The SOS System - Let's fight the war against AFK'ers

One of the single largest issues League of Legends runs into constantly are AFK players.

Whether the reason is intentional or unintentional you will always have AFK players and Riot is working hard all of the time to help minimize this issue, they already have ideas of their own they're going to try to implement.

AFK'ers are punished in many ways whether it be by the Tribunal/Players/IP taken away and so on.

But people who don't go AFK and are left without a player are constantly punished for absolutely no reason other than the fact that someone else was at fault.

That's a pretty crappy reason to be punished for something out of your control.

I have a few new system suggestions that can be implemented into the game to help players that are victims of the unfortunate circumstances of AFK'ers from being punished and instead give them a fighting chance.

We need to fight each side of the battle, the side I'd like to fight is the side of acceptance.

Accepting that no matter what you do to keep players from going AFK there will always be players going AFK.

That will always be true in every game we will ever play.

How do we fight something we can't control?

You don't, you fight FOR the people who can't control it.

A system that notifies players logged into the client that are not in queue or not in game that a game has lost a summoner and is requesting a new summoner to take their place.

That's the fundamental idea.

Here's the extrapolation.

Brace yourselves everyone, I lied when I said 'a few ideas and suggestions'.

All suggestions and issues Riot will run into with this system below are my own suggestions as well as friends I've talked to about it, I want to hear everyone's thoughts and I want to know what I'm missing, I want this to be a discussion.

• You run into far too many issues if you let every player have access to this option. It shouldn't be an option for every player.
• The load time will take longer than a normal load time due to the fact that the previous player's champion and items data are being transferred to another player which is why you can't let every player have access to the option, the server's won't be able to handle it.

Suggestions and Issues that arise if the system is open to players.

• IF opened up to players there could be specific computer requirements as well as other various requirements Riot would know far more about than me put into place for people who do gain the option. Nobody wants to send another player in place of an AFK to get yet another AFK.
• IF opened up to players the client should ping them in their notifications telling them the champion, the role that champion took (Support, Mid, Marksman, Top, you name it) and the time that has been spent in game since the SOS was sent out. (Other data could be given such as items I suppose but it doesn't seem necessary, time, champion and role are more than enough information in my opinion but there is always room for improvement)
• Or a completely new interface can be created for answering SOS calls.
• If it is a notification on the main client for players merely loitering around without being in queue there needs to be an option for the players eligible to answer an SOS call to turn the option on and off.
• If it is NOT a notification system and is instead more like a queuing system in which eligible players go into a matchmaker to answer an SOS call the option to turn it on and off becomes unnecessary.
• There should and could be a voting system much like the surrender option to send out an SOS requesting another player to take over
• This option will keep the system from sending out too many pings at once as well as unnecessary pings.
• Unnecessary pings would be if a game is very close to ending and the time it would take for a player to load into the game would only give them a very small window to assist the team before they lose or in certain rare cases they didn't need a 5th player and win the game OR in less rare cases as you're loading the game has already ended.
• This also opens up different possibilities such as a limited time window where you can only request an SOS from time A to time B until the SOS option is closed off to the team. (An example would be that the SOS can go out at the 10 minute mark until 20/25 minutes into the game and after that you cannot request another player)
• To further delve into this option it lessens the potential for sending out multiple SOS calls (such as if the second player taking over does actually leave the game and yet another player is requested)

To Rank or not to Rank?

• I personally like the option of only having the system work for Ranked games just due to the importance of ranked games although with the voting system it might actually work for all games and not just ranked because we need to take into consideration overloading the servers and how to lessen potential overloads.
• There are a lot of pros and cons to each side but the main difficulty that arises from making it ranked only are the Divisions.
• IF players need to meet specific requirements it can't be too drastic to the point that there aren't enough people eligible to answer an SOS call just due to the fact that if you've got a game of Bronze and Silver's you shouldn't get a gold player because only mostly gold players are eligible to answer an SOS call. Every division needs potential players.

Suggestions for requirements.

• IF opened up to players there needs to be requirements met in order to be eligible in assisting a team which can range from a large variation of things such as champion pool, whether the system is for ranked games only or all games.
• Possible requirements could be that you need to have every champion unlocked. I liked this idea which was suggested to me by AnarchoElk but after further evaluation I'm not sure it gives a Ranked only system a large enough pool of players. I still like the option though if it could work.
• It could be that you need a specific amount of champions to be eligible much like getting into a ranked game or draft pick.
• Obviously you need to be level 30.
• Honor system is a must when implementing a system like this and certain Honor requirements will need to be met, Riot would know far more about requirements that would need to be met but I know that the honor system is perfect for a system like this.
• I don't have very many ideas personally for requirements needed but I'd love to hear everyone's ideas if they have any.

Rewards

• IF this system is opened up to normal players there needs to be rewards, people need incentive and obviously no IP or half the amount can be gained from joining a game already in progress. Even if you do give the full IP option there needs to be more incentive.
• AnarchoElk suggested that if the all champions unlocked becomes a requirement you could get new champions for free not including skins. I personally like the idea just because most people who have all champions unlocked have spent large amounts of money on the game and deserve a reward.
• Specific Summoner icons
• Depending on your win/lose ratio when answering SOS calls you could get your very own banner or ranking which could also go hand in hand with unlocking specific summoner icons.
• The Honor system could also dish out more rewards with the use of this system.
• Again I'd like to hear everyone's ideas and suggestions.

To Riot or not to Riot?

• Instead of opening this system up to players and eliminating the option of needing requirements and rewards another possible suggestion is for Riot to hire people to use this system instead.
• This eliminates the need for a rewards system and computer requirements as well as the other requirements listed above the only downfall is Riot needs to put out more money to hire a team.

We The People

• What if Riot doesn't want to hire? That's all good I have another idea and personally it's my favorite idea out of the rest of them.
• Using the Honor system Riot could implement a new option alongside the other options already presented to us that allows us to vote a player into the system
• I believe requirements still need to be met in order to have the option appear for a player.
• Even if you become eligible you still need to be voted into the system by the people for the people.
• If a player becomes eligible to have the option appear to other players to vote for them they need the option to turn it on and off on their main page client/profile or on a specific page on the client. (Not everyone will want to answer SOS calls even if they're eligible to be voted for)

The possibilities are endless and I've only just scratched the surface so I'd like to hear everyone's suggestions, opinons, ideas, arguments for or against an idea or just overall questions comments or concerns.

We can't win the war but we can fight the battle.