Now I’m pretty sure you can all agree that currently, the punishment system is not perfect, and can definitely use some improvements. This is a pretty long read, and I’d appreciate it if you guys go through the whole thing (TL;DR version here).
Here are the main problems in MM, aside from core gameplay issues, and I would like to address ways to improve/prevent them:
-Betrayals
-AFKers
-Rage quitters
Let’s start with betrayals. The proposed system is not exclusive to one match. It counts the betrayals you commit across your game career. So first betrayal, you lose the amount of exp you would get by getting a kill. Second betrayal, you lose double the amount of exp you lost from the previous betrayal, and it goes on. The only way to reset the system is to pass through a certain number of games without any betrayals (let’s say 30).
Of course, I’m not ignoring the ability to boot. To “detect” an accidental betrayal from an intentional betrayal, I suggest that the system should determine the time between two betrayals of a player. Say a game lasts 10 minutes. A player betrays another right at the start. If he betrays again within 5 minutes of his first betrayal, the victim(s, if he betrayed multiple people) get(s) the option to boot him. If he is not booted by then, and decides to betray another time, he is auto-booted. If the second betrayal is not within that 5 minutes, he is safe.
Now let’s move on to AFKers. First and simple, if a player remains AFK for a certain fraction of the game’s time (let’s say half), he will be auto-booted. AFKers will also lose exp depending on how many times they’ve died while AFK. Let’s say 1 kill rewards 100xp points. For the number of deaths they’ve got, they will lose the same amount of exp that they’d gained if the number of deaths were kills. So if they have died 5 times while AFK, they will lose 500xp. Also, for each minute they are AFK, they will lose the same amount as an AFK death.
Now, to address the quitting problem. Let’s just say that every time you quit a game (including being booted), when the stats of the game you’ve quit processes through the system, and the team you were on loses, the score of the losing team is subtracted from that of the winning team, and you will lose an amount of exp. For example, you’ve quit/were booted from a slayer game. Your team then loses 30-50. The difference is 20 kills, so in turn, you lose 2000xp (20killsX100exp=2000), as well as the progress you’ve made in the game, if any. For objective games, I guess you subtract the accumulated exp (kills, assists and objective points) the losing team earned throughout the game, from that of the winning team. If however, your team wins the game, or if it were an FFA game, you will still lose a pre-determined amount of exp, although it wouldn’t be as big as as if your team lost.
Depending on your rank, there would be a multiplier on the punishments. And I don’t believe a quit “ban” is really needed.
If the player is on the winning team and has good game statistics (K/D and kill count, assists, and anything that contributes to the team’s victory), they will not get any quit punishments, in the case that the abrupt quit might have been caused by a connection issue. He/she will not lose in-game progress either.
In the end, there should also be some “notoriety” or rating system on a player, maybe on a 1-10 scale, based on your betrayal, AFK, and quit tendency. If his/her rating is low, he/she gains less exp per match, the punishments are more severe, and the pool of players that can match up with you in a game diminishes (the mm search time will ultimately be longer). If his/her rating is close to or is 10 (little to no crimes), well there’s no bonus or punishment. On the player card, there should also be a list of “crimes” a player has made.
If the player is inactive for a certain amount of time, his rating (as well as the betrayal punishment system) will be reset.
While my proposed improvements seem much more severe than the current, I believe it would discourage people from being complete -yoinks-.
So that’s my proposal. It’s definitely not perfect, but I’d still like to hear your ideas and opinions on the matter. I wouldn’t mind criticism, as long as you have feedback.