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"Custom" Games feel like an aggressive experience, a small idea to help it feel like its not.

Nautricity·11/19/2015, 12:25:30 AM·2 votes·924 views
http://i.imgur.com/rYYtR.png

Ever since I started playing this game, I have always, always felt like joining a custom game you where expected to be banned from 80% of games you joined. I experience this way to much, Custom games feel unwelcoming, aggressive, and secluded. Everyone who plays them tends to be setting up games for practice / test something (1 person, 9 bots) and they appears at the top of the "Slots" list, saying like 8/10, encouraging you to join, to hopefully play a game, but then to join that to find someone alone with bots and to be banned right after so that person can fill your spot with a bot.

Then there are other games where they are 5v5's but wanting only high teir players, such as names like "no noobs" "high rank only" and such, in which you will join, and from what iv noticed, if you're not Gold II+ you will be instantly banned.

On the note of the word "Banned" it feels rather aggressive, like its telling you to just get out, now. Rather than a simple "Kicked" Message, which is till on the more discouraging side, but not as aggressive.

It honestly is a rare occurrence I can join a near full custom game, and not get banned, or someone instantly saying "kick Nautricity no rank" or similar. It's extremely unwelcoming, and discouraging.

The majority if the time when I will be welcomed, are games such as "Hide and seek", and not much else.

If I had to put into a Percent, -70% (Potentially) of games are 1-2 player with 8-9 Bot games -15% "Joinable" welcoming games, but with around 5-7 players, and will have to wait awhile to find a few others to join and the extras 15% would be 5v5 Games that you will either be welcomed to play in, or instantly banned because they want high rank players only.

My thoughts to make this a bit more of a welcoming and not so "aggressive" experience are some small things.

-When creating a game, you have the option for a "Private" Match, which would not be listed under custom games (I am unaware of what a "Password" protected games properties are) -Replacing "Banned" with "Kicked" -Allowing unbanning players from Public Custom Games -Listing Co-op vs AI as a Gamemode, preloading the lobby as a Private Match (Unlisted from Public Custom Games), filled with bots on the other team, leaving slots open for friends on your team. This would prevent the "Slots" tab from being filled with 8/10 10/10 games with only 1 person and 9 bots being displayed, leaving room for games with actual people.

The "Private" match mode would help keep 5v5 or practice matches from being listed on the custom public games, helping with the constant discouragement of banning off new players when they join, being a seemingly misleading experience, going to the Custom Game Lobby, expecting to join a nice pre-made game, and to end up joining a 5v5 unfavoring to players like myself, or to 5v5s setup for friends only (Private)

This would help separate those 5v5's and private games / practice games into separate "Custom Game Lobbys" after being unlisted, leaving the Custom Game Lobby to be for Public games that, to an extent / possible majority, can join without being "Banned" instantly from a majority of games as you do now.

I could probably add more to this.

8 Comments

Hyrum Graff11/19/2015, 12:39:20 AM2 votes

Password protected games are shown, but in order to join the lobby you need to enter a password. Honestly most of the time I don't bother with it because I don't want to bother with giving out a password, even though it's the more appropriate option to use for the custom games I play, which are almost exclusively when I'm getting together 10 friends (and thus, I would kick you if you joined).

What do you get out of custom games that you wouldn't get out of normals?

Zerana11/19/2015, 12:34:17 AM1 votes

OR just a sandbox mode like we asked and we wouldn't have to use custom games at all.

Nautricity11/19/2015, 2:10:51 AM1 votes

I have been trying for awhile today to join a custom game, its been almost nothing but being banned from every game you join.

ltmetal11/19/2015, 5:21:03 AM1 votes

I recommend posting on (or at least checking) the Team Recruitment boards that you want to play a custom game and set up stipulations-if you even have any-regarding rank or other factors.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/team-recruitment

There are also chat rooms you can create/join in client to find games. The two that come first in my mind are "Ultimate Bravery" and "Dominate Dominion". In the lower right corner of your client, there is a chat room control panel that has two speech bubbles. Left click that panel and click the folder icon to create a chat room or join the room of one you already know the name of.

Zerana11/19/2015, 9:03:28 PM1 votes

That's a shitty reason not to have a sandbox mode. Know why? Because Smite and Dota 2 exist. Clearly having a sandbox mode makes the learning experience better and no one can force you to use them. In all the games the only time you are ever forced into them is when you start your account and league is guilty of this as well. Some say it has the worst starter tutorial of all, by virtue of it giving unrealistic expectations and giving very broad explanations on how items work. Dota 2 on the other hand gives a 5 stage tutorial with explanations on active v. passive items and lets you choose the easiest characters in the game to practice with. Smite gives this AND a sandbox mode, for build practice. Sandbox mode grinding is only a thing now in higher tiers of play, usually it's just a couple friends practicing last hits together and even that is rare. But hey if you really want to practice in normal games instead of privately you can always practice skirmishing in Twisted treeline and objective control and sieging in Dominion. Oh wait you can't they have been overwhelmed by bots. Guess you will have to practice your build ideas in real games while people scream at you for trying something new. Of course you can just not tell people what your trying to accomplish and have them figure it out by the end of the game. Its rude not to have a sandbox mode as opposed to having one because your forced to use your team mates as guinea pigs without their permission most of the time. "Then queue with friends", I shouldn't have to call on my friend's every-time I feel like going off meta, also chances are when you queue with friends you will be matched with other teams as well, who are ALSO going off meta. That completely kills the point of the test. Your trying a build or champ against a particular meta and now you can't practice that against that meta, you have the joy of testing 2 metas at once. That data won't be a pain to sort.