Permanent Defeat? Riot Games please read.

This will be my first and final post on this site. I will probably not even reply to comments, unless y'all act a fool in my general direction. I am putting this out there in the hopes that Riot will take it to heart what I am saying. PLEASE READ TO THE END.

I have been playing the game since the end of season one/start of season two. I have seen the best and worst of times for the game and have loved almost every bit of it. Over the years I have developed to be an above average player consistently playing at Gold 2 - Plat 4 MMR in ranked within the last 4 years. In the beginning, I didn't even play ranked and the game was very fun and addicting as I am sure all of you can agree. Despite the wonky mechanics and certain unbalances in the game, my interest in the game blossomed into a hobby that I have absolutely loved to engage with. I made a ton of friends, had a ton of fun learning, even recommended the game to many new comers and established long lasting relationships because of the game. All of that is good and well, and I am not necessarily here to give a sob story, but I am looking to communicate to riot why they lost a loyal player that truly loved the game, until the issue is fixed at least.

When I play the game, I love to grind out ranked LP and embrace the steep learning curve necessary for improvement and ranked climb. I do not have as much fun in normal games because I feel unrewarded for the efforts. When I play ranked, I feel as though my time spent gaming is time spent developing myself as a better person and trying to overcome my negative tendencies and toxic impulses. While I still have a long ways to go in order to eliminate any negativity in my play and summoner interaction, I have always at least TRIED to stick it out until we either lose or agree to surrender. One thing that I can absolutely not tolerate is AFK summoners which is why I am making this post.

The system for dealing with AFK players is way too forgiving and lenient. The innate problem is that you do not distinguish between DC players, which is understandable, and AFK rage quitters which is absolutely intolerable. This is an issue that really needs to be addressed before I will ever play the game again. I understand that Riot as a company isn't losing a lot by having a single player leave the game because of an unfortunate weekend where I literally had 5 games with an AFK player on my team during my ranked promos, which is so demoralizing that I have had to reconsider why I even play this game if the issues that impede upon my having a good time NEVER get fixed. I hope you know, though I may have my toxic tendencies, I have not gone AFK in a ranked game intentionally I think ever during my time as a summoner. It is ABSOLUTELY intolerable and has driven me to feel permanently defeated and discourages me from even trying in your game anymore. It's almost like you deliberately pair me WITH afk players because I swear to god the ratio for AFKs on my team compared to AFKs on the enemy team is somewhere around 7:1. These all happen in games where the player is individually losing their own lane of their own misplays and therefore leave the game which causes me to lose countless LP and my time and motivation along with it.

I understand that DCs happen, which should be very forgivable because internet signal is much less controllable than human emotion, which is why players that are consistently disconnecting should be placed in a lower priority match making queue so that players that do not have consistent DC patterns will not be punished for playing the game. In the end, I am just tired of losing hundreds of LP because of rage quitting players when I know that their misbehavior will not go corrected in the long term. I know that my proposal for punishment is a bit unforgiving, because I think we should go full Tyler1 IP ban on the AFK rage quitters, but perhaps something longer than a temporary ban on the account is in order to be a proper deterrent from leaving the game out of frustration.

I'd like to point out, every single player is going to get frustrated at the game from time to time, especially if its in a ranked environment, but that does not excuse leaving the game. When I queue up with a team, I look at the lobby fresh with no emotions from the last game and hoping to learn and maybe win from the game to come. People that AFK violate the summoners code by walking away from the game, in which each and every team member matters and makes a world of difference.

I propose that the best solution to AFK players is to implement an AFK surrender that takes away either less LP or forgives the loss to the losing team by not taking their LP, and then permanently banning the AFK rage quitter's account upon first offense. That would be enough deterrence to keep players from win trading by AFKing, while also reminding the summoners that being able to participate in a team environment with strangers is a privilege and not a right. Leaving the game puts the team with 4 players at such a heavy disadvantage that the game becomes unplayable and absolutely demoralizing to play. AFK players make the most fun multiplayer game in the world into an absolute unbearable nightmarish experience that I will never put myself through again, until the issue is fixed.

Say what you will, I am not trying to come off as a cry baby, but I don't know what else to do with my frustrations from the unfortunate series of games this weekend in which I have had 5 games with an AFK player on my team and therefore have lost close to probably 100 LP over the course of the weekend in total JUST from AFKs which is nothing I have control over.

Feel free to leave your feedback and thoughts for me to ponder on, I really hate leaving a game that I love so much, but I can't bear the disappointment and hopelessness when on the receiving end of an AFK team mate. I am eager to hear the thoughts of fellow summoners, hopefully I don't get meme'd on too hard for being transparent and honest with my thoughts on the state of the ranked environment and AFK players within it. Thanks for reading and I hope to see some change possibly come from this post.

I hope to be hearing from someone at Riot games.

Thanks again, SomDumGuy.