Riot Games Introduces Changes to Surrender Vote in League of Legends Patch 13.16
Riot Games has made significant changes to the surrender vote system in League of Legends Patch 13.16. These changes, aimed at reducing toxicity and improving the overall experience, include hiding voter names, implementing cooldowns for repetitive vote calls, and automatic resolutions for split votes.
The lead of League product, Chris “Auberaun” Roberts, unveiled these surrender vote changes on August 10. Along with these changes, there will be user interface tweaks for the vote boxes.
The surrender vote feature should provide players with a way to leave imbalanced games early, especially in ranked queues. However, it has become a tool for trolls to annoy teammates. Riot Games recognizes this issue and is actively working to make the surrender vote feature more valuable. They have already implemented some minor adjustments to the 15-minute voting process in Patch 13.7 in April. The changes introduced in August are the first step in a more comprehensive effort throughout the year.
The intention behind these changes is to avoid individuals spamming surrender votes every few minutes, making it more of a team decision. The changes in League Patch 13.16 include:
- The player who starts a surrender vote will remain anonymous.
- After initiating a surrender vote, the player must wait six minutes before starting another vote. The team cooldown for calling a surrender vote remains unchanged at three minutes and takes priority over individual cooldowns.
- Surrender votes will automatically resolve when they can no longer pass. The votes will no longer remain open, waiting for players to vote.
- The surrender box text has been updated to indicate the type of surrender vote being called, such as Surrender, AFK Surrender, or Remake.
While many players celebrated Riot’s plan, some expressed concerns about how the changes may not work as intended. Making the surrender votes harder to pass and easier to ignore could potentially worsen the situation, leading to more hostage scenarios.
These surrender vote changes are currently being tested on League’s PBE realm. There is no guarantee that they will be implemented on live servers. If they pass the testing phase, they will be included in Patch 13.16, scheduled for release next Wednesday.