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A follow-up on the "Offline Status" feature request

RiotCapnBranFlakes·6/16/2016, 11:59:01 PM·1 votes·140,816 views

Hey all,

We've been seeing some passionate responses to our note yesterday about addressing requests for an "appear offline" or "invisible" mode on the friends list. We should reiterate that our main goal right now is getting the League client update to feature parity with the legacy client (aka NOT developing whole new features), but we wanted to talk about this more in depth.

Our official line on an invisible mode boiled down to "we're researching it to learn more!" The community's response was "what's there to learn? We're telling you we want it, so why do you have to do research?"

First of all, "research" can mean that we want to investigate impact of a feature on a global level. It's also sometimes just shorthand for "scoping out the work." To deliver a chat invisibility feature, we'd have to answer some nitty-gritty questions about how exactly an invisible mode would work in practice before we prototyped the feature. Questions like:

  • Could invisible players see and chat with friends? What about in clubs?
  • Once a chat is initiated, would friends in a chat still see the invisible player as offline?
  • Could you be invisible on the League Friends mobile app?
  • Could invisible players receive mobile notifications (ex: messages, friend requests) while invisible?
  • Could invisible players selectively invite friends to lobbies? Can they be invited to lobbies by friends?
  • Friends can see your match history and that you were playing games—is that something we'd be cool with?

These are just a few things we wanted to think through. But we want to dig deeper into this to address the community discussion on this topic. So let's spitball for a minute here and talk about one potential solution we're considering: turning the "away" mode into a more reliable way to get some privacy when you want it.

Currently, the "away" mode in the friends list isn't particularly reliable. Interacting with the client or other programs can easily knock you back into regular "online" status. If you play a game or spectate someone while in away mode, everyone on your friends list sees what you're doing and is free to chat with you. "You can't hide from me," your always-online friend says. "Why don't you want to duo anymore?"

What if we changed that? What if switching to away mode meant that nobody could see when you were in game or spectating? You could still chat with friends or play with people as you wanted, but you'd have a layer of privacy to protect you when you want to go solo.

Again, we're just spitballing here, not making promises (our focus is SERIOUSLY on feature parity in the client update). But we want to know what players would think about that as a possible stopgap solution. What potential problems would you foresee? What would you want us to avoid?

99 Comments

BiII6/17/2016, 1:49:34 AM56 votes

Oh fuck off; these responses are such bullshit.

LankPants6/17/2016, 12:19:36 AM22 votes

Could invisible players see and chat with friends? What about in clubs?

Yes

Once a chat is initiated, would friends in a chat still see the invisible player as offline?

Yes, but the timestamp should make it obvious to anyone with a 4th grade education that they're not.

Could you be invisible on the League Friends mobile app?

Is there a point? The only reason anyone uses that app is to chat with friends.

Could invisible players receive mobile notifications (ex: messages, friend requests) while invisible?

Yes

Could invisible players selectively invite friends to lobbies?

That's literally the point of this feature, so yes.

Can they be invited to lobbies by friends?

The only way this should be possible is if their name is typed in, you can invite an offline player in the same way as this, so it makes sense.

Friends can see your match history and that you were playing games—is that something we'd be cool with?

This is the only one I don't really have an answer for. I'd say probably because the current way of not playing with friends is "sorry I'm solo". I think most would work this out.

redfeenix6/17/2016, 1:40:36 AM14 votes

Heh you guys are learning how to communicate in a timely manner. Can def appreciate that.

In terms of the content, I think updating "AFK" status to what you described above is fine. As long as "afk/away" status has highest priority ( as in playing a game you would still appear "AFK")

I dont see why someone would want to appear offline?

But yeh, keep up the good communication. I can respect you learning how to communicate with the community so quickly after the soloq fuckup.

Cheers

TTK Dreadnought6/17/2016, 12:03:37 AM11 votes

you mentioned the mobile app. Were you aware that the censorship is completely bonkers? "Lolz" "as" and other words/phrases get censored and it buggs the heck out of me.

Pryotra6/18/2016, 3:16:20 AM10 votes

What would you want us to avoid?

How about not making it complicated?

What potential problems would you foresee?

If away is automatically available for people to see, as is currently, then you will get invites, as is currently. Some people get butthurt if they think you are avoiding them, when really you may just have the client open and looking at god knows whatever else in another window (or for people like myself, on another monitor entirely). You seem to already know this though, as you made the exact same reference in your OP.

To deliver a chat invisibility feature, we'd have to answer some nitty-gritty questions about how exactly an invisible mode would work in practice before we prototyped the feature.

Need an example that is functional? Xbox live has this exact feature. I mean, it has since the early days of the 360. Appear offline means you appear Offline. If you initiate the message, they can see the message and message back, but if they look in their friends list it says "Offline." If you are in a party, everyone can hear you and see you in the party, but if they look next to your name, it will say "Offline". If you happen to stumble upon them in matchmaking, they can see and interact with you in game, but to them your profile will say "Offline". If they are a stalker and watch your gamer score and play times of your games to watch for any changes, they will see the changes, but your profile will still appear as "Offline".

Steam has literally the exact same feature. It works literally the exact same way. I honestly don't think it has a single difference in how it works. Been there since I downloaded it years before league was a game. Never once have I heard a complaint about it that was founded in reality.

Honestly, marking as offline has kind of been the universal sign to leave someone alone. You can leave a message, but don't expect an instant response. You can invite someone to a game/party, but you shouldn't expect them to join. If someone does expect these things, then they should probably be removed/blocked, as that shit is literally the definition of an abusive relationship. But that is a very, very rare occurance, as people generally get it.

Diazanite6/17/2016, 12:41:36 AM7 votes

Looking at a couple of threads, it seems to me like people want a setting similar to Skype's appear offline setting.

  • The client still functions the same as if you were online without anyone (besides those who you message or call) knowing you're online, and you dont get notifications or sounds for when you get messages or calls when the client isn't the main focus window.

  • Sending or receiving messages doesn't re-mark you as online, neither does invites

  • Games played while marked offline, I think should still show up on match history since it can't show the specific time the game was played, and would show up on 3rd party sites anyway

  • As far as I'm aware for the mobile app, marking yourself offline is the same as the desktop client but i could see tweaking to allow notifications for specifically those who you message either first, or message back.

PocketNeko6/17/2016, 5:04:32 AM6 votes

I don't care about match history, I just want to become invisible so that no one on my friend's list can see my playing.

I like playing with certain people at times. Sometimes I don't like playing with these people.

When I am not playing with these people and I go off to play with my boyfriend or someone who I feel more comfortable playing with, I get to hear, "Why aren't you playing with me? I'm online, let's play."

I'll get more messages asking why I don't want to play with them.

Some of my friends are much lower ELO than I am. I do not want to play with them all the time, because the games feel really uncoordinated in general and some of the things I see give me a bit of a headache.

I like my friends, but I don't want to play with them all the time and they take offense to it.

Sightless666/17/2016, 2:36:26 AM5 votes

Most of these can be answered by looking at other communication systems. All we really want is for it to play to our basic expectations. The details aren't very important so long as it sticks to the pattern.

Could invisible players see and chat with friends? What about in clubs?

The player can still chat to friends, but will appear offline to any friends and clubs when they sign on. You can talk and still appear offline.

Once a chat is initiated, would friends in a chat still see the invisible player as offline?

Yes.

Could you be invisible on the League Friends mobile app?

Yes/ I don't use the app, but I see no reason why not.

Could invisible players receive mobile notifications (ex: messages, friend requests) while invisible?

Yes. Generally message receiving is a separate option. Showing offline just makes you superfically appear offline. It doesn't have to restrict functionality too. You still receive everything.

Could invisible players selectively invite friends to lobbies? Can they be invited to lobbies by friends?

Yes, probably yes. You can invite anyone, and they can invite you without any feedback that the invite worked and without anything that actually prompts them to invite. Theoretically, you can disallow them inviting you. There's a bit of a gray area there, but either way, it's not really important. You can make a totally arbitrary decision here and it is unlikely to make a significant difference in player experience.

Friends can see your match history and that you were playing games—is that something we'd be cool with?

This is a downside that only exists if you're trying to avoid someone, in which case you'd have the same issue if you were trying to avoid them without the system. You could consider a private match history, but really, you should be considering that independently of the "appear offline" system. That should exist anyway.

What if switching to away mode meant that nobody could see when you were in game or spectating? You could still chat with friends or play with people as you wanted,

I can chat with friends or play with people if you let me appear offline too. I just have to choose that I want to, whereas "away" still advertises that I'm here and deliberately avoiding them. If I don't want to play with other people, I'd really just rather not tell them I'm here at all. It seems like a strictly worse option.

Final point: You don't need to reinvent the wheel here. You're not going to do much better than a standard "appear offline" function. We've been doing this for long enough that all we really want from the communication system is for it to function in the same way every other system functions. Just do what Skype and Steam do. That's all we need.

Jesus is Savior6/17/2016, 10:58:42 AM5 votes

#PEOPLE WANT A WAY TO DISABLE YELLOW TEXT IN GAME.

They don't want a bunch of spam when they're playing ranked.

That is ALL.

And your "solution" doesn't address this. While "away" any messages received in the PvP.net client need to STAY in the PvP.net client, and not filter into our games.

HerFeatherKnight12/26/2017, 1:40:54 PM3 votes

It's been 2 years...I have completed my Masters degree in the time between when this thread started and today. How's the research coming along?

TheCups6/17/2016, 4:13:04 AM3 votes

Ask your boss at Tencent, their communication software QQ has an invisible mode and it has all the answers to your questions.

paulby6/17/2016, 4:31:42 PM3 votes

here's the thing about adding a feature, it doesn't have to be perfect as it doesn't effect anything else.

you can implement the most simple version of it and then fine tune it in the future and thats better than not doing anything.

yes yes yes yes yes yes

there i answered them all for you.

all it needs to do is say you're offline, nothing else, all other functionality can remain the same.

DuaneFroggson6/17/2016, 8:52:02 AM2 votes
  1. Yes. Yes.
  2. If invisible initiates , yes. Otherwise , no.
  3. Yes.
  4. Make that a button.
  5. Yes. No.
  6. No one goes "Hmm Calvin hasn't been on , let me check his history and then confront him about it". No one cares that much.
Argon6/17/2016, 3:24:30 AM2 votes

Honestly, from what I've seen from player comments, making a more reliable "away" or "busy" option that does not change until turned off by the user would be a huge improvement from the current system and should address some of the issues of why people want invisible mode. Users could remain "away" or "busy" and play games without other people bothering them (talking or inviting to a game) while the user still being able to communicate with friends/clubs. I'm not sure how much work this change would require, but it is probably more feasible than creating an invisibility mode with less kinks to work out.

horsa6/17/2016, 3:38:18 PM2 votes

Invisible players should be able to chat, but still appear offline if they have chosen to appear offline. They should be able to invite but not be invited. You should be able to be invisible on mobile. The match history is a little tricky. I don't think it's a big enough priority to have to create some sort of system where your match history is invisible, more important things to tackle first. Like how awful the rune thing is right now. Why is it automatically chosen that I can see runes I've already bought? Why do I automatically see tier 2 runes even though I'm level 30? Why does the order go Mark > Glyph > Seal when rune pages are set up Mark > Seal > Glyph? Fixing those 3 small things would really fix that. Level 10-20 should auto see tier 2, and above Level 20's should auto see tier 3 runes. It should be auto checked to NOT show owned runes.

AMYS GRAVE6/20/2016, 4:09:48 AM2 votes

You dont have to make it perfect, you dont have to have it perfectly researched or perfectly made on launch. You just have to show us you're trying by releasing something similar to what skype has. Even if it doesn't work in the exact same way you can always change it if people dont like it immediately.

Aldduren7/9/2016, 11:43:09 PM2 votes

How about a "hide mobile users"-option? I'd like the friends list to only show me friends who are currently playing or eligible for invite, it gets rather frustrating when 70% of your list is showing up with the mobile icon.

Futalicious7/10/2016, 9:33:05 AM2 votes

I'd love to have an invisible mode. There's times where I don't want to have people messaging me or spamming invites at me when I just want to play a game or two quickly. Having to tell friends "No I just want to play alone" feels bad man

ƒlash8/26/2019, 11:03:42 PM1 votes

It's been 3 years.... hurry the hell up. Sometimes i just want to queue up alone without people messaging me all the time asking if I want to play (carry) them.