More penalties for those who dodge ranked games and go afk are coming to League of Legends.
Riot Games' League of Legends development team has announced that new penalties will be coming to ranked games as part of patch 13.19. In an post on X/Twitter, developers outlined the changes that will be taking place in time for the new patch, which hits servers on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
It's also worth noting to be the Worlds 2023 patch, so whether you're a pro player or hard-stuck bronze, you'll have a few weeks to play around with the patch before the season's finale.
What counts as "poor behavior" in ranked queue?
The development team classified behaviours such as going AFK, dodging, and others worthy of penalties. These penalties will include in-game bans and chat restrictions, to make the experience more fun for potentially unfortunate teammates of toxic players.
It is unclear, however, if your game crashes and kicks you out of a match if this would gain a penalty. As although you would've left, it wouldn't be a choice. Riot has previously stated they have ways to detect legitimate AFKs versus rage quits, but it's unknown how effective these measures are.
Why are the restrictions getting tougher?
While no specific reason has been cited, we can safely assume it is because players have complained about the behaviors experienced from the above list. It's fair to say that no one really wants to be queued up for minutes on end to have the AFK'd in the first few minutes, and we can assume Riot is progressively putting in tougher restrictions to make the player experience less infuriating.
Am I at risk of getting ranked penalties?
Unless you do the above-mentioned behaviors and frequently make games unplayable for others, you'll be totally fine. So go enjoy some hopefully more peaceful games with fewer dodges and AFKs!
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