams are formed based primarily on personality categories and behavioral vectors. Skill level isn't even mentioned until claim 17 as a secondary modifier. Legally speaking, the patent treats behavioral profiling as the core foundation of the engine and competitive skill is just an afterthought tacked on at the end.

It gets even worse when you see how they build the teams. They aren't just matching random people with similar MMR. They're engineering the social dynamic of your lobby.

Look at this next quote:

> "In system 1000, the player matching engine 1130 at Action Block 3400 may dynamically match players based on personality scores, such as those described above (Action Block 4200). For example, the player matching engine 1130 may create a 5 player team that includes at least one player with a high Leader score and the remaining 4 players who have high Teammate scores in accordance with the formulas above."

They're literally handcrafting a psychological cocktail for your team to maximize engagement. If you've ever felt like your lobbies are bizarrely manufactured to create a specific team environment, you're not crazy. It's written right there in their official legal filings.

I'm sharing this specific piece because I'm tired of the constant gaslighting. They tell us that match manipulation is just a myth or a coping mechanism for tilt. It's clearly a documented corporate strategy.

Check my comment below for all the direct links to the source material. Let me know what you think.

I posted a thread a while ago breaking down Riot's matchmaking patent and the UCLA engagement paper. Someone on the ADC mains sub claimed I didn't actually read the patent text so I went back to dig even deeper. I found something completely insane that everyone needs to see.

Riot isn't just looking at your rank or your win rate. They're actively profiling your behavior and assigning you specific personality categories to manipulate team chemistry.

I want to show you the exact text from figure 8 of their patent documentation:

> "At Action Block 3400, turning to FIG. 8, one electronic process 4000 to create player matches for teams and opponents is shown 4000. In this process 4000, the behavior data in database 1110 are filtered in to a number of pre-defined personality categories, e.g., Leaders, Teammates, Mentors, and Verbal Aggressors (Action Block 4100). A score may be generated for each active user at each category, and each category may have a pre-defined threshold. For example, a player with a high “Leader” score will have received over 500 positive commendations (e.g., by players using the interface 1150 in FIG. 4) over the player's lifetime with at least 25% Friendly Commendations, 25% Helpful Commendations, and 25% Team Oriented Commendations. A player with a high “Teammate” score will have received over 500 positive commendations with at least 25% Friendly Commendations and 25% Team Oriented Commendations. A player with a high “Mentor” score will have received over 500 commendations with at least 40% Friendly Commendations and 40% Helpful Commendations. Further, a player with a high “Verbal Aggressor” score may include over 50 negative reports, such as those shown in Mescon Application, with at least 25% of the reports being related to Verbal Abuse and 25% of the reports being related to Offensive Language"

I think it's wild that they're sorting us into literal bins like Leaders or Verbal Aggressors using a mathematical threshold based on our lifetime reports and honors.

I know some people will argue that this patent is over a decade old and that the old honor categories are gone. I want to point out how easy it is for backend engineers to update an algorithm without filing a new public document. They've simply adjusted the machine learning model to look at your total aggregated honors instead of specific categories like friendly or helpful. We just give generic honors now but the underlying math functions exactly the same way. On top of that, the influence of system reports for verbal abuse and offensive language is still entirely live and relevant today. Riot just tallies those metrics to keep sorting our profiles into these exact same behavioral bins.

I also read through the literal claims section at the very end of the patent document because I wanted the ultimate proof of how active and foundational this system is. This is the only part that actually carries legal weight and it shows how deep this shit goes. Claims 8 through 13 outline how the engine uses first, second, and third degree connections between players based entirely on mutual honors after a game. What that means is that the algorithm is actively mapping out a huge invisible social network across the wider player base to link specific people together. I also noticed that claim 14 flat out says that the engine stores your behavioral category scores into a fast memory cache the exact second you log into the game client. That blows up the argument that tracking behavioral profiles for millions of users is too resource heavy to run in real time because they're literally loading your personality data beforehand so it is ready to go. I think the craziest part is claim 16 which sets up the baseline structure of the system and states that teams are formed based primarily on personality categories and behavioral vectors. Skill level isn't even mentioned until claim 17 as a secondary modifier. Legally speaking, the patent treats behavioral profiling as the core foundation of the engine and competitive skill is just an afterthought tacked on at the end.

It gets even worse when you see how they build the teams. They aren't just matching random people with similar MMR. They're engineering the social dynamic of your lobby.

Look at this next quote:

> "In system 1000, the player matching engine 1130 at Action Block 3400 may dynamically match players based on personality scores, such as those described above (Action Block 4200). For example, the player matching engine 1130 may create a 5 player team that includes at least one player with a high Leader score and the remaining 4 players who have high Teammate scores in accordance with the formulas above."

They're literally handcrafting a psychological cocktail for your team to maximize engagement. If you've ever felt like your lobbies are bizarrely manufactured to create a specific team environment, you're not crazy. It's written right there in their official legal filings.

I'm sharing this specific piece because I'm tired of the constant gaslighting. They tell us that match manipulation is just a myth or a coping mechanism for tilt. It's clearly a documented corporate strategy.

Let me know what you think.

Also, shout out to u/Exciting_Income4766 for letting me know about this because I had no idea until just now.

P.S. Happy 4th of July Summoners! Hope y'all are having a nice time!

Genuinely curious how many of us here participate in the US primary elections.

View Poll

Ok, not literally. And bot lane is an exception.

But aside from bot lane, it sometimes feels like you could replace your teammates in every game with random skill level bots and you'd hardly notice a difference.

The game has changed a lot over the years. To the point where it feels like a single player game to me. Top lane versus top lane. Mid lane versus mid lane. Jungle is usually doing its own thing. Bot lane is doing their own thing. Each role doesn't really seem to interact with one another that much until mid game. And even then, it is very rare to actually see any real team work in solo queue.

I've been playing since season 3. I can't quite nail down when I started to feel like this changed. It's been a slow and gradual thing. But league doesn't really feel fully like a team game even though it technically is.

People don't type. Pinging too much gets you muted. When people flame, they get muted. On paper, these are actually good things. But I feel like it basically turned a team game into something that feels like each role/lane (with the exception of bot lane) feels like it's own single player experience.

Like, I have just been thinking "you might as well replace your teammates in any given game with a random assortment of variously skilled bots and you'd probably barely notice a difference".

And honestly, you could probably do the same in higher elos as well.

It just feels weird to me. League is the loneliest multi-player game I've played recently. I wonder if anybody else feels the same.

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Hey everyone,

I wanted to ask the community's thoughts on Eduard Bernstein. I know he's a pretty controversial figure in leftist circles because Engels essentially left him as the spiritual successor to their system, and I'm sure that Marx and Engels wouldn't be too pleased about where Bernstein ultimately took the movement (evolutionary socialism).

But personally, I feel like Bernstein was just a pragmatist who looked at how the real world actually worked. To me, theory and praxis have to be married together, and I don't think one can be maximally effective without the other.

I think it's interesting that Bernstein said, "the movement is everything. The final goal is nothing." When I think about his famous quote, I don't think Bernstein was saying that the end results don't matter at all. I just think he was trying to dramatically say that the ends don't always justify the means. I can definitely see why people felt that his evolutionary take on things felt like a betrayal, but I just see it as a pragmatic evolution and a forward direction based on how praxis actually works in real life.

For reference, I'm a therapist, so that's where my perspective comes from. Real suffering people in the real world don't actually care about how many books you've read or how well you or they understand theory. They care about practical support and the reality on the ground. I just personally feel that a lot of the theory kind of dissolves once you actually start helping people.

I'm curious to hear how others here navigate this balance. How do you view Bernstein's approach, and where do you draw the line between theoretical purity and immediate, tangible action?

Imagine doing work in linear algebra and seeing your job stolen by matrices.

​Here is exactly why I think the center will fold rather than fight back:

Massie's defeat wasn't just about winning a district in Kentucky. it was a highly public execution designed to send a message. Trump explicitly treated this as a personal vendetta, even dispatching Pete Hegseth to lead a last minute PR campaign against Massie in the final days. I highly doubt centrists or Center-right politicians and voters will rebel after seeing a 10-point blowout (55% to 45%) against a previously untouchable incumbent. Their instinct is to fall in line to avoid the blast radius.

Secondly, centrists Prioritize Self-Preservation above all else. The outrage we feel is real, but it's isolated to a principled fringe that actually cares about issues like executive overreach and mass surveillance. Mainstream centrists and institutional Republicans typically prioritize tax policy, deregulation, and political survival over ideological purity. They will rationalize staying in the swamp tent because the alternative is getting politically obliterated by the exact same $30 million war chest that just took out Massie.

Lastly, the MAGA machine has essentially perfected its formula. They combine limitless dark money funding with a hyper-brainwashed loyal as fuck voting base to force absolute compliance. We're seeing wealthy individuals effectively purchase total control over the party apparatus, aggressively weeding out anyone who won't act as a rubber stamp for the executive branch's agenda.

Please, for my own sanity and to give me some semblance of hope, change my fucking mind.