Anti-Autolocker Ideas

TLDR at the bottom with a poll.

Ok. So I like League of Legends. I think it's a fun game that actually does free to play right. Sure it has some community issues, sure it's not perfectly balanced, and sure, Riot isn't perfect. But on the whole I find that League is more of a good game than bad. (And if you're posting here and not raging on the game or Riot, I'm assuming you'd probably agree.)

However, one of my biggest annoyances with the game is people auto-locking in. Sure, it's on people who do it, but I just can't help but wonder if Riot could make some additions or changes to the game to get rid of, or at least minimize the act. It's selfish and infuriating to others. And if multiple people auto-lock, then team comps and damage outputs can be ruined or ineffective.

I realize that there have been some changes that alleviate the problem in a way, such as the team builder. But I feel that a solution needs to be found for unranked blind pick as well.

But I am not a man who would complain about something and not propose a solution. So here are my rough ideas.

1. Get rid of Locking in. In other games, players can select a "Ready" button when they are, well... ready. But if they need to make changes they can Unready and change things around. This could reduce auto-locking, because other players can try to get the auto-locker to change their choice. In the current system, once someone locks in, they stay in and there's nothing that can be done about it. This at least gives the opportunity to change, and allows the team to confront the auto-locker.

2. Implement a voting system Before a player can lock in, the other players would need to upvote or agree to the player's champion of choice. If players downvote the player's choice, then the player cannot pick that champion to play as. Votes can be changed of course, and if it's a tie it can swing in the player's favor to help prevent abuse. The champion timer might need to be extended because of this, and of course abuse of the system should be considered.

3. Make matchmaking more similar to Team Builder. Ok, this is a little hard to word, but what currently happens in general LoL matchmaking is that the system gathers a pool of 10 people and splits them into two teams. In short, who you play with and who you play against are determined at the same time. If instead you join a team first (similar to team builder) and then proceed to find another team to fight, then there really a time limit and rush to lock-in and play. On it's own, I don't think that this idea would reduce the problem that much, but in combination with the other ideas like the voting system, it could be effective. The biggest downside to this would be that it would take a longer to start a match. However, it could be marginal or non-existent if the team works together. And honestly, if you take more than a minute arguing with a teammate who is selfish and uncooperative, you might not want to be playing with them in the first place.

4. Prevent Locking-In for a set duration. If, for some reason, it's impossible to replace Locking In with a Ready button, this is the next best idea. It's not a perfect fix. But at least it forces the would be auto-locker to confront the rest of their team before being selfish. It would increase a bit of wait time to play, but I would think that the extra 15-20 seconds would be worth it.

5. Report: Auto-Locker option If nothing else changes I'd at least like to see this idea. Auto-Locking is it's own crime in a way, and it might be worth it to add this kind of option to encourages players to report the autolocker. (Honestly, I'd like to be able to go down a checklist and check all offenses that apply, but that's a different topic.) Of course, this would mean that the data gathered for the tribunal case would have to include pre-game data. But that could just be chat logs and lock-in times. If Riot really wants to please me with this, then they could have the Report Auto-Locker option right there in the champ select so that players don't have to wait till the end of the game or possibly forget. Best of all, abuse of the system would be really hard if the lock-in times are recorded.

Now this is a lot longer than what I had in mind (Took a lot longer to type too). And I've seen this topic talked a little about on the forums meaning that it is a rage-inducing issue.

If you have an idea I'd love to hear it BTW. Can't hurt to hear what others think.

TLDR: Autolocking is a problem. Here are some possible solutions. Replace lock in with ready button. Have a voting system. Change matchmaking system. Prevent lock in for a set time. Report Auto-Locker option. Have an idea? Post it.