Leaver Punishment Unfair

4204DAZE·2/25/2019, 9:08:44 PM·3 votes·4,410 views

I was playing jungle in a ranked game today (promo series no less) and was hard carrying the early game before I experienced a short disconnect followed by another short one just before the end of the game due to a snowstorm in my area. The game was close but luckily I was far enough ahead and had spoonfed my bot lane and mid that after I reconnected the second time I was able to get a good flank when they were sieging our base and got a quadra kill and an ace and was able to end the game off that. After the game I got a loss for being tagged a leaver because my power and WiFi went out for a couple minutes. Not only was I bummed but my teammates told me in post game that they were upset that I got the loss and they couldn’t even honor me for the game (they said they wanted to but it wasn’t an option).

I understand the intention of the leaver system because it does suck when someone quits. But when you have a short disconnect for something completely out of your control like the weather but make it back and still hard carry the game it seems unfair to be punished for that.

Not sure how to add a link to my game or a recording of how the game went but feel free to look it up for confirmation. The game was at roughly 9am the day of this posting.

*Edit: I think the main issue is: If the rule is that you are dc/d for at least 3 min you get a lp loss no matter what then there is no incentive to come back. One may argue that not returning to the game is the dominant strategy since in that scenario you are just speeding up the time until you can start a new game where you have something on the line. Perhaps a better system would be if someone disconnects and they return and their team wins then they get no change in their LP. If their team loses or if they don't return then they get the full loss. That way incentives are in place for people to return because I imagine scenarios like this must happen once in a blue moon for everyone. But it still discourages quitting/leaving.

13 Comments

GatekeeperTDS2/25/2019, 10:25:21 PM3 votes

You're right. It was completely unfair to 9 other people in the game to have someone disconnect several times.

Saezio2/25/2019, 9:49:46 PM2 votes

Define "short" I have been able to fully restart my router (upwards of 2 mins lower than 3) and didn't get a loss. If you were afk for more than like 4-5 mins it's totally understandable why you should not get the LP. I know it sucks though, but maybe reconsider ranking while a blizzard is happening?

Grouchy Poro2/25/2019, 11:09:49 PM2 votes

i got a leave buster punishment for afk in a player vs ai game when i was the only actual human it was 4 bots on my team and myself

Jo0o2/25/2019, 11:20:46 PM2 votes

You have the option to not play during a large snowstorm, right?

I never play serious online games if I'm worried about the weather. I've been caught off-guard a handful of times over the years, but I'd expect a snowstorm to be more obvious.

Generation Z3r02/27/2019, 2:02:54 AM1 votes

ive disconnected for all of 45 seconds one day. got leaver buster. its flawed, riot knows it, but cannot figure out how long is too long... [slayer-jinx-unamused]