Red Post Collection: Rewards for Positive Play, Details on new Leaverbuster, and Updated SR Feedback

Tonight's red post collection features Lyte with information on an upcoming and future rewards for positive players, details on the new LeaverBuster system that just hit the PBE for testing, and feedback & discussion on the updated Summoner's Rift!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


Rewards for Positive Play

Lyte has announced an upcoming reward Riot is handing out for players who have not been chat restricted or otherwise punished for 2014, noting that this is only the "first step" in rewarding positive behavior.
"As the 2014 season comes to an end, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate players who have demonstrated positive behavior. As a first step, players who haven’t been chat restricted or had their account suspended in the 2014 season will receive a 4-win IP boost. Due to the number of players receiving this reward, we’ll be granting the bonuses over the next week. Keep an eye out for a shiny new boost icon next to your IP balance.

We've recently been focused on addressing extreme cases of verbal toxicity, and will soon be testing additional systems that address gameplay toxicity like leavers, AFKs, and intentional feeders. However, it’s important to keep in mind that players engaging in these behaviors really are not welcome in our community. Fewer than 1% of players have been escalated to a 14-day ban or permanent ban or even received a chat restriction.

As we mentioned previously, we’ve been testing some new chat ban systems and wanted to give you guys an update on our progress:

As of 11/13/2014, 95% of active players in 2014 have never received a punishment of any kind. The vast majority of you have not received chat restrictions, ranked restrictions, game bans or permanent bans this year!
8/16/2014 Update with latest data

Reviewed approximately 11,150 players
  • 11,052 players were neutral or positive (99.1%)
  • 94 were chat restricted (0.84%)
  • 4 were escalated for extreme toxicity (0.04%)

So let’s spend some time highlighting the awesome behaviors in our community. If you’re a positive player in League, and are OK sharing some of your recent chat logs with the rest of the community, please post a reply here!

If you do, make sure you’ve verified your email account, because you may see another bonus head your way in the near future."

When asked if we can expect and improvements to the Honor system and what the team is currently working on, Lyte replied:
"Yes. The current Honor was always a foundation, and we have plans to build on top of it. But, right now we're focused on finishing the new Tribunal, LeaverBuster, and Team Builder."
He continued:
"Positive reinforcement doesn't work on the entire playerbase; there's a significant number of "neutral" players that will show positive behaviors or improved behaviors because of the rewards. 
Honor was always a foundation system, we have plans to expand on it further, especially in 2015 after we launch some of the current systems we're working on. In fact, later this week players will see a brand new LeaverBuster system that will aggressively tackle AFKs/leavers in the game, with harsh penalties for leaving/afking in Ranked. 
We're hoping to do at least 1 more incentive for positive players this year, and are focusing on the new Tribunal, Honor, Team Builder, and more in 2015."

A few players shared their concern that, while they appreciate the reward, a 4 win IP bonus isn't quite what they had expected, to which Lyte pointed out this is only the first reward planned:
"Read the post carefully, this is just the first gesture. 2 months left in the year :p"
He continued:
"1) This is just a first gesture, and not every reward is going to mean something to all players. The next reward we give might mean more to you, but less to a brand new player. 
2) If trolls/toxic players want to threaten you or ask for reports without fear of any consequences, let them. Report them, mute them and move on. You've seen lots of players complain about their bans online--we're pretty aggressive with that stuff now compared to 3-4 years ago. 
Not every reward has to be SUPER EPIC VALUABLE to every player to mean something. Every player responds differently to different rewards, and different things matter to different people. We'll explore a wide range of stuff over time."

When asked if players who mostly play co-op vs AI will still be able to get rewards, Lyte noted:
"Co-op vs AI players are definitely eligible for prizes."

Over on Reddit, Lyte also answered several common questions regarding this initiative:
"I'm happy to answer questions about this initiative. 
Some brief ones I know people are interested about:

1) Players that have not received a tangible punishment are eligible for these promotions. This means you have not received a chat restriction, ranked restriction, game ban, or permanent ban. 
2) This is just the first step in a series of promotions. There should be at least 1 more before the end of 2014. 
3) Because these promotions are giving out rewards on a massive scale, rewards will be sent over a window of time initially until we figure out how to make it more efficient. For example, in 2014, 95% of players will get all the positive behavior rewards."

Details on New LeaverBuster

Speaking of Lyte, he has posted up information on the new LeaverBuster system, which includes a new punishment for leavers and afkers.
"TL;DR We’re rolling out a new LeaverBuster system to help reduce the frequency of AFKS and leavers that is also significantly more severe in ranked games.

LeaverBuster is our system for detecting players who frequently leave games or AFK. In the past, we’ve generally erred on the side of caution, and for that reason, many of you have given us the feedback that LeaverBuster hasn’t always seemed effective and some players seemed to just switch to a smurf to dodge the leaving penalties.

With this new update, we’ve implemented a significantly more strict design while providing a clear feedback loop. Our goals are to better educate players that AFKing or leaving a game is not acceptable in League, and punish leavers faster and more severely.

The first time a player leaves a game, they’ll see a pop-up explaining that leaving is not okay and then have to manually agree to not leave future games. If they continue to ruin other players’ experiences, they’ll enter lower-priority matchmaking for a number of games. While in low priority queue, players will experience queue times that are 5, 10, even 20 minutes longer than a player who hasn't left games.

Players will know how many games they have in lower-priority, and if they join a premade group, that group will be notified they are playing with a chronic AFK/leaver and they’ll face the same lower-priority time penalty.

While we hope it doesn’t ever happen, but if a player fails to stop AFKing or leaving while in lower-priority matchmaking, continued offenses will result in permanent bans.

I'm happy to answer any questions about the system, as it is now live on the PBE."

When asked if the system will trigger when only reconnecting, Lyte clarified:
"If you reconnect to the game and finish the game, it shouldn't affect you. However, if it takes you 20 minutes to reconnect to the game and you basically were "AFK," then you'll still receive a penalty."
He continued:
"When players crash mid-game and never come back, it's still considered a "leave." So the system includes that type of behaviors."
As for disconnections that are unintentional, Lyte noted:
"Unfortunately, players with internet connections DCing are still ruining the entire match for 4-9 other players in the game. 
Think about your own experiences with a leaver and being forced to play 4v5: do you feel better or is the game enjoyable because you know the player left due to a DC?"
When asked if this new system is more aggressive in ranked, Lyte noted:
"Basically, leaving in Ranked is considered "more severe" by the system and leaving even once in Ranked can result in penalties."

The new LeaverBuster is now testing on the PBE!

Updated Summoner's Rift Feedback & Discussion

With the updated Summoner's Rift now in open beta on live servers, questions, concerns, and compliments are pouring in and several Rioters have jumped on the forums to comment - including discussion on the colors and look of the new map, the updated camera angle, potential fixes for the FPS loss player are experiencing, and more!

In response to feedback on the colors of the new map, Riot Tiki explained:
"Hey all, 
Appreciate the feedback and wanted to add a little bit of context on the feel of the map compared to current Summoner's Rift. 
Through player labs and surveys one of things that surfaced early on was the relative feel of the map compared to the current one. Feedback was largely on issues of darkness, but also the colors (dull/muted) to a degree. However another thing that came up really strongly was how important the gameplay of the map was. Consistently we heard from players all over the world that gameplay was the most important thing for them. 
With all that in mind, we worked hard to try and find a balance between pushing the limits of clarity (to improve gameplay) AND matching the feel of the current Summoner's Rift. Ultimately I think we got to a place that we were ready to release in beta and release out to the players to give us their feelings on what we created. 
Personally I think there are still a lot of things we can improve, some of that definitely related to how far we can push some of the colors and effects to better match the feel of the current map. Any and all of your feedback is welcome and appreciated as we work to make this better for you all. Please keep it coming :)"
Regarding increasing saturation on the new map, RiotForScience acommented:
"There is a lot of feedback on this point and I am listening. This has been my response on a couple other threads and I wanted to repost it here. 
Increasing saturation makes the map look better by itself, but the map should not be the focal point of the game, the champions and their abilities should be. The map was created to be a backdrop for champions and VFX. We tried to make it beautiful without intruding on the play experience. 
I really appreciate the comments posted here and I absolutely acknowledge that increasing saturation/contrast on a piece of artwork will make it feel more vibrant, but in the context of a game the art is not their for it's own sake, it is a tool for gameplay. What League needs is a map that allows teamfights to be more readable. While I think there is room for improvement in the map (And we will continue to develop on it) I do think that the approach we have taken serves the entire League experience in a very successful way."
He continued:
"We are looking at ways to add color/life without compromising clarity. One idea we are considering is adding more color and life into the islands but keeping the ground-plane clear."

When asked about the camera changes on the updated map, RiotForScience replied:
"We actually zoomed the camera out slightly and flattened the lens on the camera, It was a tweek to improve projectile accuracy. What you are probably responding to is the work we did to improve clarity by reducing noisy detail. It gives an impression of being a bit zoomed in."

He continued, noting this was not a replacement or to solve the same problem as "camera flipping" for red and blue side.
"We did not do this instead of flipping the camera. This is a distinct change to solve a completely separate problem. This adjustment has a side benefit of slightly improving purple side visibility. The problem associated with "Flipping the Camera" is being looked at separately from the visual update to Summoner's Rift."

Riot Tokkelossie also commented on the brightness of the updated ranged minion attacks, noting they are looking into a fix to make them more noticeable:
"We've heard quite a bit of feedback around the ranged minion particle readability, and we're already looking into a fix for that :)"

When asked about the FPS drops players are experiencing on the new map, RiotForScience noted:
"It looks like there was an unexpected bug with this build causing an FPS drop. We are tracking it down right now. Hopefully your hamsters will be able to get some rest soon."
Riot Tiki also dropped off a reminder on the performance tips shared yesterday and they are still working on ironing out some problems!
"Hey all, the maps team is currently digging into this and we'd love your help. There's a number of potential fixes in the thread I've posted below, and we could use your help figuring out which ones work for you and which don't. If you have a chance to try some of these out and post your diagnoses in that thread it would be awesome. 
http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/summoners-rift/w3yoqEWh-performance-issues-on-the-updated-summoners-rift 

Thanks so much for your help solving this!"

ManWolfAxeBoss also suggested a temporary fix:
"Thanks for all the dxdiags guys. That's going to help us solve the problem much faster. 
In the meantime, we think it may be an audio issue. I know it sucks, but if you guys disable sound you might see better performance. This isn't permanent and we're looking into a fix as I type this, but give it a shot in the interim. Thanks again. We're on it!" 

As for what to look forward to, Riot Eno also noted that the updated SR music is still on the way!
"Yep! It's coming....we promise. =)"

With the updated Summoner's Rift open beta now on live, RiotForScience has cooked up a feedback thread for players to drop off their comments and concerns on the updated map:
"There is a lot of awesome feedback being generated on the boards. I am making this thread for the sake of making it easier for the Environment Team to find your input. If you have a concern or input, or just a comment that you want to make sure a member of the Environment Team will read, this is the place to put it!"

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