Compensation for downtime was a positive thing. . .

Bunny Bells·Feb 19, 2014·11 votes·1,076 views

Now I'm not going to make this sound like a greedy kid who just wants something for nothing. 'Tis a free game, and I have spent my fair share of money getting in game stuffs, and am only 5 champs away from owning them all. Ip really would go to runes for the most part for me at this point, so it doesn't really bother me. What bothers me, is not being able to play because of the servers. I feel like the compensation Riot gave in the past was a positive thing, and here's how:

It gave Riot incentive to keep their servers maintained. I'm not going to pretend to know the complexity of the system, or say I can do it better because I can't. I will say that if Riot puts out IP compensation or IP boosts for down time, it made an increase in the community's overall IP. This of course would mean a decrease in RP purchases. Not by a lot, and again I'm not going to say I'm a professional, but enough. If they don't want that to happen, then server stability should be a primary concern, and I'm sure it is regardless. By taking away the compensation, to the community it feels like Riot is saying "We're expecting our servers to be faulty", and they know they can't compensate for it every time.

Like I said, not trying to sound like the greedy kid going "Gimme gimme gimme" because all I want is to be able to play when I'm done with a long day of school/work, and I feel the compensation was a good incentive.

Just an opinion.

15 Comments

Linna ExcelFeb 19, 20142 votes

I just lost a game too because of this, the sad part is because I tried logging off and logging back in, it still thinks I'm in the bloody game. It had to have ended 5-10 minutes ago at least if my team was 4v5ing it.

xAMSHAYx7Feb 19, 20141 votes

im doing ranked and now im going to have a lost game all thanks to this lagg... im trying to log back in but it that doesnt even work... riot really need to get his shit together

Bunny BellsFeb 19, 20141 votes

I didn't know Riot was 'he'.

If you're where you're supposed to be then the loss won't be that big of a set back.

Generally, when the server shuts down there is a loss prevented. Not always, but hope isn't lost.

Maintaining servers is super difficult. Especially for being such a popular and busy game.

Linna ExcelFeb 19, 20141 votes

I've given up trying to log back in Shay. It's been over 45 minutes now.

Bunny BellsFeb 19, 20141 votes

All I have to say is, sh-t happens. It's unfortunate, and there really isn't more aggravating than losing a ranked game because of lag, but sh-t happens. If you're where you're supposed to be that game will be easy to make up. I just don't understand the people who go in game after game when they know it's laggy and people are getting DC'd then raging when they expect to happen. . .

If it was normals then oh well. I've held onto some 4v5's and made it last a lot longer. Make them work for that "free" win.

BootyLookinRipeFeb 19, 20142 votes

At least there is someone here who's keeping it cool unlike other people who completely criticize Riot for their servers and say that they are utter crap. Now I just tried logging on and I just got a message saying that they are experiencing high amounts of players trying to log in. Now my position was over 20000. Now think about it. Something like this happened a while ago. It is possible the same thing is happening again where there is a group trying to hack the servers of games. I'm not sure if this assumption would be accurate, but it would be better than just flat out accusing them of having terrible servers. It's not like a game company who is so big to just suddenly go and make their servers so terrible so suddenly. I advise we all be patient about this, as the saying goes: "Patience is key".

SchtauffenzFeb 19, 20142 votes

When a local restaurant is forced to close shop for a day or two because their water line froze, or oven exploded... they don't hand out free steaks because you wanted to come in and they were closed. It doesn't matter if you'd spent thousands of dollars there in the past, you aren't entitled to anything.

Why do you feel it should be different for online businesses? Something is obviously wrong, and ofc they are trying to fix it. When the servers act up and cause you to hate your time in game, take a break and see if its resolved tomorrow. Like a sane, respectful human being.

Bunny BellsFeb 19, 20145 votes

I don't think you read my post in full.

A frozen pipe is not the restaurant's fault. That falls in the realm of sh-t happens.

The oven, however, is on the restaurant. It's their tool to provide a service. If we want to make analogies, then the oven is network servers as steaks are to skins. When their tool goes down or become defective and they can't provide a service do they need to hand out their products? No. If you show up the restaurant and ask for a steak, but the oven is down, a good manager will say "Sorry, I can't do that right now, but here's a coupon with x% off the next time you come." The coupon doesn't even have to have a significant amount, but by doing so they ensure that the customer will come back and use it and buy a steak in the future. In a way it is their incentive to keep their oven working at all times, or have a spare in case one goes down, so they don't have to hand out the coupons. This is what I believe the compensation is; incentive. . . If they have to hand out coupons to make sure people come back, then they'll be more likely to make sure their tool can provide the service so they don't have to hand out the coupons.

If the manager just says, "Sorry our oven broke." and nothing was offered, the customer will most likely be unsatisfied for traveling to the restaurant and not getting what they came for. The same for league. When the servers are down, their players (Customers) can't get what they came for. Without acknowledgement and showing some sort of responsibility in the maintaining of their tools a customer is less likely to return. It just seems unprofessional.

Newbert NewmanFeb 20, 20141 votes

I get your point OP, however these DDOS attacks are more along the lines of "Shit happens, there's a gas leak" and less along the lines of "the oven broke". If you read some of the Dev posts over the past few days this problem with DDOS is not an easy fix and not really RIOT's fault. I encourage you to check some of those threads out and read @RiotGradius specifically explaining the situation.

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if RIOT does reach out to the fan base after the issue is resolved. ATM though it would be pretty pointless because the problem hasn't been fixed.

P.S.:: BTW I work 60 hour weeks and totally get you; however working in the customer service industry there's a right time and a wrong time to offer discounts. You don't do it when it makes you look pathetic. Just MO. :)

Bunny BellsFeb 20, 20142 votes

I have put 6 years into the service industry, and where I worked it was 100% satisfaction guaranteed regardless if it was our fault or not. That being said, I don't think Riot needs follow this.

I understand this time may fall under the "shit happens", and this post was not directed at this time in specific, but rather in general. I had recently read a post about how they had taken away the compensation because of the exponential growth of the player base, or something along those lines.

I agree, doing anything right now would be pretty pointless since it's not fixed.

Regardless this was just a post of my opinion, lol.

Newbert NewmanFeb 20, 20141 votes

I agree, compensation is sometimes needed, and WOW and other MMO's have set an industry standard for major software companies compensating for server downtime. I'm on the fence about it for LOL, and definitely didn't feel like you were approaching the issue wrong in your post. I'm glad you can share your thoughts on this is such a positive way.

Maybe RIOT will feel the hit on their end and will do something for the community. Doesn't necessarily mean IP boosts though(if they would just add replay it would be worth it IMO)

I actually have a lot of hope for RIOT ATM since Ghostcrawler defected; if anybody can contribute to a culture of outstanding innovation it's him. I believe in general RIOT's heading to be one of the better software companies out there and most everything I see confirms this.

Thus my comment(however Naive it may be) about how RIOT may be able to do something for us after this.

Thanks for the discussion OP.....GL in game!

Bunny BellsFeb 20, 20141 votes

The rate at which they've grown, I agree Riot still has a long life time ahead of them. I like something another user posted here. Compensation doesn't have to just be IP to us, but could include other things like an extra champion/skin on sale for the week, or when a loss is forgiven a small IP bonus. Like I said, it doesn't have to be significant, just something that says "Hey we see it. Sorry."

Same to you summoner. Many victories to you! :)

Dudebro NiceFeb 19, 20142 votes

Thank you for communicating this in a clear way without QQ. You really managed to take the log out of your own eye before the plank out of Riot's.

I agree that I wish we had some compensation, more to make up for lost play time than to feel like I deserve a reward for playing a free game. What I mean is that I just want to get like, 1 IP boost for an evening where the server was down and I tried to log in but couldn't play. Then I still get the IP for the game I would have won (or fought valiantly and lost) the next time I can get on.

burdluver90Feb 19, 20142 votes

I think it would be a great thing for Riot to offer some kind of small incentive for people when the servers go down for an extended period of time. I have a full time job and have been busy otherwise, so when I get my few hours a week to play and can't because of the lag, it's really frustrating.

Have Riot compensate people with some sort of sale or coupon that will increase the overall amount of RP purchased (5% Bonus RP for the next 2 days) or an IP boost to compensate for lost games (3 win IP boost) or 50 IP per Loss Prevented. They could offer temporary ward skins or have an extra champion and skin on sale the next week.

There are a ton of little things Riot could do as a way of saying "Hey, we're sorry that our servers were down and you couldn't play our game"

If the servers stay bad people will leave and stop playing entirely. They don't want that so they should try to at least give us a tiny little pat on the head that says "There, there"

Bunny BellsFeb 19, 20142 votes

This.

This is entirely my point. You sir, or ma'am, have grasped what I have said fully! Thank you!

It doesn't have to be big, because anything small has an impact on them. It's not the reward, it's the concept.