Riot Games to take stricter actions for AFKs and queue dodging in League of Legends

Like all other online games, League of Legends faces frequent AFKs and queue dodging issues. Riot Games has thus come up with many plans to increase punishments against such unethical in-game actions.

League of Legends' game design director Mark "Scruffy" Yetter explained in detail the team's thought processes behind these modifications in the newest dev blog.

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

Scruffy also mentioned that these changes would feature in the first major game update in 2021. Thus the blog was delayed a bit to make it "read-worthy" for League of Legends enthusiasts.

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AFKing practices in League of Legends get a stricter and detailed approach

Queue dodging penalty escalation

Matchmaking screen in League of Legends, where a player can opt for declining a match (Image via Riot Games)

According to Scruffy, their first approach towards player-dodging control will immediately address the escalation of these unethical behaviors via stricter penalty schemes.

The second will be a lengthier effort to address the underlying reasons for dodging in the first place. The punishment will focus on those specific players who use dodging as a 'rank up' toolkit. The developers explained that,

"At higher levels of play, we even see some players say it's better to dodge a champ select with picks they don't like than it is to play the match out. Dodging should never be so optimal that players treat it like a tool in their toolkit. It should be a last resort 'break in case of emergency' switch."

Riot Games will also look into the fact that accidental dodges do not get overly punished. This led to the addition of a third penalty tier:

Existing Tiers (to remain unchanged)

• 1st dodge within 24 hours: 6 min lockout (15 for ARAM) and -3 LP in ranked
• 2nd dodge within 24 hours: 30 min lockout and -10 LP in ranked

New Tier

• 3rd dodge within 24 hours: 12-hour lockout and -10 LP in ranked

According to Scruffy, this new 3rd tier will adequately serve its purpose in League of Legends' dodge-control. In the meantime, the team will continue working with other Riot teams to dig deeper into areas like Autofill/Off-role disparity issues, One-trick limitations at higher MMRs, hostage situations during champion selection, and others.

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AFK penalty escalation

A regular AFK warning screen in League of Legends (Image via Riot Games)

Along with dodging issues, developers have also assessed punishments for players repeatedly AFKing or leaving League of Legends matches. They will look into the fact that unintentional AFKs do not get overly penalized.

For both dodge and AFK we're taking the approach that targets the most egregious offenders and not increasing penalties for players with the occasional disconnect or life circumstance.

— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) April 22, 2021

Riot Games plans to increase the lockout severity of the game's existing higher penalty tiers rather than add new ones. Therefore, AFKing will lead to an increase in their penalty tier, while games without AFKs will push the tier back towards zero.

Current Tiers:

• 1st AFK: 5 min lockout and auto-loss
• 2nd AFK: 10 min lockout and auto-loss
• 3rd AFK: 15 min lockout and auto-loss

Modified Tiers:

• 1st AFK: 5 min lockout and auto-loss
• 2nd AFK: 30 min lockout and auto-loss
• 3rd AFK: 14-day lockout and auto-loss

Thus, the players will now get a huge AFK ban starting from the third time as they will be restricted from playing games for two weeks rather than just 15 minutes.