"AFK and trolling need to be taken more seriously": Pokemon Unite players discuss harsher punishments for leaving games

Pokemon Unite is still growing as a competitive MOBA title, and the game hasn't found a good system to deal with players who intentionally put their team at a disadvantage. The issue of players going AFK (away from the keyboard) or leaving a match entirely has caused substantial problems in the team-based game.

While quitters and idlers aren't unique to Pokemon Unite, The Pokemon Company and TiMi Studio Group have seemingly been slow to address the problem. It isn't unheard of for a match to go poorly early on, and some players react to this by removing themselves from the match by closing the game or returning to the base and idling until the match ends or a surrender vote is initiated.

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Reddit reacts to Pokemon Unite players idling and quitting high-stakes matches

Teamwork is the glue that holds Pokemon Unite's gameplay together (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Players have come together on Pokemon Unite's official subreddit to voice their complaints about idlers and quitters, particularly in high-stakes matches such as ranked battles.

Although quitters and idlers do lose Fair Play points for playing in this particular way, the subreddit acknowledged that this loss of points was far from the harshest penalty TiMi and The Pokemon Company could exact upon players for disrupting the competitive balance of a match.

Other Pokemon Unite Redditors have stated that the low penalty has allowed idlers and quitters to reconnect to games, including ranked games, very quickly and easily after taking their "penalty." Other players have called for temporary bans at the very least, as locking players out for longer periods would theoretically dissuade them from bad behavior, much more so than the loss of Fair Play or ranking points, which are less substantial in the grand scheme of things.

Some players have suggested that bad behavior should influence matchmaking in some capacity, linking players who constantly idle and quit with other players who do so until they adjust their poor behavior.

Pokemon Unite is a game where tensions can run high. Furthermore, the comeback mechanic of defeating Zapdos and being able to freely score a large number of points has led to many last-minute comebacks and wins. However, many quitters see early teammate deaths and decide that the match isn't worth their time. This essentially ruins the experience for their teammates, which is exactly why many players want the developers to inflict harsher penalties on those who wish to harm their team by doing nothing or quitting outright.

Hopefully, TiMi Studio Group and The Pokemon Company will take their fanbase's criticism constructively. Ignoring poor behavior in competitive matches will sour the game's future prospects severely.

Many other MOBA titles have managed a strident (albeit not perfect) way of dealing with AFK players and quitters. In due time, Unite's creators may very well deduce a solution of their own that deals the least collateral damage as possible while improving the inter-player experience going forward.