- New behavioral systems by Riot Games attempt to continue limiting disruptive behavior in a League of Legends
- Players will be subject to new penalties that attempt to strike a balance between intentional queue dodges and emergency disconnects
- The company will continue to fight against intentional feeding, AFK, and verbal abuse in-game
Riot Games continues to work on its behavioral systems in a bid to sort out issues related to disruptive in-game behavior.
Naughty or Nice, Riot Fine-Tunes Penalties in New Update
Riot Games will seek to address the issue of “queue skippers,” individuals who sign for a game but then fail to show up when called upon. In a new update published on the organization's website, Riot Games explains how the “behavioral systems” will apply to League of Legends.
The company said it was running a little late with the update as it had to take multiple opinions into consideration to “avoid making the same mistake twice.” Riot outlined what it wanted to achieve through the implementation of its new systems, including but not limited to:
- Reduce the frequency of disruptive behavior
- Mitigate harm caused by disruptive behavior
- Introduce a new confidence system
- Continue improving queue matchmaking quality
- Reduce champion select dodges across all MMRs
All of these constitute important stops on the road to improving the League of Legends game experience and making it far more welcoming for everyone involved. The new reporting confidence system for intentional feeding has been showing promising results, Riot Games explained.
Taking on Issues through New Penalties
Another broadly discussed issue was the aforementioned queue dodging. Dodging has been a growing problem within the game and to this end, Riot Games is bringing outside help in the face of Compet to analyze and spot such behavior as well as introduce tougher penalties on repeat offenders.
In motivating this decision, Riot said that having a single player skip on a whim added to the discomfort of others. The company didn't mince its words and highlighted a community behavior that was encouraged by some skilled players who encouraged players to dodge queue rather than play out certain hero combinations.
Riot, though, is cognizant that sometimes an emergency disconnect is the case and the company does not want to punish players who had a genuine reason not to see a game through, and outlining how the penalties will be applied in tiers:
Existing Tiers (unchanged)
- 1st dodge in 24 hours: 6 min lockout (15 for ARAM) and -3 LP in ranked
- 2nd dodge in 24 hours: 30 min lockout and -10 LP in ranked
New Tier
- 3rd dodge in 24 hours: 12 hour lockout and -10 LP in ranked
Moving forward, Riot Games is planning on several changes for the second half of 2021. The company will continue working on improving its systems to better detect aberrant and sporadic behavior.
Riot will focus on fine-tuning penalties to ensure that no unjust punishments are meted out. Verbal abuse, intentional feeding and AFK will be continuously fought against, the update said.
Earlier this month, Riot Games made a promise to seek tougher actions against Wild Rift feeders as well.
