The Riot Games behavioral systems team outline changes they’ve made to League of Legends in an announcement on April 22. The statement focuses on penalties for dodging or going away-from-keyboard (AFK) in game.
Short term goals to reduce reduce “disruptive” behavior in League of Legends include reducing repeat toxic behavior and continuing to iterate on the confidence system. However, the team is is trying to avoid impeding on matchmaking and queue times with these goals.
They also outlined the recent success of the confidence system, a system that prioritizes players who give good feedback to help find toxic behavior the automated system may miss. Griefing your allies lane or disrupting a jungle’s clear are reportable offenses that the system cannot detect on its own, for example. The system will continue to change in 2021.
New behavioral systems blog with a few updates:
-Detection improvements to catch players trying to skirt the line
-Ramping dodge penalties
-Ramping AFK penaltiesThere is still more to do but these steps should keep us moving in the right direction. https://t.co/KyvDPH4Ta4
— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) April 22, 2021
Queue dodging updates
The Riot Games behavioral team will introduce a new tier to the existing queue dodge penalty system. The team acknowledged that there are legitimate reasons to leave champion select that should not be penalized. They highlighted emergencies and troll behavior as good reasons to leave a game before it starts. They have added a new tier to the punishment’s system to mitigate repeat offenders, instead of first-time offenders.
The existing tiers will remain unchanged. One dodge in 24 hours earns a player a six minute queue lockout and three points detracted from your rank. A second in the same timeframe results in a 30 minute lockout and a loss of 10 points. A third, which is the new tier, will be a 12 hour lockout and another 10 ranked points lost.
Riot Games AFK penalties updated
No new penalties for players who go AFK have been added, although previous ones have been revised. A players first AFK incident will result in a five minute lockout and automatic loss. The second will increase the lockout to 30 minutes and a third will escalate it to 14 days.
Ranked points will also be detracted in a tier system separate from the other penalties. Players in tier one, with one AFK incident to their name will get two points docked in their next game. If they do not AFK in that game then they will return to normal, or tier zero. The tiers go up to five and max out at eight points lost per game. Players can get a better AFK ranking by not going AFK.
The Riot Games behavioral systems team will look at new in-game reporting options in the next update. Players can expect another statement in July.
