[Client] Riot's "Smart" System Threw A False Positive
So yesterday, I was disconnected from (and VERY promptly reconnected to) 3 games in total. One was entirely a problem with Riot's client- the launcher did not close and took up all available memory on my computer, starving the client of resources. {-I HAVE REPORTED THIS ISSUE BEFORE. IT IS A RARE OCCURRENCE FIXED BY COMPLETELY RESTARTING THE LAUNCHER-} It had to be restarted, but I rejoined by about 5 minutes and proceeded to make a significant contribution to the game. Our team won, noone reported me.
Afterward, there was a power surge that seemed to be isolated. Again, I reconnected after about 5 minutes, this time going 16/4 and carrying the game alongside our Katarina. Noone in that game would have DREAMED of reporting me, yet I was informed afterward that I had received a LeaverBuster penalty, a low-priority queue that basically means I have to suffer through 5 soloQ games without the option of taking a friend along (I'm not a dickhead who would make a friend sit through a five minute wait for me.)
Now, here's where Riot's system gets really awful. Later that night, another power surge hit- the last of the evening, after the storm had stopped. There was really no good reason for it, and as such it caught me in the middle of a game again. I did my job of delaying their toplane hypercarry (Kayle) well enough before the power failure, however- so when I reconnected to apologise and see if I could help my team salvage the game, they had just about won.
None of this, however, mattered to leaverbuster. Though this was an isolated unlucky day, the system has now flagged me as the type of hideously toxic player I detest and always see bragging about their CONTINUED SUCCESS in evading punishment- whilst they dance around the base and/or feed. Riot support has replied to my ticket- they have entirely ignored the request that my account be unflagged for the tighter punishment margins and continually-scaling punishment severity the toxic system they've put in place. Further, Riot WILL NOT- because there is no way ANY competent coder would create a system with margin for error but not include a failsafe- fix ANY such system errors, according to policy.
I have very little hope Riot will acknowledge one of the few players in its community that continually makes the effort to be a 'model citizen'. However, if any other attentive players are browsing, I feel it's fair to warn you- this system DOES have a wide margin for error, and ONE DAY of bad luck can utterly ruin your next several games. When dealing with this 'smart' creation reinforced by 'smart' policy, the only way to surefire avoid punishment is to wait 24 hours if you disconnect even ONCE. Twice or more in that period, you're a horrifically toxic abomination of a chronic leaver and well on the road to an account suspension.