Disappointment in Riot

My name is FoPzl, and I’ve recently received a 14-day suspension. The problem is, I don’t believe it was justified, and Riot Support’s handling of this situation has severely disappointed me.

So, a bit about me: I began playing League of Legends way back in Season 4 with a group of friends who had themselves begun a few months earlier. I started off as a typical silver player, spending most of my days in normal until I felt ready to rank up. Over the years I’ve managed to improve my play such that I’ve reached Platinum 1. Over the years I’ve also been a consistently honorable player. I’m not a very toxic player, and I’ve never been chat-restricted. I have no problem muting players toxic towards me, but I generally don’t because words don’t affect me to any meaningful degree, and I believe communication is key to winning games. Back in the day, though, honor in this way was generally unrecognized (due to the old odd system) and you’d only have been able to have taken my word for it. A little while ago, Riot implemented the newer honor system which works much more towards a positive playing environment. Ever since it released I’ve been ranking up in honor, maxing out no problem. This season, I reached honor 5 early on, and never dropped. I’d receive honors almost every game, and I can’t count the number of honor 5 reward orbs I’ve gotten. And beyond this, the only penalty I’ve received was a leaverbuster due to circumstances largely out of my control.

7 days ago, upon logging in for just another ordinary session of games, this popped up on my client: https://i.gyazo.com/7957f0a226498c2ee745aa44cf700732.png[/img]

The game referenced is the last one listed in my op.gg here: http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=FoPzl It can also be found on the official site here: https://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/2906546446/205968911

The blurb states the reason for my suspension as being “for disruptive behavior in the game like trolling, griefing, intentionally feeding or deliberately trying to lose the match.” Realizing the (stated) reason for my ban, I was furious. See, the game in question was a normal blind pick 5v5 in which my premade of 4 (3 + me) decided to go easy and just have a fun time. But according to whatever automated system banned me, having 19 deaths is warrant for punishment. One might look at my score (1/19/8) and think to themselves, “clearly there was intent to feed there, how could you possibly do that poorly otherwise?” Well, a certain well-known player showed us just last month. Though, our situations aren’t exactly analogous. I do admit that I threw myself into the enemy team three times in order to die. However, the extent of my supposed wrongdoing ends there absolutely. Now, it could be said that even three ints is bad enough to be worth punishment, but in this case I don’t believe so for a number of reasons:

1. This is my first major punishment in all my 5 years of playing this game.
2. Normals, and let alone blind pick, are worth significantly less than ranked matches.
3. My premade (all of whom are friends irl) had no problem with me or my ints during or after the game (I can evidence this if it should be asked of me).
4. The one random teammate we had explicitly said he didn’t mind my 19 deaths at the end of it.
5. I can’t imagine the enemy team being frustrated in any way at their opponent inting 3 times.

In case I’m not believed in my description, here is a replay file of the match: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mHt6dPuPBx7os8yyE98qUzt5zekjALy2 And here is a video of the entire replay from my perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaJxRs3hU-0

I can understand from an outsider’s perspective how more than three of my deaths may be seen as “soft inting” rather than straight-up running it down like my first three. But given my prior standing as a player as well as the word of my premade, I feel like I should be believed when I say they weren’t intentional deaths.

Now I’ll explain my actual problem, because although I’m still somewhat miffed about being banned at all, it isn’t my greatest concern. What I really care about it the fact that I’m not receiving my end-of-season rewards. Recall: my suspension came on the 10th, two days before the season’s end. A 14-day suspension alone prevents me entirely from leveling up back to honor 2 before the season’s end. In addition, my honor dropped from 5 all the way to 0. These two facts, in combination with the penalty being unjustified, angered me beyond any ranked match or toxic premade I’ve ever experienced. But no problem, right? Surely this ban was in error, and I can just get my suspension lifted via Riot Support? Well, not so much. On the day of my ban, I contacted Riot Support with the claim that I was falsely banned. About 26 hours later I received a human response in which the Rioter supported the suspension, stating “I took a look into this game and I can see a clear intent to feed.” Again, I do admit to inting 3 deaths, and anyone can watch the replay and decide for themselves, but for the reasons stated previously I cannot fathom how the punishment I’ve received is fitting for my actions, especially given my character and history. I pleaded with the Rioter and asked if there would be some way for me to prove my deaths didn’t ruin the game for my team. Another 15 hours later I receive a response reassuring me that my suspension and all consequent penalties would stand. Honor level remains at a drop from 5 to 0, no end-of-season rewards, and no chance to evidence my perspective. What a mess. The Rioter then went on to claim the following: “Regardless of who you are playing with, it is never okay to intentionally feed. It not only ruins the experience for your team, but for the teams you are facing. Players queue up to enjoy a game balanced between both teams, and inting directly ruins that balance.” This is objectively and provably false. Ignoring broader examples, my team was composed of myself, three of my (irl) friends, and one random. My friends (with whom I was speaking while in game) did not have their experiences ruined, according to their own words, and the one random also stated himself – in game – that he didn’t mind the game’s result. In terms of the enemy team’s experience being “ruined” by my deaths, I find it extremely difficult to believe that to be the case, especially when the actual number of ints was so minimal.

At this point, though, I’d realized there was no way I was going to get through to Riot Support for an appeal of my suspension. All I wanted to know was why, then. Why was I actually banned? More pleading from me followed, ending with this question. 4 hours later – much earlier than expected considering the previous waits – I was told that no details could be given… none at all. I was told that they “did collect conclusive evidence before this ban was placed.” The Rioter promptly closed the ticket, my issue unresolved and my plea unanswered. Excuse me… but what? This is another objectively incorrect statement from this Rioter. First, if “evidence was collected” which was actually conclusive, this ticket would have been closed from the start, and the Rioter wouldn’t have said “I took a look into this game and I can see a clear intent to feed.” But maybe that was just a slip of the tongue… or fingers? Whatever. Second, though, is that the only possible “evidence” which would have been “collected” would be in-game stats and a replay file. Both of which expressly do not support my suspension. So I tossed out a reply for one last try, simply asking what I did wrong. This was the question I posed: “Am I being punished for 3 deaths which caused no foul experience for anyone? If not, I just want to know what. And if so, I just want to know why I should be punished if nobody's experience was made worse by my actions.” 18 hours later, a different Rioter responded, “taking over” for the first. Their response: “seeing as there are no new concerns I will be closing out this ticket now.” I reply, and within a few hours the ticket is permanently closed by the Rioter, leaving me with no chance for further conversation or resolution. ...what? ...what?

Honestly. Sure, over the years, many players have had many an issue with many aspects of this game and this company. But personally, all else has been overshadowed by the exchange I’ve dealt with here. First, Riot, you ban me for three ints, which nobody seemed to have a problem with. Next, you uphold the ban, despite my pleas, and without even listening to my perspective. And then – seemingly in an attempt to run from the situation – you dodge my questions and lock my support ticket. Now I’m left here, having dropped from honor 5, a title I’ve held as long as it’s been available, to honor 0, with no end-of-season rewards, unable to play with the very friends unaffected by the game in question, and entirely disappointed with what used to be one of my favorite gaming companies.

It’s been 7 days since my suspension now, and the rush of emotion from having lost what I have is behind me now. All I’ve got left is this simple disappointment. I’m not making this post in an attempt to get my penalty reverted. I’m not making this post to ask for sympathy from anyone. I’m not making this post to persuade Riot to reform their penalty system. I’m not even here to advocate for anyone wronged in similar fashion to myself. I’d just like Riot to know how utterly disappointed I am in them and their support team and how they’ve managed this situation.