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Riot's new leaverbuster and the message it sends:

Eleshakai·11/22/2014, 6:38:33 AM·18 votes·4,082 views

If you live in an area without access to near-perfect internet, Riot no longer wants you playing their game. If you live in an area with an unstable power grid, Riot no longer wants you playing their game. If you have a life that has the potential to intrude on your playtime, Riot no longer wants you playing their game.(pregnant wife... don't play for nine months. family member with chronic health conditions, never play their game again, have any sort of medical conditions yourself, never play their game again) If you aren't an expert computer user capable of keeping your computer running flawlessly at all times, Riot no longer wants you playing their game. If you live in an area prone to extreme weather that could result in any sort of issue, Riot no longer wants you playing their game. If you play the game immediately prior to a Riot server outage, Riot no longer wants you playing their game. If you want to play the game with people who live in a different country from you, Riot no longer wants you playing their game.

The new Leaver Buster applies to ALL MATCHMADE QUEUES - including Bot, ARAM, featured games, etc. - and will flag you as a leaver if you disconnect from a game for any reason. The system is far more aggressive than it used to be, and forces you to PROMISE to never leave a game again if you even have to reload your client for any reason. In ranked queues, it can punish you after a single infraction. A SINGLE INFRACTION. If you are unwilling to do this, or if the game bugs out and doesn't let you click on the 'I Agree' button, then it locks you out of your account.(yes, a few people have already reported this lovely bug, and Riot's response to this bug happening was, and I quote, "You left a matchmade game with other people. If you're testing a recently purchased champion you should create a custom game with bots.") The question the person was asking was why his account was locked when he couldn't click on the 'I agree button', and Riot's team determined he was scum who didn't deserve to play SOLELY based off of the fact that he had gotten that prompt in the first place. Their system no longer takes into account any factors other than the fact that you left the game... they no longer care about your intent. They no longer care about anything other than you have the capability to stay from start to finish. Somehow Riot has completely stopped caring about the fact that people who play this game frequently have lives and play it for fun... somehow Riot has forgot that virtually every punishment system known to man for virtually every infraction short of child sexual abuse takes into account intent and in most infractions, intent completely determines whether it is punishable or not. Even Riot's older systems still function this way... accidental feeding(also known as 'just playing bad') is certainly not punishable, but intentional feeding absolutely is.

The message I get out of this... Riot no longer wants most of their playerbase. If you're not living in the ABSOLUTE ideal situation to play LoL, Riot doesn't want you in their community. I don't understand how any business can REASONABLY make this statement... but somehow Riot has gotten to this point where they no longer want their game to be accessible to the masses, they just want a small playerbase living in ideal situations. It's mindboggling... but it's where we're at now. It's the only message I can take away from this new system.

46 Comments

Dr Jarjarbinks11/22/2014, 6:44:33 AM3 votes

I am sorry if your setup is that unreliable. I on the other hand love the system(fingers crossed I dont regret this). It makes sense. Everyone hates leavers except leavers and even they hate when someone else leaves. Frequent or even semi frequent extended outages are not the norm imo and I think most of the playerbase will love the new system.

Aerothal11/22/2014, 6:46:16 AM2 votes

Yay less leavers! YAAAAY!!!

Homeshake11/22/2014, 7:18:05 AM2 votes

well written sir

BeatzBoyFTW11/22/2014, 8:05:55 AM2 votes

It's not all about you, y'know. Even if Riot may take mercy on you, you will still be ruining your other 4 teammates who are desperately trying to win games, be it normals or ranks. If they just continue to take pity on you, depends on how many matches in a row your net kept on declining you, you will just constantly ruining each different sets of 4 teammates in different matches.

And secondly, I'm pretty sure the other 4 teammates of yours will be like, reporting why the hell do they kept on having team members with shietty wifi (no offence), as you always see in Boards here, or anything quite relevant as this. Rito is pretty tired of this shiet.

Colgate Gator11/24/2014, 3:56:31 PM2 votes

Well yeah, if your current situation doesn't allow you to reliably play your games, you're being a hindrance to your team.

Upgrade your toaster already.

Trylobyte11/24/2014, 4:15:44 PM2 votes

Main problem I see is that intent is impossible to read. There is no technological way to separate accidental leaves from intentional ones - Accidents can be easily manufactured. But at the same time, Riot can't just let leaving go unpunished because it ruins the match for 90% of the people in it. While I sympathize with people this will hit by accident (I have a friend who has very unreliable internet and has been temp-banned by Leaverbuster once) I also think Riot has a valid point in saying that this is going to generally improve the quality of games. There's a point where having sympathy for the fringe cases and accidents shouldn't overrule the restriction put in place to fix a larger problem.

Mahnigguh11/24/2014, 4:20:53 PM2 votes

your logic is infallible +1's fo joo

KarlWeathers11/29/2014, 1:57:42 PM1 votes

This new system has forced me to quit league. The game became less than enjoyable to me a long time ago so I started almost solely playing ARAM where I would admittedly dodge when I got someone I didn't want and switch to one of my other two smurfs to reroll in ARAM. Im not trying to make threats or really expect anything to change but maybe just give some understanding as why I and maybe others do this. Its because im bored.

I wouldnt be dodging in ARAM if they could bring back the only enjoyable format of the game back URF which for some reason they have dragged there feet on. Been playing since Wukong release with 3 30 accounts. Again no threats here just some insight into one players experience. Feel free to check my accounts I will never log back into them unless another game format comes out. Please Riot make the game enoyable again by bringing back URF.

Purplesugarwater flavum karlweathers

Drunk Rummate11/24/2014, 6:51:51 PM1 votes

if you cant commit to the game don't play it. i like the new system, there's nothing worse than having a player on your team quit or give up at any point in the game. i've even reported close friends of mine for doing it.

if your internet or computer isn't good enough then fix it. it's the 21st century, having the right equipment and setup should be a given for online games. go play monopoly if you don't want to pay for a proper setup.

Trylobyte11/24/2014, 8:55:42 PM1 votes

I'd be curious to see what other circumstances the system takes into account when determining how frequently it bans someone. One ranked game leave is severe, since sometimes life does happen. One ranked game leave seems a lot more reasonable if it only bans people who, in addition to that, are in the top 1% of most toxic League players, or players who have been banned by Leaverbuster half a dozen times previously. Any information on what other criteria it employs?

WOoD 5 t0 Master11/29/2014, 4:52:53 AM1 votes

how do you know when you are banded or finished been banded?

KlNGPlN11/29/2014, 5:01:07 AM1 votes

The only issue I have with it is being forced to press I Agree not to leave games. It should be more along the lines of "I understand the consequences of this behavior".

However. I could play league (and love doing so) on the world's shittiest internet connection. Whether or not it is a fault of my own or the ISP, I would still be ruining games for others. While I feel entitled to being able to play League, my choice to play under such conditions does in fact result in other players experiences being negatively impacted. At what point does the player need to realize that, despite enjoying the game, they are still NEGATIVELY affecting other people.

Let me rephrase.

I love Cheese. Unfortunately, it gives me deathly farts. Is it up to everyone ELSE to just ignore that nasty gas, or is it up to me to be the kind one and say "For your sake, I will not eat this." I vote for the latter.

Eleshakai11/22/2014, 6:04:07 PM1 votes

Harsher penalties MAY reduce leavers... but they may just find more creative ways to screw people over. Personally, if there's an asshole troll in one of my games, I'd rather he leave than stay in the game pretending to be 'trying his best' and creatively feeding the enemy. A 4v5 does NOT negatively impact me. It's a loss, big deal. I can use that time to practice playing from behind, defensively warding, etc. and then move on to the next game as a better player and win. I can recover. It's not a problem.

Someone who INTENTIONALLY leaves is being disrespectful. They are not valuing their team at all as people. That is why I feel leaving should be punished. It has nothing to do with the win or the loss... it has to do with the disdain it shows for your allies. Disconnecting, or even playing with a poor connection, is NOT disrespectful. A person who plays with a poor connection is just trying to enjoy their free time the same as you. Telling them 'fuck you, I don't care about you because your ISP is bad' is disrespectful and morally wrong in my eyes. I'm sure you've seen the threads from people who have stated that playing games like League have helped them recover from suicidal depression - hell there was a new one JUST YESTERDAY.

Now imagine if that person had an unstable connection and was simply told by Riot 'no, don't play our game, we don't give a shit'.... there ya go, now his connection to life is thinner and he might've just gone through with it - what if, in a month, someone posts that EXACTLY that has happened... will you still be defending this system?

This IS a video game, a hobby, a pastime. We have to stop forgetting that that is the case. Stop taking it so seriously... so someone's internet costs you a loss... just have fun with the game then. Contrary to what you may think, there's more to this game than the victory screen. The game ITSELF can be fun.

If you've forgotten that, then it's YOU that is ruining your matches, not the leaver. Enjoy the game, win or lose, and suddenly you'll find those lavers... they're not so frustrating or agitating. People with crappy computers or crappy internet suddenly won't frustrate you anymore. But if you can't recognize that even people who have poor internet or poor power connections or poor health STILL deserve to have fun... then I don't know how you can really talk to me about morals. I really don't.