League of Legends threatens a new circle of MOBA hell with public voice chat, and I'm already worried for my fellow junglers
214
Jordan Gerblick
2026-02-20
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands
Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands
Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
It looks like Riot might be adding public voice chat to League of Legends, and as a recovering jungler, I'd like to say publicly that I think that's a very bad idea.
I quit playing League of Legends years ago for my mental health. In my many years playing League of Legends and Dota 2, I've found MOBAs to be particularly toxic among online multiplayer games, and League to be especially toxic among MOBAs. I primarily jungled, but I also hopped between roles depending on team needs, and it seemed like no matter how well I was doing, the shit talking was out of control.
I remember seeing some of the most vile, unrestrained vitriol being spewed to and from all directions seemingly regardless of my team's progress, and junglers always got it the worst. They're the easiest and first to blame when things start going sideways in lanes.
League of Legends is getting a new client, overhauled visuals, and new gameplay elements in a massive 2027 update
The Best MOBAs to play in 2026
League of Legends was down yesterday unless you reset your system clock, because Riot forgot to update a certificate
I genuinely shudder to imagine what playing a game of League with public voice chat switched on would be like, but I bet it would be 45 minutes of increasingly frequent slurs being shouted directly into your ear drums by four middle-aged white men simultaneously. Basically, what I imagine the ninth circle of hell being like, minus the literal fire.
But it seems this may soon be a reality, as files have been unearthed on the public build environment (PBE) by SkinSpotlights on Twitter. These files seem to reference a reporting system that includes an option for "VOICE COMMS ABUSE", which I'm sure would be 100% effective, alongside apparent toggles for party and team-based voice chat.
League players have been able to use voice chat in parties for a while now, but if the above files indicate full-on public voice chat is coming, you'd be able to talk to, shout at, and be shouted at, by complete randoms should you have the misfortunate of having that option toggled on. Thankfully, it would almost certainly be an option you could turn on and off, but still, I can't imagine that would do anything but stoke the flames of an already dangerously toxic environment.
I honestly don't see a reason, or even much of a demand, for this sort of thing to be added to a game like League, but until it's confirmed to be true, I suppose there's no use getting all worked up ahead of time. I just worry about my fellow junglers, probably still taking mountains of shit from teammates who can't hold their lanes all these years later.
If you are going to play one, here are the best MOBAs in 2026.
existentialToast
Feb 20, 10:02 PM
#π Brand new. What's your take? I wrote it. No replay value.
Recent Articles