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League of Legends AFK tracker “reasonable” despite backlash, Riot says

The League of Legends AFK detection system got an overhaul in patch 12.22, and Riot has defended its choices as the function finally debuts in the MOBA

League of Legends AFK tracker "reasonable" despite backlash, Riot says: A man with spiked brown hair wearing a pair of red glasses stands holding a yellow card across his chest with orange gooey shoulder plates and a smirk on his face

The League of Legends AFK detection system has been through many iterations in the MOBA‘s lengthy history, but League of Legends patch 12.22 is one of the most radical. Adding the new ‘fountain check’ and more opportunities to remake the game, some players have argued that the AFK timer is set a little low – Riot, however, largely disagrees.

Introduced as part of the League of Legends Preseason 2023 changes, highlights include a new fountain check that determines whether or not players have left the game’s spawn, and a slight delay before you can call an early surrender vote.

As players finally come face-to-face with Riot’s new AFK detection system (and its associated punishments), some believe that the new feature is a little too harsh.

A Reddit thread claiming that the “new AFK detection goes off too quick” has garnered a rather significant amount of upvotes, leading to a swathe of replies.

Regarding the Summoner’s Rift solo and ranked queues, Riot remains firm that their decision is the correct one. One player comments “should be 30 seconds minimum, some people go grab water or food before game starts and getting to the game at 30 seconds in isn’t going to change much unless your team really wants to invade.”

In response, Producer on League of Legends Game Loop Chris ‘Auberaun’ Roberts comments “The pop-up is at around 60 seconds since your last input and it takes 90 seconds of no input to trigger a remake option, and we think it’s a reasonable ask for folks to click something in a 60/90 second window. Could potentially move back the popup. 30 seconds for water should be fine (but also the game does start at 0:00!)”

Another player replies “I’m rushing against the clock to take a quick run to the toilet and washing my hands – hoping that people don’t load in too fast. At this stage, this is an issue with the game that needs to be fixed,” prompting Auberaun to reply “I’d recommend you do those things before entering queue.”

Where Riot admits there is an issue, however, is with the practice tool. AFK warnings have been popping up as players attempt to read through different items to craft weird and wonderful builds – something Riot likely hasn’t intended given practice games have no real impact on the game. In response to this Auberaun jumps in again, commenting “we’re looking into this one, agree it’s more problematic there.”

It’s clear that Riot had to do something about AFKs following a rather explosive example of the faulty remake system courtesy of Twitch streamer and LoL icon Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp. As someone who also likes to go and fill up her teacup before the game beings, I recommend picking your champion and then zipping off to the loo, or grabbing yourself some water. After all, sitting watching champ select can be rather depressing.

Whether or not Riot chooses to amend the system in the wake of criticism is a question for next year, but for now you’ll need to go fast like Sonic (maybe not the Sonic Frontiers iteration, though). In the meantime, if you fancy picking up some of the best Black Friday deals I recommend that you steer clear of our how much have I spent on League of Legends guide. Or go on, I dare you, it can’t be that bad, right?