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Why doesn't Riot sell level 30 boosts/accounts?

WoonStruck·12/17/2019, 7:49:12 AM·4 votes·2,182 views

I'd really like to know why Riot doesn't sell their own level 30 boosts.

#A definite prerequisite would be linking another level 30 or higher account. This ensures:

  • all accounts stack/receive necessary punishments if one breaks ToS

  • New players that are not ready to enter level 30+ matchmaking cannot utilize it

  • Optional Accounts are placed closer to their "host" account's rank. Any indications of misuse would result in immediate bans.

#There would be so many benefits from Riot's perspective:

  • Can track banworthy players more easily (higher scrutiny on purchased/boosted accounts)

  • Essentially removes the primary reason to bot.

  • Takes money out of 3rd party hands (account sellers) at a financial gain

  • The drop in new accounts being made should give a better estimate of their REAL incoming new playerbase.

  • It becomes almost guaranteed that manually leveled accounts are either entirely new players or players who received a permaban. It should be simple to gauge play and behavior patterns to distinguish between the two and place an account under higher scrutiny when relevant.

  • Optional Smurfing complaints are partially addressed, and the MMR system becomes very slightly more stable.

  • Optional Data indicating MMR discrepancies between linked accounts can provide intel into whether the current ranked system has too many variables outside of the players' control boosting or holding an account back and encourage Riot to make systematic adjustments to the matchmaking system to improve the integrity of the ranked system as a whole.

Is there any reason for Riot NOT to do this?

The only reason I see for people to disagree is that it becomes harder for them to ban evade. Even smurfing is potentially mitigated by this system.

8 Comments

Umbral Regent12/17/2019, 8:26:21 AM3 votes

Is there any reason for Riot NOT to do this?

Well, first of all, it promotes the idea that buying accounts in a free-to-play game is an acceptable thing. Which, y'know, just means that the external account sellers are seen as more legitimate "because Riot's doing it too".

Beyond that, I don't think you really understand why people go to those external account sellers in the first place. Most of the cases I've seen of people talking about buying accounts are those who disagree with Riot's rules and punishments, have been banned, and consequently just want to keep playing Ranked without suffering to waste time or give Riot money for the requisite XP boosts to hasten the deal.

Now, that last part is important; They don't want to give Riot any of their money. They've determined that they don't want to support Riot, and are willing to waste money on illegitimate accounts that may well be banned within the next week over the idea of Riot getting a single extra penny from them. So these two arguments...

  • Essentially removes the primary reason to bot.

  • Takes money out of 3rd party hands (account sellers) at a financial gain

Don't hold up. The target audience doesn't want to give Riot money, so they're not actually able to crowd out those third-party account sellers. And, what's more, the primary reason to bot would still be there - to sell accounts to players who want to spite Riot - and it may well be exacerbated by Riot hypothetically latching onto the same idea and trying to sell Level 30 accounts.

Beyond that, it would probably result in a lot of backlash, as it'd just likely be seen as Riot trying to do the whole "Permaban players and prey on their wallets" nonsense, since...Y'know. If the target audience are players who get permabanned and would need those new, fresh, Level 30 accounts, it would obviously look like targeted punishment and predatory business practice.

Additionally, a benefit to just raw permabanning a player and letting them level a new account manually from 1-30 is something of an otherwise fruitless idea that I've seen pitched as a change to the IFS; "Ranked Queue bans".

Basically, the time it takes for a player to level a new account to 30 (and unlock the 20 Champions necessary to play Ranked) also serves as an effective lockout to Ranked play, which is very likely one of the core reasons someone would want to have an account at Level 30 (besides being able to play Draft Pick Summoners Rift).

Now, compare the negatives above in the first section to the two actual positives that you have remaining (and, yes, I say two; the last bullet on your list is technically redundant to bullets #1 and #4.)

  • Can track banworthy players more easily (higher scrutiny on purchased/boosted accounts)

  • The drop in new accounts being made should give a better estimate of their REAL incoming new playerbase.

Being able to keep tabs on problem players and having a slightly better estimate of incoming new players...Compared to an impact to their image, as well as legitimizing third-party account sellers without any impactful income gain to show for it.

Hypothetically, were Riot to sell Level 30 accounts, it'd almost certainly do more harm than good. They certainly wouldn't break even about it, and what little benefits they could get out of doing it wouldn't outweigh the costs involved.

NF Remilia12/17/2019, 7:54:59 AM2 votes

They sell exp boosts, with them you can easily level up and collect stuff on your way to level 30 its like 2 or 3 days leveling process :)

  • hosting from example challenger account can be abused for elo boosting etc...
Tele II12/18/2019, 2:26:15 AM2 votes

I think its basically just because your account is what is at stake when it comes to punishments. If they just sold lvl 30 accounts, it would diminish the severity of punishments. I guess if they tied them to other accounts, people would just level a lvl 30 account to tie them to, and not tie them to their banned accounts so they could still buy the account. Remember, a permaban is meant to remove the player from the community, not to encourage them to make another account.

AJStarhiker12/18/2019, 2:45:36 AM1 votes

Why they don't sell level 30 accounts? My guess is they don't want to make it easier for permabanned players to come back.

They can't stop players from making new accounts, but they can at least make it inconvenient for them.