Riot rewards League of Legends players for not being jerks

Riot has put a lot of effort into cleaning up the toxicity in the League of Legends player base. Now, it's offering a free reward to "positive" players in its community. 

So far, the company has done things like suspend toxic pro players and institute a "tribunal" system that makes managing player behavior easier and encourages sportsmanlike behavior.

Riot has even gone as far as hiring a PhD psychologist, Jeffrey Lin, to craft strategies to clean up player behavior. That may be why the company has turned to positive reinforcement.

Today, the company announced that "positive players" would get a free reward "for being such an awesome part of our community." 

In a blog post, the company says that players who "haven’t received a chat restriction, ranked restriction, 14-day ban or permanent ban in 2014" and meet specific account requirements will get a free "mystery gift" as a thank-you.

If you're looking for new ways to reward positive players in your community, Riot has added a new strategy to its playbook.  

For more from Lin on combating toxicity in the League of Legends player base, you can watch this GDC talk he gave on the topic -- for free.