Boards›Player Behavior

Why surrender?

Lirb·6/26/2019, 3:24:59 PM·3 votes·2,720 views

As a player who never votes "Yes" to surrender, I want to know why other players are so quick to want to "go next". (I'm actually that guy who doesn't vote at all, just so that it takes longer to initiate the next surrender vote.)

I've been playing League for about 8 years. During that time, I have won many, many ranked games that seemed like my team had no chance to come back in. I have also been on the receiving end, losing games I never thought we could blow our lead in.

Especially in the current state of League, where one bad decision by one player at the 25 minute mark can snowball a losing team into a winning one or vice versa, I can't wrap my head around why so many players want to surrender.

Maybe surrender vote spammers only enjoy playing League when they are ahead, but coming back in a game that seemed lost is one of the most rewarding feelings I get in this game. It's especially rewarding when 2 or 3 people on my team kept spamming surrender votes early and ended up getting proven wrong. But I can't help but feel that their giving up mentality almost gave the other team the win, had it not been for at least one other person on my team agreeing with me that we still had a shot.

My suspicion has always been that even the surrender vote spammers have had experiences like mine, where their teams made crazy comebacks. But somewhere along the line, they decide that it's better to take the loss and start a fresh game. I challenge this mentality because even a small chance of success is worth trying for. Choosing to give up now means they have to win their next game just to get back to the LP they had before starting the one they surrendered. Surrendering is basically saying "I would rather spend the next 30 minutes trying to win a game to get back my lost LP than spend the next 5 minutes trying to climb." When a game is truly unwinnable, it tends to end within the next couple minutes anyway, so not much is even gained by surrendering at that point, other than maybe 2 minutes of your life.

So, can I get some opinions from people out there as to why "go next" is ever the best option?

5 Comments

WorksAtAGayBar6/26/2019, 3:58:59 PM3 votes

I know when a game is able to be a comeback, however if they have a trynd already at our inhib turret at 16 minutes and all lanes lost, you're just wasting the time of 4 people on your team. I'm not going to flame but don't be surprised if people get mad at you. There are times when surrender is totally necessary. I understand sometimes people jump the gun too early but to be bold enough to say you never surrender even in games like the one I explained is asinine and selfish.

MordridtheBlack6/26/2019, 3:38:37 PM2 votes

yes, people who have that mentality do understand that the game can be brought back. however to them that chance is few and far between; so they opt to say things like that

because they would rather get out of the game they are currently in (that they are likely losing to some degree...even if 1-2 people are doing good/great) and move onto the next in hopes that they will do better

this isn't just affixed to ranked, it exists in normal as well

you may view it the way you do and that is fine, but to them; the match is lost and they just want to not have to deal with another x amount of time playing where they can't really do anything because they are so far behind or get swarmed or etc

you would be surprised how often the enemy team will fall back to get other objectives or camp games to get extra kills/assists to boost their score in the games that don't surrender. the losing team is now forced to try and fight back for another 10-15 minutes before the vote can be put up again

and don't just say "well they are free to leave the game" they don't do that (or rarely do) because they know people will report them

they want to play the game and have fun, not sit in a lost match for extra time that could be dedicated to another match where they would probably do better

CharDeeMcDenniz6/27/2019, 9:53:46 AM1 votes

i have limited time to play

are many game potentially winnable if you're behind? sure

is it worth me spending my limited time dragging out game that's 5-30 for another 20 or 30 min just to see if I can make that 2% win chance happen? not a chance.