AFK Leave Buster : Too Harsh for the Casual Player?

Hello League people,

I am really hoping to get some responses from both Riot and the community at large in this post. Hopefully it will generate some sort of semi-useful, non toxic dialogue on the subject.

First, my thoughts / an example:

In the last couple of weeks, my work schedule has been extended to include a sixth day of the week. I have expenses to pay, errands to run, and things to do most of the time. But I really do love LoL. I've been a casual player since season 2, and had my ups and downs like everyone else. Despite toxicity, despite latency issues, bugs and long patches, I still I think it's a great game, maybe now more then ever. I make time whenever I can to play it.

However, this last week I underestimated (twice) the amount of time I would need to play a game before work. I had over an hour before I needed to hit the road, but just to be safe (and less ruinous to other peoples experience of the game) I played a blind pick normal. I figured this would, at least, prevent LP loss for others if I had to (god forbid) choose work over play.

Unfortunately, I did have to leave before both games ended. I felt quite bad about that, but there was nothing to be done about it (couldn't cut out of work...) Each game ran well over 30 minutes with no clear end in sight, and champ select / que dodging resulted in approximately ten minutes of "pre - play" each time.

When I clicked the "leave" button, I felt extremely apprehensive. Anxious, really. I knew that even though I was playing a normal, people would report me. Say what you will about league: it's an intense game. Tempers flare, etc. etc. People tend to report any and every afk with sincere (and often enraged) consistency. And because a report results in a stiff ban, I was genuinely worried that my having to work for a living would result in a low priority Que (toxicity) and perhaps a timed ban before games (extremely annoying)

Should a video game really make it's casual players feel as apprehensive / fearful of reprisal as league does? I really do think that, aside from toxicity, this is the biggest issue that faces "The League" (or whatever)

I felt so apprehensive about the incoming ban (after all, I find league very relaxing after a stressful work day, and I want to at least have the option to play it) that I actually felt the NEED TO LIE. yes, I was so worried I actually said I was lagging, because I felt that it might be less likely to result in a ban than the REAL reason (I work)

Please don't misunderstand this. I'm not really defending AFKers: I have dealt with it for years. Which brings me to my next point:

Of my last 100 games, I'd guess I afkd for 3 of them (2 this week) Of the last 20 games I've played, 3 have been COMPLETELY RUINED by intentional trolling.

This raises a problem, don't you think? To make a long story short: your (mostly?) automated behavioral systems are more effectively marginalizing casual players than punishing toxic ones. To some extent, I think it rewards dedication to playing the game, not positive behavior. Two very different things.

Yes, you ban their accounts. But I think you know all too well that they just make new ones, or play on friends. And there are people who leave all the time, on purpose, for NO reason, across many different accounts. And they have been playing, perhaps constantly, for the last three years (TRUST ME, THEY ARE STILL AROUND!)

TL;DR:

1.) How much time should a CASUAL yet CONSISTENT (ie. vast majority) set aside for each game? Should it be a different amount of time for ranked / normals?

2.) Do you think your tribunal / afk bot/ behavior systems could benefit from more player input / human analysis? At the very least I think we can all agree that the current system has some serious flaws (if not the ones I've tried to illustrate here, then others)

3.) How will the new systems address player concerns about "fairness" ? again, I know it's a huge amount of work and a big task, but it's something everyone wants to get better.

Thanks for reading, gl hf on the rift