The long-standing "abandon bug" in Dota 2 that Valve never fixes

Like many competitive multiplayer games, Dota 2 penalizes players for prematurely quitting the game.

There is no surrender option for Dota 2 because the game at large is balanced around the vast potential of defensive play and comebacks. More importantly, it is a team game. If even one player leaves, it can often balloon into an insurmountable disadvantage.

To reduce players quitting mid-game, thereby ruining the efforts put in by their teammates, Dota 2 warns players about the penalties they get from an "abandon." Depending on the player's conduct score, the penalties can range from 15 minutes of ban from matchmaking to a five-match low-priority marathon, the "jail time" of the title.

To compound these penalties, an abandon from a ranked match gives players an automatic 25 MMR penalty. It is, therefore, an infuriating turn of events when someone receives an abandon due to a bug in the Dota 2 client.

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The reported bug has plagued Dota 2 players for a long time

The original Dota 2 dashboard during its first public release in 2012 was very different from the current version. The one today was instated in September 2015, when Valve ported Dota 2 into their new Source 2 engine.

The current in-game UI has a "quit" option in the form of a power button at the top-right corner of the screen when the dashboard, i.e., the Dota 2 main menu, is open. Due to ping spikes, network calibration issues, and other in-game glitches, sometimes, a restart of the game client is the quickest fix.

Thus, when players disconnect from the game, Dota 2 allows them to re-enter, so long as they avoid the "abandon" button at the lower-right corner.

The regular Dota 2 dialog box that crops up while quitting, with the 'Quit' button located at the top-right (Image via Valve)

However, the bug causes the "abandon" message box to appear in place of the intended "Quit Game" box when gamers click the top-right button after disconnecting in quick succession.

The "abandon" dialogue box of Dota 2 (Image via Valve)

The bug became a laughing stock and meme amongst the fan community of Dota 2 streamer and pro player for Team Bald Reborn, Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski after he had several encounters with it.

There is currently no way to circumvent the bug, and it reportedly still occurs as of 7.30. To avoid accidental abandons, players would thus be best advised to take their time when trying to restart the game.