When a player remains connected, but is not actively playing the game, at what point should it cross the line from AFK (as in, it's unknown but there may be a valid reason for it) into purposeful trolling?
Just looking to get a discussion going on this.
So, like this player isn't kicked from the game, but is still present? I think I'd give them 10 minutes. After 5 minutes, their absence is long enough to be noted by the enemy team. I'd say 5 minutes if there were some sort of action or chat that indicated they were not interested in playing the game.
Youre trolling if your not actively achieving the base goal of the match, which is working towards destroying the enemy Nexus by doing two things: killing enemy Champions where it matters, and destroying Towers as soon as possible while maintaining a logic
If all youre doing for a while is farming or just roaming around, youre not playing a part in reaching the base goal
I guess it depends on the situation (surprise, surprise). If a player does nothing, but moves around a bit just to avoid the leaver status, that would count for me as afk (with moving around I mean the absolute bare minimum movement. Someone strolling around in the entire base is not afk imo). However, someone who stands still but still uses the chat is also not afk. Also, someone chilling outside the base is also not afk if there is any risk that he might get killed.
In short, being afk depends on: amount of movement usage of chat location (in combination with risk of getting killed). The amount of time a player does nothing
I know this is not a very technical operationalization of the term, but it's the one I handle as a rule of thumb.
I think it really depends what else may or may not be going on as well.
Were they dead and just revived a few seconds ago? They could be waiting for some gold (admit more likely on ARAM or if they have a gold gen item). Did they maybe go to use the restroom real quick? This may also be included with a B (in a safe place to channel, or perhaps walking back). This case is a fine afk for me.
Have they been connected the whole time and are simply typing? This one happened to me. Had a Riven who stood at fountain the first 13 minutes just egging the team on to try and upset someone. At about 15 minutes they finally left base to attack things or enemies. This was clearly trolling, at least to me.
And then there have been situations that I have done as reference. Some are having the oven on and needing to turn off real quick or going to pay for ordered food. Usually I give a quick "brb. Door/Oven." but it probably upsets some people. I do return in those cases in less than a minute usually, but it is still an example for the asked question. Was I trolling because I messed up timing or was it a brief afk because I messed up timing. Wasn't intentional to do, just happened.
TL:DR: I don't believe there is a set answer, I think it fluctuates depending on the person.
If they're moving around, they obviously have the ability to play the game, so they're trolling.
Maybe for like a few minutes if they're on a phone call, but that's literally the only excuse there is
The term is called Passive Inting... And it is tilting AF.
If its a choice by you and i dont mean stopping because of life or an emergency if we are 15-20 min in and you just decided to sit out the rest of the game in the fountain or hell maybe your just in the fountain for the first 3 min and you move a lil its just trolling. alteast give a brb or somethign
Connected in base doesn't seem quite enough. With leaving Riot is lenient because of network problems, I believe in this context we need to be lenient because of client problems.
Leaving to farm feels like the best choice... but even that clearly depends on the precise conditions.
I voted Other, so here is the 'discuss' part:
If the person does not take part in the fighting (be it by standing in a bush near or far, or just farming jungle without never crossing paths with the enemy, or using the chat from base or whatever), he is at least afk in my books and I will report him for that. On some cases it is okay to wait for a little while at fountain, to get enough gold to get the next item. Otherwise it is time for afk report. If he moves around in base, or running from bush to bush away from the enemy, that easily translates as trolling.
If the person abuses the chat or pings, that is different scenario that does not count as afk, but instead that is reportable as harassment/verbal abuse etc. If he does both afk and abuse, well, we can use multiple report options for that.
My first thought is, it becomes trolling if they never DC. Because that means they are there, watching the game, but denying the AFK checks.
To me a player is afk if one of the following conditions are met.
When they stay connected to press NO on the surrender vote.
Giving up, or playing badly are indistinguishable tbh. Someone might just be so tilted they can't play coherently anymore.
And as for being literally AFK, it's a common occurrence for something to come up. Like angry / sick family members, phonecalls, pets requiring instant attention orelse your floor will suffer...
I had an 
who at the very beginning of an ARAM match went "brb need a drink". Then they were gone for a whole whopping 4 minutes (They began actually moving at around 4:13 or something like that)
I would call that AFKing/trolling. You could have gotten that drink any other time that wasn't during the match. Get it before you queue up. Also maybe not spend 4 minutes getting a drink.
Of course, when she came back, I asked her to maybe not get a drink in the middle of a match, and she countered me that "and it's the start of the match, not the beginning" (as if that makes any difference) and "it's just an aram". Then proclaimed that I was being mean to her and flaming her, blah blah blah. Because apparently asking someone to not get a drink at the very start of a match because we need her, is very offensive.
How can you expect your teammates to respect you and your time, when you don't respect them and theirs?
Anyways, my point is, it all depends on the intent, and a little bit of when you go AFK given some circumstances.
If you know they're not afk or dc and they're just waiting in the fountain, or sometimes they would just move around for them not to be detected as afk, then 100% trolling
Depends.
Life happens, sometimes your parents call you for a couple minutes to do something quickly, sure. Sometimes you gotta take a call, sure. Sometimes shit really happens and you need to leave, like REAL bad weather, medical emergency, etc, oh yeah, definitely, had friends get caught in the middle of flood warnings or hurricane evac procedures and had to leave.
Now if you are just sitting at base, moving just a hair to avoid getting dc'd for afk, and not doing anything, you deserve to be reported. Or if you're 'waiting for an item' but you really don't want to play for a good 5-10 minutes, then come back to play 1-2 minutes, then leave again, you get reported. Or if you have one of those fancy bots that do like 2-3 actions the whole game, that too. Had a Heimer bot in a Norms game that only ran into a bush right over red buff, place turrets, and sit there, then if someone got close, they left, then when they left, Heim would come back, and never do anything else. Now that's just stupid.
i didnt really understand the question, i just think this hits me personally because this happened to me. i went "afk" (wasnt aware it just meant not playing and not even trying) but it was because the match was already won by the other team and there was no point in me trying. but of course everyone defends the troll that was running down mid and inting saying oh well he was trying to play and im in the wrong for not wanting to play 1 v5
Its way too dependent on the context and circumstances of the game to be defined by a single line.
I mean... trolling to me implies intent. Someone could have a house fire and dc, and you can never really call that trolling.
However, being afk is never really acceptable to the other people in your game. I'm not sure it needs to be trolling to be considered disruptive.
To keep things simple, I would say it's AFK if and only if the system declares them disconnected. As they are not available to play the game this fits the report. I have yet to see an instance of the game keeping someone connected if they are not at the computer.
