Improving Queueing with Custom Matchmaking

One thing the Dynamic Queue roundtable made clear is that different players can have very different priorities as to the relative importance of queue time, role choice, and fair (even-skill) matchmaking. It's also clear that players can't get exactly what they want every time. So, why not allow players to decide what to give up?

It's simple, really. Riot's matchmaking algorithm has parameters that control the relative importance of queue time, role choice, and fair matchmaking. It would be reasonably straightforward to create account settings for each player where they can adjust the importance of each setting on a sliding scale. Using historical data, the system could then predict what queueing could look like using those settings. For instance:

1. Player A chooses high priority for role, medium for matchmaking, and low for queue time. He gets his prefered mid 90% of the time and is rarely matchmade with teams more than a level apart in rank. His queue times are 25 minutes on average, but that's what he chose.

2. Player B chooses high priority for queue time, medium for role, and low for matchmaking. He gets in within a minute 90% of the time and gets mid 40% of the time, but sometimes winds up with stilted teams.

We can't all have it all, but I think that a system that at least lets you pick your poison would be generally well-received.