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The Risks of MMR Boosting

RiotRhojin·10/22/2015, 8:30:21 PM·86 votes·89,979 views

Hey Everyone,

A couple months back I made a post regarding MMR Boosting punishments and the updated investigation and identification methods we created for the 2015 Season. Today I wanted to talk about something else in regard to MMR Boosting, the security of your account. By now I’m sure you are all aware of the announcement of the 2015 Ranked Season Rewards; and after seeing what waits for those who reached Gold or higher we have seen a large increase in the number of players receiving MMR Boosts. While it may be tempting to pay for a boost or getting your friend/family member to play a couple games to boost your rank up, there are some serious risks involved in receiving a MMR Boost.

First and foremost, you will receive a MMR Boosting punishment. Your account will be suspended for two weeks, any ranked rewards you may have earned in the past will be stripped from your account and you will be ineligible to receive the 2015 rewards. Now this isn’t an “IF” your account is caught this is a when your account is caught. No matter how elite a booster may claim their methods are, there is no hiding from us.

On top of the punishment looming over a boosted account, the security of the account could also be at risk. Far too many times have we seen players share their information with people offering to boost their account, only to have that person then run off with the account and either sell it to another party or use it for other nefarious means. There are boosters who will boost an account and then report it directly to us for whatever reason they may have. And then there are those who set up sting operations, offer to boost someone and report every player to us who says yes, and they aren’t even contracted through us to do something like this. This is something they do out of their own free will to ensure boosters are removed from the community they love.

But even after being boosted there is no guarantee that an account will remain in the ranking it was boosted to. Throughout the 2015 Season we have seen 35% of boosted accounts drop back down to the ranking they were at before being boosted or lower. So not only is there the MMR Boosting punishment being issued to an account, the numbers show you may drop back down in rank and expose your account information to unnecessary risk.

I will be checking this post throughout the day to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

572 Comments

LaoBushido10/22/2015, 8:37:31 PM83 votes

"There is no hiding from us " dam I don't mmr boost but that scared me

Im A Pal10/22/2015, 8:35:04 PM18 votes

This article seems angrily typed.

Emperor Antares10/22/2015, 9:03:27 PM10 votes

Hi my nephew who lives in Serbia visited my house in the Netherlands and played some games on his account on my computer. Will the system think I was boosting my nephew?

HandofG0d10/22/2015, 9:03:57 PM6 votes

Would I be banned for mmr boosting if I were using my friends lower account to learn other roles? Im diamond 5 and my friend is silver but since I only played support to get to diamond i am terrible at other lanes. I use his account to learn the roles but make sure that he does his promos if it gets to that point on his account.

Axests10/22/2015, 8:39:30 PM5 votes

Something i've always wondered, ill set up the situation person A is friends with person B and C person A logs onto person B's account, with person B's permission person C wants to play ranked with person A, but person A is too high elo for them to queue together Is it elo boosting for person A to play on person B's account with person C, even if they weren't intending it as an elo boost? This is something a friend got into an argument with me about so i wanted to see which one of us was right

Lets Study10/22/2015, 11:25:04 PM4 votes

It's funny how you guys keep on talking about punishment for MMR Boosting. I reported an account for being boosted as a support ticket several times during the season and the account is still active today. I reported this maybe 2-3 weeks ago and Riot has done nothing to take care of it. It's funny how the only time the report/support system actually starts giving a shit about boosting and cheating is during the end of the season. When it comes to the beginning or middle of the season, the support/report team dont gaf about anything at all. They just let players do what they please.

Senpanda10/22/2015, 8:41:41 PM3 votes

Does this include friends carrying other through ranked? because that's what a friend did for me. We duo'd and he carried me through bronze to silver, and i've got no idea if that counts as boosting

LegacyofTable10/22/2015, 8:41:43 PM1 votes

Are you sure you guys are able to catch all of them though? Seems like you could still miss people who are really good at hiding it. Not to name names or anything, but I personally know a friend who asked his sister to boost him out of Bronze5 (cuz he couldn't do it himself) to Bronze1/2, and then he just duo'd his way to gold with other friends. He hasn't been banned (probably because he and his sister live in the same house), yet constantly rubs it in my face that he's gold when I'm still in silver1 (struggle is real). What about those kinds of people?

xNakero10/22/2015, 10:04:44 PM1 votes

DuoQ isn't considered MMR boosting even if it's a league and few divisions above right?