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Please, Rito, lets talk about the AFK epidemic.

Arrcanos·9/12/2014, 8:28:36 PM·1 votes·1,425 views

So, here's the scoop; win or lose, Riot punishes you for someone else going AFK. They know it, we know it, and my neighbors have undoubtedly heard me complaining about it. If someone AFKs (be it intentionally or unintentionally), the competitive integrity of the match has been compromised. In an *ideal *world, no League Points should be awarded or deducted from a compromised match. Riot exhibits support of this belief through the occasional reset of an LCS match and the "Loss Prevented" outcome when League's servers are struggling. However, to the best of my limited knowledge, they do not actively pursue competitive integrity outside of their own system. This is very, very understandable. It's impossible for Riot to monitor every potential situation for compromise, but they could at least lend some aid to the AFK epidemic.

I would prefer the following two suggestions be assessed as primarily applicable to Ranked Queues. Ain't nobody got time to wait for Normals.

The Ready Button and Lossless Surrenders

  • As most in-game AFK solutions involve massive potential for abuse, why not implement preventive measures for the oft occurring, easily fixable "Load-Screen Disconnect." A possible fix would be a "Ready Button" displayed after each person has loaded. Each player has a 30 second window in which to click the button, thus indicating their readiness for battle. If a player does not ready themselves, all nine other players are sent out of the match and back into queue. I don't think anyone would mind waiting another one to five minutes to ensure the competitive integrity of their match. "BUT THIS CAN BE ABUSED!" you scream. Not if there's a punishment. If a Summoner does not ready her/himself, they lose the same amount of League Points they would had they lost the match. Also, all leaver penalties would apply.

  • If you're ten minutes into a heated match and a Summoner disconnects, you shouldn't get punished for that. Because this can be abused, a fix is tricky, but lets say someone disconnects for more than 50% of a match, that's easily addressable. Punish that person for having awful internet and/or rage quitting, and allow the other Summoners' experience to proceed unaltered. Riot could even provide an option for both teams to surrender without penalty. This would greatly improve Summoner interactions and the overall attitude of our Community. No one deserves League Points for winning or losing an extended 4v5.

As a side note...

Riot doesn't allow AFKs and DCs to affect the LCS, and they shouldn't let the epidemic affect us.

As last reported, roughly 30 million Summoners log in and play a match every, single day. We pay for champions, icons, and skins. We support Riot. It would be in Riot's absolute best interest to equally support us where its possible. Along with a significant betterment of the Community, I feel Riot addressing the AFK/DC issue this off-season would be seen as a MASSIVE thank you to the fans and supporters of Riot.

If any of you have critiques or other ideas, lets hear them! I'm very interested in other conceptual solutions the Community might have!

***Arc *** TL:DR Help me, Riot! I'm about to quit playing Ranked because of AFKs!

7 Comments

Deflar9/12/2014, 10:37:23 PM2 votes

I'm just going to talk about the Ready Button feature you suggested as the in game bit is harder to talk about.

The ready button is a bad feature to add. I'll list a few reasons below.

  • Trolls and Ragers You did state this can be abused, and it WILL. There's no two ways around it, exploits in a system happen. Trolls will do it for the lols, even at the expense of being timed out, while ragers, or more accurately, those who didn't get the role they wanted, will blatantly not click Ready, forcing everyone back into the Queue while they bitch and moan about not getting the lane they wanted. Happens a lot in early Ranked, and I've been subjected to it too often, which led me to quit Ranked.

  • Longer Waits This can happen for multiple reasons, but I'll stick to the most obvious: dodgers. You already deal with Queue and Champ Select dodgers, what's to stop a dodger from waiting until EVERYONE is ready to load into the game and not click the Ready button? Nothing, and those players who finally got a game are stuck to dealing with the cycle again. This can infuriate players who sit in 10 to 15 minute queues as a result of dodges even further.

  • Unexpected Variables You can't assume everyone has a smooth internet connection or has the top of the line gaming computer (I know I don't). You don't know if Summoner 2 on the enemy side just suddenly lost their connection during loading. You're forcing the other 9 BACK into queue because of Summoner 2's unexpected DC. Same can be said if you're joined with a "toaster" player. The game will freeze on them often and frequently enough that they could very well MISS the opportunity to click Ready, forcing them to deal with the punishment of "dodging", and again, forcing the other 9 back into queue as a result.

Point I'm making is this: trying to punish the few will also punish the many as well. As KSHarrison said, it's Draconian in nature. Trying to punish the few with this type of system is only to going to cause players to quit, and given the current issues the NA server has, this will only make things worse. Adding to the troubles of the champ select dodges, the afkers in queue, this will cause Riot to LOSE revenue as more and more players will leave instead of just "dealing with it".

Unexpected variables will happen, you can't assume that the player who suddenly DCed left on purpose. Either suck it up and push on to higher ranks, where the AFKing players be less likely. It's a bad idea in general as it punishes more than it rewards.

KSHarrison9/12/2014, 9:34:04 PM1 votes

Your poll at the end is a loaded question because it presents an obvious choice that also implies agreeing with your solutions.

The first solution is draconian in nature. To the extreme, you can discourage any behavior with a harsh enough punishment. In this case, however, activating an automatic loss for not sitting at your computer after the loading screen is just too much. I don't think this is the right way to go. A brutal and impatient system of laws works in uncivilized societies but constricts paths to reform. The punishment shouldn't be "get fked, AFKer" in nature, rather directed along a jury system that can present its judgment in the context of a recurring behavior that needs to stop.

I don't even think the second solution is necessary. Anyone who disconnects at 10 minutes will be reported for leaving; the worst that can happen is you wait a maximum of ten more minutes to surrender. If anything, punishments can tightened for leavers.