Riot Games will introduce “queue lockouts” in an effort to tackle AFK behavior in League of Legends

AFK behavior is a prevalent practice within solo queue matches in League of Legends.

AFK basically means “Away From Keyboard,” where a player will just stop playing the match if something goes against them. This has been very common over the past few years, and it affects the experience of everyone in the lobby.

League of Legends is a team game. So if one player goes AFK, it becomes a 4v5 scenario that is always unpleasant to play.

Thus, Riot Games plans to introduce a new penalty system called “queue lockouts,” where players will be severely penalized for spoiling the environment.

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League of Legends’ new penalty system just might save the solo queue experience for genuine players

It often happens within League of Legends that players face challenging lanes and end up losing very badly. While some players are ready to accept it and move on, others intentionally spoil the game for others by going AFK.

Previously, the penalty for going AFK was a queue delay where players would have to wait in long queues for five games as a punishment. Usually, a game takes three minutes to search. However, if queue delays are active, then it can take over seven to eight minutes.

It has been observed that players going AFK are ready to accept that and have no remorse whatsoever. Therefore, according to Riot devs BarackProbama and TimTamMonster, the new penalty system will provide a means to tackle this.

Players will be placed in lockouts where the more AFK they go, the more they will suffer. However, it will not end here as once the lockout expires, players will still face delayed matchmaking for a while. Players will have to play games and improve their reputation to get things back to normal.

The devs said:

“Once a queue lockout does expire, it’s followed by the maximum-level queue delay, so we can still maintain the benefits of behavior modification, and players who take a break don’t get to sit out their entire punishment. Queue Lockouts apply to all MOBA queues.”

Hopefully, this step will improve the major issue related to AFK behavior and make life better for solo queue players who are just trying to have some fun.