Thank you for the permaban (gameplay-related)

After articulating my frustration with the current state of affairs of gameplay in League a few games in a row, I got slammed with a permaban.

And I wanted to say thank you.

No, I'm not being sarcastic. I have a very addictive personality, and I find it difficult to leave things like League on my own. Entirely dissatisfied with what Riot's done to the game, I nonetheless persevered, out of a sense of misguided loyalty. I had invested time, money, and effort into my account for over three years - I was hesitant to abandon it for greener pastures. Reasons why the game has been broken almost beyond repair have been well-documented here, so I won't go into too much detail. However, I will say, catering to the esports crowd is a disastrous business model, and the gameplay balance skewing toward faceroll champions like Yasuo and ADCs is driving off all but the worst types of player for the casual scene.

So, I'm taking my business elsewhere, with nothing but joy. The current state of the game is nearly unplayable - I feel like I've been freed from a burden. It may be time for Riot to ask themselves, is this really how they want their players to feel? Is this really a sustainable business model? Balance issues have been getting steadily worse, and adding overloaded champs every few months has just exacerbated the issue, because now it's impossible to ban all the faceroll in champ select.

I'm not sure there's any way to revert the changes. It's too far gone, and there's too much that's gone into wrecking League over the past year or so for it to be fixed immediately. But rather than listen to long-term players like me, Riot's gone in a different direction, and has instead elected to ban any dissenters, eliminating their paying customers in an effort to stamp out negative opinions. This is not a sustainable business practice. With the player moderation system broken, the ranked system a joke, and the game balance even further beyond repair, what is there left to play for in League? The game just isn't fun anymore, and articulating that as an opinion will very likely result in punishment.

I just bought an Xbox One, and have been having fun playing video games again. I'd almost forgotten what that felt like. So thank you, Riot. You've saved me from my own sense of misplaced optimism in your ability to fix your game, and admitted that there's really no point in issuing any feedback. Leaving has been like a breath of fresh air, and I encourage all to do the same.